Error When Redirecting to a PDF file

Hi,

We recently moved our webserver from Win2K to Win2003. The application
works fine. Only problem is that when user views a report as a PDF, IE
does not show it. The following code is used to redirect:

Response.Redirect("/website/pdffiles/myreport.pdf");
Response.End;

IE opens a "File Download" box and if you click the "open" button then
nothing happens. If you click the "Save" button the following error
comes up:

"Internet Explorer cannot download "myreport.pdf" from "website".
Internet Explorer was not able to open this Internet site. The
requested site is either unavialable or cannot be found. Please try
again later."

if I use the following code:
<%
pdfFile = "myreport.pdf";
Response.Clear;
Response.ContentType = "application/pdf";
Response.AddHeader("Content-Type", "application/pdf");
Response.AddHeader("content-disposition", "inline;filename=" +
pdfFile);
Response.BinaryWrite("/website/pdffiles/" + pdfFile);
Response.End;
%>

Acrobat open and displays the following error "File does not begin
with '%PDF-'".

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Re: Error When Redirecting to a PDF file

mansb2002@yahoo.com wrote on Wed, 06 Jun 2007 16:10:48 -0700:

> Hi,
>
> We recently moved our webserver from Win2K to Win2003. The application
> works fine. Only problem is that when user views a report as a PDF, IE
> does not show it. The following code is used to redirect:
>
> Response.Redirect("/website/pdffiles/myreport.pdf");
> Response.End;
>
> IE opens a "File Download" box and if you click the "open" button then
> nothing happens. If you click the "Save" button the following error
> comes up:
>
> "Internet Explorer cannot download "myreport.pdf" from "website".
> Internet Explorer was not able to open this Internet site. The
> requested site is either unavialable or cannot be found. Please try
> again later."

Can you turn off show friendly error messages in IE and try again? What does
the address URL show in IE?

Did you add PDF to the list of allowed MIME types to IIS? Out of the box
IIS6 allows very little, it's a more secure model and you need to enable any
file extensions that you want to allow to be downloaded.

> if I use the following code:
> <%
> pdfFile = "myreport.pdf";
> Response.Clear;
> Response.ContentType = "application/pdf";
> Response.AddHeader("Content-Type", "application/pdf");
> Response.AddHeader("content-disposition", "inline;filename=" +
> pdfFile);
> Response.BinaryWrite("/website/pdffiles/" + pdfFile);
> Response.End;
> %>
>
> Acrobat open and displays the following error "File does not begin
> with '%PDF-'".

BinaryWrite sends raw binary data. In this case, you are sending the string
/website/pdffiles/myreport.pdf as the data. To use BinaryWrite to send the
data in the file, you need to open the file, read it's content, and then
pass that into BinaryWrite. If you sort out the redirection to work you
won't need to do this.

Dan

Re: Error When Redirecting to a PDF file

Hi Dan,

I added the PDF MIME to the server. It made no difference. I still get
the same error when I click the open or save button. The URL in the
window is of the original ASP page that redirects to PDF file. The PDF
file ("/webserver/pdffiles/myreport.pdf") URL is NOT displayed.

Oh, I left out a line by mistake. I have a com object that reads the
file and send the file content to BinaryWrite. I any ideas?

Thanks for your help.

Re: Error When Redirecting to a PDF file

mansb2002@yahoo.com wrote:
> if I use the following code:
> <%
> pdfFile = "myreport.pdf";
> Response.Clear;
> Response.ContentType = "application/pdf";
> Response.AddHeader("Content-Type", "application/pdf");
> Response.AddHeader("content-disposition", "inline;filename=" +
> pdfFile);
> Response.BinaryWrite("/website/pdffiles/" + pdfFile);
> Response.End;
> %>
>
> Acrobat open and displays the following error "File does not begin
> with '%PDF-'".

Response.BinaryWrite does not take a string argument. You must put a byte
array in there. This could come from an ADODB.Stream, recordset, or similar.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/ado270/htm/mdmscadoo bjects.asp

Typical uses would look like:

Response.BinaryWrite(adoStream.Read())
Response.BinaryWrite(adoRecordset.Fields("FileData").Value)
Response.BinaryWrite(adoField.GetChunk(size))


--
Dave Anderson

Unsolicited commercial email will be read at a cost of $500 per message. Use
of this email address implies consent to these terms.

Re: Error When Redirecting to a PDF file

Hi Dave,

I left out a line of code by mistake. Here is my code:

<%
pdfFile = "myreport.pdf";
Response.Clear;
Response.ContentType = "application/pdf";
Response.AddHeader("Content-Type", "application/pdf");
Response.AddHeader("content-disposition", "inline;filename=" +
pdfFile);
var oPDF = oProcess.FileToStr(pdfFile);
Response.BinaryWrite(oPDF);
Response.End;
%>

Yes I am sending the correct data to BinaryWrite. I used the plain
text page to see if the content was right.

Re: Error When Redirecting to a PDF file

mansb2002@yahoo.com wrote:
> I left out a line of code by mistake. Here is my code:
>
> <%
> pdfFile = "myreport.pdf";
> Response.Clear;
> Response.ContentType = "application/pdf";
> Response.AddHeader("Content-Type", "application/pdf");
> Response.AddHeader("content-disposition", "inline;filename=" +
> pdfFile);
> var oPDF = oProcess.FileToStr(pdfFile);
> Response.BinaryWrite(oPDF);
> Response.End;
> %>
>
> Yes I am sending the correct data to BinaryWrite. I used the plain
> text page to see if the content was right.

OK. That leaves me with a couple of questions. First, this appears to be
JScript, but you are not calling Response.Clear() and Response.End() as
methods. Does it change anything to do so?

Second, your error states that "File does not begin with '%PDF-'". If you
change the content-type to "text/plain", does the output have anything
before those characters?

I am also curious to know why you use both of these lines when they do the
same thing:

Response.ContentType = "application/pdf";
Response.AddHeader("Content-Type", "application/pdf");



--
Dave Anderson

Unsolicited commercial email will be read at a cost of $500 per message. Use
of this email address implies consent to these terms.

Re: Error When Redirecting to a PDF file

mansb2002@yahoo.com wrote:
>>> The following code is used to redirect:
>>>
>>> Response.Redirect("/website/pdffiles/myreport.pdf");
>>> Response.End;
>
> pdfFile = "myreport.pdf";
> Response.Clear;
> Response.ContentType = "application/pdf";
> Response.AddHeader("Content-Type", "application/pdf");
> Response.AddHeader("content-disposition", "inline;filename=" +
> pdfFile);
> var oPDF = oProcess.FileToStr(pdfFile);
> Response.BinaryWrite(oPDF);
> Response.End;

I am a bit confused. On one hand, you say you are redirecting to a .pdf
file, but on the other hand, this looks like a .asp script. Have you set up
IIS to parse .pdf files with asp.dll?



--
Dave Anderson

Unsolicited commercial email will be read at a cost of $500 per message. Use
of this email address implies consent to these terms.

Re: Error When Redirecting to a PDF file

On Jun 8, 5:08 pm, "Dave Anderson" wrote:
> mansb2...@yahoo.com wrote:
> >>> The following code is used to redirect:
>
> >>> Response.Redirect("/website/pdffiles/myreport.pdf");
> >>> Response.End;
>
> > pdfFile = "myreport.pdf";
> > Response.Clear;
> > Response.ContentType = "application/pdf";
> > Response.AddHeader("Content-Type", "application/pdf");
> > Response.AddHeader("content-disposition", "inline;filename=" +
> > pdfFile);
> > var oPDF = oProcess.FileToStr(pdfFile);
> > Response.BinaryWrite(oPDF);
> > Response.End;
>
> I am a bit confused. On one hand, you say you are redirecting to a .pdf
> file, but on the other hand, this looks like a .asp script. Have you set up
> IIS to parse .pdf files with asp.dll?
>
> --
> Dave Anderson
>
> Unsolicited commercial email will be read at a cost of $500 per message. Use
> of this email address implies consent to these terms.

Yes, I am using JScript.

I thought Response.Clear() and Response.End() was for ASP.NET!

When I changed to "text/plain" the file I get back starts with
"%PDF-1.3".

I don't know why I have both lines in there. I saw an example on the
net and I thought it might help. I am new to this and as you can see
desperate as well.

No I have not setup IIS to parse PDF files with asp.dll. Is that only
if you are posting data to the server? Would you please give me some
direction as how setup this? I set IIS6 identical to IIS5 which works
just fine.

Thanks again.

Re: Error When Redirecting to a PDF file

On Jun 8, 5:08 pm, "Dave Anderson" wrote:
> mansb2...@yahoo.com wrote:
> >>> The following code is used to redirect:
>
> >>> Response.Redirect("/website/pdffiles/myreport.pdf");
> >>> Response.End;
>
> > pdfFile = "myreport.pdf";
> > Response.Clear;
> > Response.ContentType = "application/pdf";
> > Response.AddHeader("Content-Type", "application/pdf");
> > Response.AddHeader("content-disposition", "inline;filename=" +
> > pdfFile);
> > var oPDF = oProcess.FileToStr(pdfFile);
> > Response.BinaryWrite(oPDF);
> > Response.End;
>
> I am a bit confused. On one hand, you say you are redirecting to a .pdf
> file, but on the other hand, this looks like a .asp script. Have you set up
> IIS to parse .pdf files with asp.dll?
>
> --
> Dave Anderson
>
> Unsolicited commercial email will be read at a cost of $500 per message. Use
> of this email address implies consent to these terms.

Yes, I am using JScript.

I thought Response.Clear() and Response.End() was for ASP.NET!

When I changed to "text/plain" the file I get back starts with
"%PDF-1.3".

I don't know why I have both lines in there. I saw an example on the
net and I thought it might help. I am new to this and as you can see
desperate as well.

No I have not setup IIS to parse PDF files with asp.dll. Is that only
if you are posting data to the server? Would you please give me some
direction as how setup this? I set IIS6 identical to IIS5 which works
just fine.

Thanks again.

Re: Error When Redirecting to a PDF file

mansb2002@yahoo.com wrote:
>>>>> The following code is used to redirect:
>>
>>>>> Response.Redirect("/website/pdffiles/myreport.pdf");

I no longer believe this. It appears you are redirecting to an ASP script,
not to a PDF flie.


> When I changed to "text/plain" the file I get back starts with
> "%PDF-1.3".

Which means your ASP script is being parsed, since the browser behavior
changed.


> I don't know why I have both lines in there. I saw an example on
> the net and I thought it might help.

It wouldn't be a bad idea to quote the passage to which you are responding.
I'll assume this is about two different ways of setting the content-type
header. I would not dare to guess how the browser deals with mulitple
content-type headers. In my opinion, you should get rid of one.


> No I have not setup IIS to parse PDF files with asp.dll. Is that
> only if you are posting data to the server? Would you please give
> me some direction as how setup this? I set IIS6 identical to IIS5
> which works just fine.

That does not appear to be required, based on your further description of
the issue. When you asserted that you were redirecting to a .pdf file, you
implied that myreport.pdf was actually an ASP script. So, either you are
already set up to parse .pdf that way, or you are not redirecting to a
resource called myreport.pdf.




--
Dave Anderson

Unsolicited commercial email will be read at a cost of $500 per message. Use
of this email address implies consent to these terms.

Re: Error When Redirecting to a PDF file

> Response.Redirect("/website/pdffiles/myreport.pdf");

> That does not appear to be required, based on your further description of
> the issue. When you asserted that you were redirecting to a .pdf file, you
> implied that myreport.pdf was actually an ASP script. So, either you are
> already set up to parse .pdf that way, or you are not redirecting to a
> resource called myreport.pdf.

"myreport.pdf" is actual PDF file NOT an ASP page.

Re: Error When Redirecting to a PDF file

mansb2002@yahoo.com wrote:
> "myreport.pdf" is actual PDF file NOT an ASP page.

There is a huge inconsistency in your description of the problem. If you
are, in fact, redirecting directly to the PDF file, then your ASP script is
irrelevant. So which is it, an ASP script that reads a PDF document and uses
BinaryWrite(), or a PDF document that is sent directly?



--
Dave Anderson

Unsolicited commercial email will be read at a cost of $500 per message. Use
of this email address implies consent to these terms.

Re: Error When Redirecting to a PDF file

First I would like to apologize for the confusion. Originally, I was
using:

Response.Redirect("/website/pdffiles/myreport.pdf");

To direct the user to the PDF file. Every thing was working ok until I
switched to Win2003 server. At that time the above command no longer
worked. So, I tried the second method which was to read in the PDF
file. This is what I have:

Original.ASP file:
Some code....
....
....
Response.Redirect("/website/html/showpdf.asp");
Response.End;


ShowPDF.ASP file:



<% @ LANGUAGE="JScript" CODEPAGE="932" %>
<%
Response.Buffer = true;
Response.Expires = 0;
pdfFile = "myreport.pdf";
Response.Clear;
Response.ContentType = "application/pdf";
Response.AddHeader("content-disposition", "inline;filename=" +
pdfFile);
var oPDF = oProcess.FileToStr(pdfFile);
Response.BinaryWrite(oPDF);
Response.End;
%>



I hope this will clear some confusion. Again I apologize for getting
all the things mixed up. Thanks for your help.

Re: Error When Redirecting to a PDF file

mansb2002@yahoo.com wrote:
> First I would like to apologize for the confusion. Originally,
> I was using:
>
> Response.Redirect("/website/pdffiles/myreport.pdf");
>
> To direct the user to the PDF file. Every thing was working ok
> until I switched to Win2003 server. At that time the above command
> no longer worked.

OK. In that case, you can probably just revert to the old redirection to the
PDF file if you enable PDF in IIS6. Open the properties for your web site
and click on the HTTP Headers tab. Click on the [MIME Types...] button, and
add the PDF extension with MIME type "application/pdf".

If this does not work, and you need to resume the ASP approach, let me know
in this thread.




--
Dave Anderson

Unsolicited commercial email will be read at a cost of $500 per message. Use
of this email address implies consent to these terms.

Re: Error When Redirecting to a PDF file

On Jun 12, 4:19 pm, "Dave Anderson"
wrote:
> mansb2...@yahoo.com wrote:
> > First I would like to apologize for the confusion. Originally,
> > I was using:
>
> > Response.Redirect("/website/pdffiles/myreport.pdf");
>
> > To direct the user to the PDF file. Every thing was working ok
> > until I switched to Win2003 server. At that time the above command
> > no longer worked.
>
> OK. In that case, you can probably just revert to the old redirection to the
> PDF file if you enable PDF in IIS6. Open the properties for your web site
> and click on the HTTP Headers tab. Click on the [MIME Types...] button, and
> add the PDF extension with MIME type "application/pdf".
>
> If this does not work, and you need to resume the ASP approach, let me know
> in this thread.
>
> --
> Dave Anderson

Sorry, I was away.

I just tried your suggestion and guess what? No change. I still get
the same error. IE opens a "File Download" box and if you click the
"open" button then nothing happens. If you click the "Save" button the
following error comes up:

"Internet Explorer cannot download "myreport.pdf" from "website".
Internet Explorer was not able to open this Internet site. The
requested site is either unavailable or cannot be found. Please try
again later."
Any other ideas

Re: Error When Redirecting to a PDF file

wrote:
> I just tried your suggestion and guess what? No change.

Which change? You are now pointing the browser directly to PDF file?



> I still get the same error. IE opens a "File Download" box and if
> you click the "open" button then nothing happens. If you click the
> "Save" button the following error comes up:
>
> "Internet Explorer cannot download "myreport.pdf" from "website".
> Internet Explorer was not able to open this Internet site. The
> requested site is either unavailable or cannot be found. Please
> try again later."

I would have long ago tested this with Firefox and the LiveHTTPHeaders
extension. You should, too. That way, you can show the response headers
instead of the dumbed down consumer-grade message IE provides.



--
Dave Anderson

Unsolicited commercial email will be read at a cost of $500 per message. Use
of this email address implies consent to these terms.

Re: Error When Redirecting to a PDF file

On Jun 16, 11:00 am, "Dave Anderson"
wrote:
> wrote:
> > I just tried your suggestion and guess what? No change.
>
> Which change? You are now pointing the browser directly to PDF file?
>
> > I still get the same error. IE opens a "File Download" box and if
> > you click the "open" button then nothing happens. If you click the
> > "Save" button the following error comes up:
>
> > "Internet Explorer cannot download "myreport.pdf" from "website".
> > Internet Explorer was not able to open this Internet site. The
> > requested site is either unavailable or cannot be found. Please
> > try again later."
>
> I would have long ago tested this with Firefox and the LiveHTTPHeaders
> extension. You should, too. That way, you can show the response headers
> instead of the dumbed down consumer-grade message IE provides.
>
> --
> Dave Anderson
>
> Unsolicited commercial email will be read at a cost of $500 per message. Use
> of this email address implies consent to these terms.

Hi Dave,

FireFox has no problem showing the PDF file. Most of our users only
use IE. :-)

Re: Error When Redirecting to a PDF file

mansb2002@yahoo.com wrote:
>> I would have long ago tested this with Firefox and the
>> LiveHTTPHeaders extension. You should, too. That way, you
>> can show the response headers instead of the dumbed down
>> consumer-grade message IE provides.
>
> FireFox has no problem showing the PDF file. Most of our
> users only use IE. :-)

While that's good information, it ignores the salient point, which is that
you can use the LiveHTTPHeaders extension to view the response headers.
Since you do not have this problem with IIS5, but do have the problem with
IIS6, I suggest you compare the headers. The headers direct disposition
(browser behavior), after all.




--
Dave Anderson

Unsolicited commercial email will be read at a cost of $500 per message. Use
of this email address implies consent to these terms.