[lynx-dev] handling an internal server error (I think)

[William December Starr]

Could people running various versions of Lynx please try going to
this train wreck of a URL:

http://tvlistings2.zap2it.com/program.asp?partner_id=national&prog_id=1967953&series_id=333216&dbKey=EP4441200043

and then scroll down to (or search for) the text string "EPISODE
GUIDE" and see what the page looks like from there to the bottom?

Under 2.7.1 (running on MIT's Athena system), I got the full data
(albeit for a show that you'd have to pay me to watch) and the
assorted footer links at the end of the page:

   EPISODE GUIDE
   SHOW TITLE: Fear Factor
   EPISODE: Las Vegas Show
   CATEGORY: Game
   SYNOPSIS: Contestants must slide down the facade of the pyramid-shaped
   Luxor Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas; the champion will bet half of his
   or her winnings on one hand of blackjack.
   CHANNEL: 7 [WHDH]
   DATE / TIME: May 26: 8:30PM
   LENGTH: 90 Minutes
   NOTES: English
   Other episodes of "Fear Factor"

   null Black Voices   |   Link Us   |   Advertise   |   About Us   |
   Feedback   |   Help   |   Jobs   |   Privacy Policy   |   ?2003
   Zap2it.com/Tribune Media Services

   [LINK]

                                   [Back]

but under 2.8.3 and 2.8.4.rel1 (both running on Panix's machines)
I hit an error in the middle of the show's listing and the page
truncated at that point:

   EPISODE GUIDE
   SHOW TITLE: Fear Factor
   EPISODE: Las Vegas Show
   CATEGORY: Game
   SYNOPSIS: Contestants must slide down the facade of the pyramid-shaped
   Luxor Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas; the champion will bet half of his
   or her winnings on one hand of blackjack.

   ADODB.Recordset
   error '800a0bcd'

   Either BOF or EOF is True, or the current record has been deleted.
   Requested operation requires a current record.

   /program.asp, line 425

The significant difference that I've spotted is that while both 2.7
and 2.8 give me a blizzard of "HTTP/1.1 302 Object moved" and
"Location URL is not absolute" and "Using http://..."; messages, just
before displaying the damaged page 2.8 gave me an "Alert!: HTTP/1.1
500 Internal Server Error" message while 2.7, which displays the
page properly, didn't.

So... *if* the difference is that 2.8 is sensitive to this internal
server error thing while 2.7 isn't, (a) what does it all mean and (b)
is there any way I can desensitize 2.8 so that it will give me the
full page?  (Also, any advice on what I should say in my "Hey,
there's a problem with your system" email to Zap2it?)

Incidentally, I also tried this same page on a few fancy-pants GUI
browsers, just to see if this was a Lynx-only situation.  Results:

Mozilla 1.2.1, on MIT's Athena system:
glitches just like Lynx 2.8.

Netscape 4.7.8, on MIT's Athena system:
displays the page properly.

Opera 6.0, on my home computer:
displays the page properly.

Internet Explorer 6.0, on my home computer:
crashes before I even get that far (and freezes my system), yay Microsoft!

-- William December Starr <address@hidden>


; To UNSUBSCRIBE: Send "unsubscribe lynx-dev" to address@hidden