Forum archive 2000-2006

Lucas Carey - welcomeAction.pl prior to set(x).pdf

Lucas Carey - welcomeAction.pl prior to set(x).pdf

by Arnold Pizer -
Number of replies: 0
inactiveTopicwelcomeAction.pl prior to set(x).pdf topic started 2/4/2001; 3:00:22 PM
last post 2/6/2001; 5:18:11 PM
userLucas Carey - welcomeAction.pl prior to set(x).pdf  blueArrow
2/4/2001; 3:00:22 PM (reads: 2266, responses: 5)
When you go to download a problem set webwork sends welcomeAction.pl first, which you have to open prior to being sent the pdf file. This works fine with msie and netscape but does not work with konqueror(the kde browser). I was wondering why welcomeAction is sent first, or if I just didn't set something up correctly. -Lucas

<| Post or View Comments |>

userArnold K. Pizer - Re: welcomeAction.pl prior to set(x).pdf  blueArrow
2/4/2001; 7:30:20 PM (reads: 2617, responses: 2)
The script welcomeAction.pl generates a pdf file on the fly which is sent back to the browser. We try to suggest a name for this file (via "Content-disposition: attachment; filename= \"${login_name_for_psvn}_Set${setNumber}.pdf"\n";) but this is not an html standard and does not seem to work very well any more. I'm not sure if there is a way force a filename on the returned file. If someone knows how to do this, I would appreciate knowing. Your browser is assigning as a file name the name of the script that generated the file which is why you are seeing welcomeAction.pl being returned. We give this file the content type (mime type) application/pdf which is why it is handled OK by MSIE and earlier versions of Netscape (or maybe earlier versions accept the suggested file name). For Netscape 6, you have to configure things so that files with mime type application/pdf are opened by acrobat. [Explicit directions on how to do this for both Netscape and MSIE are given below.]

<| Post or View Comments |>

userJohn Imbrie - Re: welcomeAction.pl prior to set(x).pdf  blueArrow
2/6/2001; 1:00:42 PM (reads: 2966, responses: 1)
I don't think pdf download works with MSIE 5.5. When I upgraded to 5.5, it stopped working. When you request the file, you are given the option of saving welcome.pl to disk, but when this is done, the result is not readable by acrobat, even if the extension is changed to pdf. It seems that the script is being sent instead of the pdf file.

<| Post or View Comments |>

userArnold K. Pizer - Re: welcomeAction.pl prior to set(x).pdf  blueArrow
2/6/2001; 2:27:34 PM (reads: 2545, responses: 0)
I have been using MSIE 5.5 at home now for several months without a problem. In my office I recently switched computers and a few minutes ago upgraded from MSIE 5.0 to MSIE 5.5 running under Windows 2000. The first time I tried to do a pdf download I got a "Internal Service Error" which may or may not have been a fluke. The second time I got the standard "download a file" dialog box. Selecting "open this file" brought up a similar dialog box. Selecting "open this file" again displayed the output in Acrobat Reader. Actually this second dialog box is a little strange as Acrobat is set up on my machine to run without promping (the second dialog did not appear with MSIE 5.0).

Check to see how your computer (assuming it's a PC) is setup to run Acrobat Reader. Look under Files Types (under Tools/Folder Options in Win 2000) and see how files with a PDF extension are handled. The settings should be to open the file using something like "C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 4.0\Reader\AcroRd32.exe" "%1"

Note that you get an error if you try to save the file in the first dialog box. Microsoft has acknowledged that this is due to a bug in MSIE 5.5 http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q281/1/19.ASP

<| Post or View Comments |>

userArnold K. Pizer - Re: welcomeAction.pl prior to set(x).pdf  blueArrow
2/6/2001; 5:18:11 PM (reads: 2611, responses: 0)
Here are directions on how to get pdf output using Netscape 6 on a PC. Basically you have to set up Acrobat as a helper application. In Netscape go to Edit/Preferences/Helper Applications. Select New Type and enter "PDF" as the description, "PDF" as the file extension, and "application/pdf" as the MIME type. Then use Choose to find the application to use. You want to choose the Acrobat Reader. Most likely you will follow the path: program files/Adobe/Acrobat 4.0/Reader/AcroRd32.exe. Also you probably want to un check "Ask me before opening downloaded files of this type."

Then close Netscape and open it again. Now you should be able to view your downloaded WeBWorK pdf files.

<| Post or View Comments |>

userAndy Wildenberg - Re: welcomeAction.pl prior to set(x).pdf  blueArrow
2/10/2001; 5:10:53 PM (reads: 3257, responses: 0)
Quite a few of my students have seen this. There are apparently two problems, and I will include my students' workarounds to both.

The first is the internal error problem with viewing PDF files from within IE5.0 on Windows.

 

If you are using Internet Explorer 5.0 on Windows, you may get an "Internal Error" when you open up the PDF files for the lecture notes. This is a documented bug in Acrobat Reader 4.0 that occurs when you have more than 1GB free in your temp directory. This fix, provided by Brian Scammon, is from the Adobe web site:

Enabling the Browser to Use Acrobat as a Helper Application Acrobat 4.0x Viewers To configure an Acrobat 4.0x viewer as a helper application: 1. Exit from Internet Explorer or AOL. 2. Start the Acrobat 4.0x viewer. 3. Choose File > Preferences > General. 4. Deselect Web Browser Integration in the Options section and then click OK. 5. Exit from the Acrobat 4.0x viewer. 6. Restart Internet Explorer or AOL.

Note: The next time you select a link to a PDF file in Internet Explorer, a dialog box will prompt you to specify what to do with the file. If you select "Open this file from its current location," Internet Explorer opens the PDF file in the Acrobat viewer as a helper application. If you select "Save this file to disk," Internet Explorer saves the PDF file to your hard disk, from where you can open it later.

For more information about the general preferences in the Acrobat 4.0x viewer, refer to the Adobe Acrobat 4.0 User Guide or the Adobe Acrobat-Reader 4.0 User Guide.

 

--

Many thanks to Brian Scammon for helping figure out the solution to this annoying problem

The second problem is the "corrupt file" or "incorrect type" problem. It seems to occur more on Win98SE than anything, but on both IE and AOL.

 

I figured out the problem, well it worked for me anyways, for some reason when the save as dialogue came up, it was a html file, "welcome.pl", but if i clicked open from location, another save as dialogue came up with another html file, "welcomeaction.pl" and again i click open from location, and then a third dialogue box appeared, this is the one with the pdf file "all_students_SetX.pdf". I guess from here its optional to "save as" or "open from location". I'm really not sure why this whole procedure is.... but at least now you can get the homeworks =).

OS- W2k IE 5.5 w/ Sp1

I have to say I don't completely understand this explanation, and since I can't recreate the problem I am just reporting what I have been told and what others have found useful. I also have been told is that you need to "save it three times and the third time it will work" as a one sentence summary for how to get around it.

<| Post or View Comments |>