The following reply was made to PR other/5173; it has been noted by GNATS. From: "eBoard.com Development" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Marc Slemko" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Cc: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: other/5173: ErrorDocument redirect not working with MicrosoftInternet Explorer 5.0 Date: Fri, 29 Oct 1999 00:18:00 -0400
Hello Marc, This is a follow-up to a dialog we had last week concerning MSIE5.0 covering up our ErrorDocument response with its own "Friendly" error message. A a reminder, we had our ErrorDocument set up to run a cgi that examined the errant URL and performed a special function depending on the value of the URL. Although our response was well over the minimum required according to Microsoft's documentation, IE5.0 would display its "Friendly" error message instead, thereby nullify our programmed response. We found that we could fix this problem by using an option in IE5's advanced settings menu -- called "Turn off friendly HTML error messages". By doing this, IE5.0 reliably displayed our custom error response instead of the local error message. We thought we were out of the woods, but then we started getting reports from people going through proxy servers that the proxy servers are performing in a similar manner - returned their own HTTP404 response instead of our custom one. So, sorry to bother you again, but another question: When the Apache server is set up with the ErrorDocument, does it still send an indication to the client that a 404 error occurred (even though it is going to send the ErrorDocument)? If so, is there a way to not have it do this? BTW, when the "Friendly" messages are turned on in IE5.0, the problem seems to be highly correlated to the ping time from the client to the server. T1 connections with small ping times (<60ns) always work correctly (even with friendly ON). Medium quality connections (60 - 120ns) exhibit the problem occasionally. Slow connections (120+) exhibit the problem almost everytime. Regards, Bob DeMattia Development and Technical Services Specialist eBoard.com ----Original Message----- From: Bob DeMattia <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: Marc Slemko <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Wednesday, October 20, 1999 3:57 PM Subject: Re: other/5173: ErrorDocument redirect not working with MicrosoftIn ternet Explorer 5.0 >Marc: >Now I've seen everything (or at least a little bit more). > >I have to admit, when you told me that my error response page >had to be "longer", I had my doubts. It sounded to strange. >But, alas, you are right and it is true. By trial and error, >I've ascertained (with no help from Microsoft) that the magic >number is 1392. If an error response is 1,392 bytes or longer, >IE will display the ErrorDocument response from the server rather >than its own local page. You might want to put that one in your >notebook. > >Thanks for the help Marc. If only I could get the kind of response >from Microsoft that I get from Apache, my life would be a lot easier. > >Regards, >Bob > >-----Original Message----- >From: Marc Slemko <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >To: The DeMattia's <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Cc: Apache bugs database <> >Date: Wednesday, October 20, 1999 10:35 AM >Subject: Re: other/5173: ErrorDocument redirect not working with >MicrosoftInternet Explorer 5.0 > > >>On Wed, 20 Oct 1999, The DeMattia's wrote: >> >>> Marc, >>> Thank you for the quick response. The world is full of Microsoft >wisdom's such as >>> this. Just to clarify what you meant, are you saying that if my error >document is >>> "large enough" that IE will display my page instead of its own? The >current response >>> is about four lines of text. Including tags and such, it's probably >about 512 characters. >>> How large is "a certain size"? >> >>I don't know, give it a try. >> >>You could also try looking at MS's site to see if they document their >>oddities. >> >> >
