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Published On: Dec 11, 2003 02:34 PM
Total entries in this category:
Published On: Dec 11, 2003 02:34 PM
Win - Internet Explorer Issues
When IE can't read a site, but everything else can,
blame Microsoft and update your operating system.
I spent a week troubleshooting and debugging a few
thousand lines of code trying to figure out why I could view a site with
literally every web browser I tried, except for IE on the PC. The Apple version
worked perfectly as well. The site in question is a highly customized version
of LinPHA, available from
SourceForge.
It turns out there is a bug in IE that is patched with a critical security update. Originally the update did not automatically download on systems. You had to manually download it. I eventually figured this out when I was trying to figure out why one PC started working, and others did not. The issue was fixed with patch Q824145.
In order to keep users from thinking it was a problem with their browser, I wrote a Javascript to test their system for the patch and the systems/browsers affected, which happened to be Windows NT based systems with IE 5.01 or later. If the patch is not found it notifies users that they need to download it in order to view the images on the web site. Please note the semi-colon in front of the Q824145. This must be present to check for any patch using a Javascript detect.
<SCRIPT language=JavaScript>
var bplatform = (navigator.platform == "Win32");
var bappver = navigator.appVersion;
var bminor = navigator.appMinorVersion;
if(bplatform && ((bappver.indexOf("MSIE 6") != -1) || (bappver.indexOf("MSIE 5") != -1))) {
if (bminor.indexOf(";Q824145") == -1) {
alert("In order to view the images in the portfolio you may need to install the Microsoft KB824145 Critical Security Update for Internet Explorer versions 5 and 6. You do not have the patch and need to run Windows Update in order to bring your system up to date.");
}
}
</SCRIPT>
With the modifications, all systems are notified of this critical update and can view the online portfolio.
It turns out there is a bug in IE that is patched with a critical security update. Originally the update did not automatically download on systems. You had to manually download it. I eventually figured this out when I was trying to figure out why one PC started working, and others did not. The issue was fixed with patch Q824145.
In order to keep users from thinking it was a problem with their browser, I wrote a Javascript to test their system for the patch and the systems/browsers affected, which happened to be Windows NT based systems with IE 5.01 or later. If the patch is not found it notifies users that they need to download it in order to view the images on the web site. Please note the semi-colon in front of the Q824145. This must be present to check for any patch using a Javascript detect.
<SCRIPT language=JavaScript>
var bplatform = (navigator.platform == "Win32");
var bappver = navigator.appVersion;
var bminor = navigator.appMinorVersion;
if(bplatform && ((bappver.indexOf("MSIE 6") != -1) || (bappver.indexOf("MSIE 5") != -1))) {
if (bminor.indexOf(";Q824145") == -1) {
alert("In order to view the images in the portfolio you may need to install the Microsoft KB824145 Critical Security Update for Internet Explorer versions 5 and 6. You do not have the patch and need to run Windows Update in order to bring your system up to date.");
}
}
</SCRIPT>
With the modifications, all systems are notified of this critical update and can view the online portfolio.
Posted: Fri - November 7, 2003 at 02:34 PM