FOP link problem

[Ch...@scotland.gsi.gov.uk]

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Dear All,
	I am experiencing a problem when using FOP to dynamically generate
PDF 	files to a web browser. The offending browser is IE5.5 (surprise) 
	Putting aside all the issues with IE and PDF files being displayed I
still have some strange things happening

	1. Does anyone know of bugs to do with POSTs to FOPServlet.
	2. Links on the PDF, example link
		https:foo.com/foo/x.html?param=1&next=2
	   All parameters are not passed when the link is clicked,
	   even though the correct link is displayed as a 'tool tip' on the 
	   PDF itself.
	3. Is there an absolute solution to all the browser issues. 
		I have tried loads of options but cant find a solution that 
		works consistently across all IE platforms. 

Please help..

Thanks

Re: FOP link problem

["J.Pietschmann" <j3...@yahoo.de>]

Chris.Brown@scotland.gsi.gov.uk wrote:
>         Putting aside all the issues with IE and PDF files being 
> displayed I    still have some strange things happening
> 
>         1. Does anyone know of bugs to do with POSTs to FOPServlet.
Bugs can be related to the browser, the web server and the
servlet container. What software besides IEx are you using?

>         2. Links on the PDF, example link
>                 https:foo.com/foo/x.html?param=1&next=2 

What is a "link on the PDF"? Is this a HTML <a href="...">
link or a link embedded in a PDF file?
In a HTML source the URL should be written as
  "https://foo.com/foo/x.html?param=1&amp;next=2"
         ^^                          ^^^^^
(the tool tip should still show "...=1&next=2")
If the link points *to* a PDF object, it is unwise to
use a base URL ending in .html, it should better be
  "https://foo.com/foo/x.pdf?param=1&amp;next=2"
                         ^^^^
This makes it easier for users to save the file, and
for IEx to detect that it is actually a PDF file.

>            All parameters are not passed when the link is clicked,
I do not quite understand, do you mean no parameters
are passed to the servlet?
How do you know, did you examine the server and servlet
container logs?

>         3. Is there an absolute solution to all the browser issues.
>                 I have tried loads of options but cant find a solution that
>                 works consistently across all IE platforms.
Welcome to the club.

There are other lists and forums dedicated to servlet
programming, you might find hints how to tackle browser
issues there.

Apart from this, I didn't have any problems yet serving
FOP generated PDF to Netscape 4.x, IEx 5.0, 5.5, 6.0 and
various Mozilla builds except for installing the PDF plugin
for the latter. I didn't use HTTPS though, which has quite
a few additional problems (mostly related to caching) and
can be rather tricky to configure properly.


J.Pietschmann