I've been wrapping my head around this problem for a couple of days searching for all possible solutions on the forums and online but can't seem to get it working.
I'm calling a script by a link on a "button" to start a script on a server (in HTML):
<a href="#" onClick="RunScript();">
The script code is:
<script type="text/javascript" language="javascript">
function RunScript() {
var objShell = new ActiveXObject("WScript.Shell");
objShell.Run("%comspec% /k my_projects_EN.vbs" "), 1, false;
}
</script>
So why am I using a vbs? What I'm trying to do is create custom pages for each employee. So the vbs is actually checking the computer name and an if clause directs the employee to a custom page. With my basic knowledge of programming and a lot of hours of searching I did not find a better solution for this yet. So I'm trying to make this one to work.
And it does but only if I'm running the script locally (desktop). But as the webpage will be used in an intranet location this script will be on a server. And this is where it became a bit hairy as I can't seem to find the right combination of commands to do so. I already tried pushd for creating a mounted volume or currentDir for setting up the location of script but nothing seems to work completely.
I assume that I'm missing a subroutine for the function as adding anything there just stops the script - but how to go at it is beyond me.
All help is appreciated even if it means I have to bury myself into another program language (not preferred of course).
I am certain that there is a way to solve this other than sending a script to each employee to put on their desktop (each time a new employee comes to work).
Thanks
Edit: I see an additional clarification is in order:
We're creating an intranet webpage as a help for more efficient work for our employees. We're on the same level as the rest so not IT or admin rights guys so we're on our own.
The point is to have a personal page for each employee which can be accessed via the same interface. So a link has to send each person to another page that is why I've created the vbs code which helps with that. Checking several other options this seemed to be the simplest and best one - and it works at least partially. I don't see any security risks as all will be done on each client computer - the files themselves will be located on the server. The script itself does not represent any risk at least not that I would see it - but of course I'm not a specialist.
So in short this is what we're trying to do:
Main page -> link to My_projects button -> start script (located on the same server as the main page) -> determine the client computer name -> redirect to the right webpage.
Sorry for a lack of details, I see that it's sometimes hard to explain exactly what you want if you're not a pro in these things.
Thanks again.
If those computers are physically located at your workplace and you have control over the system, it would be better to tweak DNS redirections on those computers. Otherwise, more general and OS independent solution, would be session, cookie, or token on employee's computer. Still, some kind of authentication other than having one piece of machine, could be more versatile and secure (unless your PCs are 1000 feet underground :-) ).
Edit: What kind of info/data are sent to the server script? Server script runs on server and everything related to "this computer" (e.g. name) is actually referring to the server itself. Thus the script needs some data from the client to recognise his computer.
thanks for the effort
Everything is actually located on the server so the client computer only runs the page or interface which is in \Server\folder\folder for example.
In your browser you open the start page which contains a button with a link to this script (located on the same server).
When the script executes it searches for the computer name and send the user to his personal page:
Set wshShell = CreateObject( "WScript.Shell" )
strComputerName = wshShell.ExpandEnvironmentStrings( "%COMPUTERNAME%" )
On Error Resume Next
'#01 name_surname
If strComputerName = "XXXXXXXX" Then
CreateObject("WScript.Shell").Run """name_surname.html"""
and so on.
And this is all there is. As mentioned before we don't have admin rights to change anything on the client computer. So nothing is being done on the client side other that executing a script located on the server.
So, I have a project where I need to get the photos from a profile.
I am able to navigate to the photos page of a profile, but I believe the JavaScript is not loading.
I am currently using HtmlUnit but if you know of another Java API that would help I'm all ears.
Basically, when I view Facebook in a normal browser, it will load all of the pages and I can inspect the elements.
When inspecting, there is a div called fbStarGrid and a few other modifiers. This div contains all the images for a user's profile.
When I use HTMLUnit, I cannot find the div. I had it print the full page XML to a file, and I found that the div is commented out. I believe this means the Javascript never ran to load the content.
After browsing a lot of javascript help on SO, I have found a few things that help with debugging but can't seem to fix the problem.
The first thing I've done is create an instance of a JavaScriptJobManager. I used it to see how much JavaScript is not complete. After waiting for a while (10+ seconds) it says there are still 3 JS jobs uncomplete. After a very long time (about 60 seconds), it says there are 2 JS jobs uncomplete.
I do not know what is hanging with those JS jobs.
I get a warning upon page load about application/ld+json not running but I do not believe that part of the website is related to the photos.
Is there something I can do to force the JS to run? Is there a job it's stuck on and won't proceed to the next job?
I've also wondered if it's an issue with the page not re-syncing.
I've tried two solutions related to this:
Setting the AjaxController to NicelyResynchronizingAjaxController()
webClient.setAjaxController(new NicelyResynchronizingAjaxController());
And someone suggested creating a custom controller that forces syncing.
webClient.setAjaxController(new AjaxController(){
#Override
public boolean processSynchron(HtmlPage page, WebRequest request, boolean async)
{
return true;
}
});
Neither of these seemed to effect the page.
If HTMLUnit is not the right library for the job, any other ideas? I need this to be headless/guiless to run on a linux server. Java is preferred, but I can switch languages if necessary.
Is there an easy way to start and stop the browser throbber (page loading indicator) without changing the page you are on? Preferably with no external libraries or AJAX calls.
No. You could try to force it to spin by performing ajax calls or whatever, but don't. That part of the browser isn't for you, it's for the browser!
This is kinda like asking if you can change the system clock so that your game that includes a time machine is more realistic.
You could call a simple server side script, let's call it 'sleep.cgi', that would halt execution (sleep) and with it delay the delivery of some simple self-reloading page in a hidden iframe. That should make pretty much any major browsers display what you call a 'browser throbber' (page loading indicator). Once you'd be done with whatever reason you'd want the throbber to display, you would simply reset the mentioned iframe location to an empty string. This is how I'd do it:
1) write a simple server-side script that takes the request and halts the execution for up to 30 seconds, not wanting to hit the browser's page load timeout wall. Once the sleep period is over, this server script responds with something along the lines of:
<html><body onload="location.reload();"></body></html>
forcing it to loop until you want the browser to display 'page loaded' indicator.
2) write supporting JavaScript functions that will start and stop the 'throbber' on request and add HTML elements we'll be using:
<script>
function startThrobber(){
document.getElementById('throbberFrame').src='sleep.cgi?'+Math.random();
}
function endThrobber(){
document.getElementById('throbberFrame').src='';
}
</script>
<div id="throbberWrapper" style="display:none;visibility:hidden;">
<iframe id="throbberFrame" style="width:1px;height:1px;"></iframe>
</div>
I've done a quick test in Chrome/IE/Opera/Firefox and it seems to work OK. I've never had any need to do anything like it, though.
EDIT: If your web server supports PHP scripts, here's the sleep function reference: http://php.net/manual/en/function.sleep.php I don't write in PHP but I believe your PHP document should look something along the lines of:
<html><body onload="location.reload();">
<?php
// sleep for 29 seconds
sleep(29);
?>
</body></html>
Cheers!
The UI freezes if something very CPU-intensive is loaded so you never end up seeing the the animated GIF or progress bar.
You have an XY problem. You can prevent the browser from freezing by using setTimeout to divide CPU intensive operations into smaller chunks. The browser throbber is a UI element that signals something is being loaded from the network; it's extremely confusing if you used it for any other reasons.
Since 12 june 2012 11:20 TU, I see very weirds errors in my varnish/apache logs.
Sometimes, when a user has requested one page, several seconds later I see a similar request but the all string after the last / in the url has been replaced by "undefined".
Example:
http://example.com/foo/bar triggers a http://example.com/foo/undefined request.
Of course theses "undefined" pages does not exist and my 404 page is returned instead (which is a custom page with a standard layout, not a classic apache 404)
This happens with any pages (from the homepage to the deepest)
with various browsers, (mostly Chrome 19, but also firefox 3.5 to 12, IE 8/9...) but only 1% of the trafic.
The headers sent by these request are classic headers (and there is no ajax headers).
For a given ip, this seems occur randomly: sometimes at the first page visited, sometimes on a random page during the visit, sometimes several pages during the visit...
Of course it looks like a javascript problem (I'm using jquery 1.7.2 hosted by google), but I've absolutely nothing changed in the js/html or the server configuration since several days and I never saw this kind of error before. And of course, there is no such links in the html.
I also noticed some interesting facts:
the undefined requests are never found as referer of another pages, but instead the "real" pages were used as referer for the following request of the same IP (the user has the ability to use the classic menu on the 404 page)
I did not see any trace of these pages in Google Analytics, so I assume no javascript has been executed (tracker exists on all pages including 404)
nobody has contacted us about this, even when I invoked the problem in the social networks of the website
most of the users continue the visit after that
All theses facts make me think the problem occurs silently in the browers, probably triggered by a buggy add-on, antivirus, a browser bar or a crappy manufacturer soft integrated in browsers updated yesterday (but I didn't find any add-on released yesterday for chrome, firefox and IE).
Is anyone here has noticed the same issue, or have a more complete explanation?
There is no simple straight answer.
You are going to have to debug this and it is probably JavaScript due to the 'undefined' word in the URL. However it doesn't have to be AJAX, it could be JavaScript creating any URL that is automatically resolved by the browser (e.g. JavaScript that sets the src attribute on an image tag, setting a css-image attribute, etc). I use Firefox with Firebug installed most of the time, so my directions will be with that in mind.
Firebug Initial Setup
Skip this if you already know how to use Firebug.
After the installs and restarting Firefox for Firebug, you are going to have to enable most of Firebug's 'panels'. To open Firebug there will be a little fire bug/insect looking thing in the top right corner of your browser or you can press F12. Click through the Firebug tabs 'Console', 'Script', 'Net' and enable them by opening them up and reading the panel's information. You might have to refresh the page to get them working properly.
Debugging User Interaction
Navigate to one of the pages that has the issue with Firebug open and the Net panel active. In the Net panel there will be a few options: 'Clear', 'Persist', 'All', 'Html', etc. Make sure ALL is selected. Don't do anything on the page and try not to mouse over anything on it. Look through the requests. The request for the invalid URL will be red and probably have a status of 404 Not Found (or similar).
See it on load? Skip to the next part.
Don't see it on initial load? Start using your page and continue here.
Start clicking on every feature, mouse over everything, etc. Keep your eyes on the Net panel and watch for a requests that fail. You might have to be creative, but continue using your application till you see your browser make an invalid request. If the page makes many requests, feel free to hit the 'Clear' button on the top left of the Net panel to clear it up a bit.
If you submit the page and see a failed request go out really quick but then lose it because the next page loads, enable persistence by clicking 'Persist' in the top left of the Net panel.
Once it does, and it should, consider what you did to make that happen. See if you can make it happen again. After you figure out what user interaction is making it happen, dive into that code and start looking for things that are making invalid requests.
You can use the Script tab to setup breakpoints in your JavaScript and step through them. Investigate event handlers done via $(elemment).bind/click/focus/etc or from old school event attributes like onclick=""/onfocus="" etc.
If the request is happening as soon as the page loads
This is going to be a little harder to peg down. You will need to go to the Script tab and start adding break points to every script that runs on load. You do this by clicking on the left side of the line of JavaScript.
Reload your page and your break points should stop the browser from loading the page. Press the 'Continue' button on the script panel. Go to your net panel and see if your request was made, continue till it is found. You can use this to narrow down where the request is being made from by slowly adding more and more break points and then stepping into and out of functions.
What you are looking for in your code
Something that is similar to the following:
var url = workingUrl + someObject['someProperty'];
var url = workingUrl + someObject.someProperty;
Keep in mind that someObject might be an object {}, an array [], or any of the internal browser types. The point is that a property will be accessed that doesn't exist.
I don't see any 404/red requests
Then whatever is causing it isn't being triggered by your tests. Try using more things. The point is you should be able to make the request happen somehow. You just don't know yet. It has to show up in the Net panel. The only time it won't is when you aren't doing whatever triggers it.
Conclusion
There is no super easy way to peg down what exactly is going on. However using the methods I outlined you should be at least be able to get close. It is probably something you aren't even considering.
Based on this post, I reverse-engineered the "Complitly" Chrome Plugin/malware, and found that this extension is injecting an "improved autocomplete" feature that was throwing "undefined" requests at every site that has a input text field with NAME or ID of "search", "q" and many others.
I found also that the enable.js file (one of complitly files) were checking a global variable called "suggestmeyes_loaded" to see if it's already loaded (like a Singleton). So, setting this variable to false disables the plugin.
To disable the malware and stop "undefined" requests, apply this to every page with a search field on your site:
<script type="text/javascript">
window.suggestmeyes_loaded = true;
</script>
This malware also redirects your users to a "searchcompletion.com" site, sometimes showing competitors ADS. So, it should be taken seriously.
You have correctly established that the undefined relates to a JavaScript problem and if your site users haven't complained about seeing error pages, you could check the following.
If JavaScript is used to set or change image locations, it sometimes happens that an undefined makes its way into the URI.
When that happens, the browser will happily try to load the image (no AJAX headers), but it will leave hints: it sets a particular Accept: header; instead of text/html, text/xml, ... it will use image/jpeg, image/png, ....
Once such a header is confirmed, you have narrowed down the problem to images only. Finding the root cause will possibly take some time though :)
Update
To help debugging you could override $.fn.attr() and invoke the debugger when something is being assigned to undefined. Something like this:
(function($, undefined) {
var $attr = $.fn.attr;
$.fn.attr = function(attributeName, value) {
var v = attributeName === 'src' ? value : attributeName.src;
if (v === 'undefined') {
alert("Setting src to undefined");
}
return $attr(attributeName, value);
}
}(jQuery));
Some facts that have been established, especially in this thread: http://productforums.google.com/forum/#!msg/chrome/G1snYHaHSOc/p8RLCohxz2kJ
it happens on pages that have no javascript at all.
this proves that it is not an on-page programming error
the user is unaware of the issue and continues to browse quite happily.
it happens a few seconds after the person visits the page.
it doesn't happen to everybody.
happens on multiple browsers (Chrome, IE, Firefox, Mobile Safari, Opera)
happens on multiple operating systems (Linux, Android, NT)
happens on multiple web servers (IIS, Nginx, Apache)
I have one case of googlebot following the link and claiming the same referrer. They may just be trying to be clever and the browser communicated it to the mothership who then set out a bot to investigate.
I am fairly convinced by the proposal that it is caused by plugins. Complitly is one, but that doesn't support Opera. There many be others.
Though the mobile browsers weigh against the plugin theory.
Sysadmins have reported a major drop off by adding some javascript on the page to trick Complitly into thinking it is already initialized.
Here's my solution for nginx:
location ~ undefined/?$ {
return 204;
}
This returns "yeah okay, but no content for you".
If you are on website.com/some/page and you (somehow) navigate to website.com/some/page/undefined the browser will show the URL as changed but will not even do a page reload. The previous page will stay as it was in the window.
If for some reason this is something experienced by users then they will have a clean noop experience and it will not disturb whatever they were doing.
This sounds like a race condition where a variable is not getting properly initialized before getting used. Considering this is not an AJAX issue according to your comments, there will be a couple of ways of figuring this out, listed below.
Hookup a Javascript exception Logger: this will help you catch just about all random javascript exceptions in your log. Most of the time programmatic errors will bubble up here. Put it before any scripts. You will need to catch these on the server and print them to your logs for analysis later. This is your first line of defense. Here is an example:
window.onerror = function(m,f,l) {
var e = window.encodeURIComponent;
new Image().src = "/jslog?msg=" + e(m) + "&filename=" + e(f) + "&line=" + e(l) + "&url=" + e(window.location.href);
};
Search for window.location: for each of these instances you should add logging or check for undefined concats/appenders to your window.location. For example:
function myCode(loc) {
// window.location.href = loc; // old
typeof loc === 'undefined' && window.onerror(...); //new
window.location.href = loc; //new
}
or the slightly cleaner:
window.setLocation = function(url) {
/undefined/.test(url) ?
window.onerror(...) : window.location.href = url;
}
function myCode(loc) {
//window.location.href = loc; //old
window.setLocation(loc); //new
}
If you are interested in getting stacktraces at this stage take a look at: https://github.com/eriwen/javascript-stacktrace
Grab all unhandled undefined links: Besides window.location The only thing left are the DOM links themselves. The third step is to check all unhandeled DOM links for your invalid URL pattern (you can attach this right after jQuery finishes loading, earlier better):
$("body").on("click", "a[href$='undefined']", function() {
window.onerror('Bad link: ' + $(this).html()); //alert home base
});
Hope this is helpful. Happy debugging.
I'm wondering if this might be an adblocker issue. When I search through the logs by IP address it appears that every request by a particular user to /folder/page.html is followed by a request to /folder/undefined
I don't know if this helps, but my website is replacing one particular *.webp image file with undefined after it's loaded in multiple browsers. Is your site hosting webp images?
I had a similar problem (but with /null 404 errors in the console) that #andrew-martinez's answer helped me to resolve.
Turns out that I was using img tags with an empty src field:
<img src="" alt="My image" data-src="/images/my-image.jpg">
My idea was to prevent browser from loading the image at page load to manually load later by setting the src attribute from the data-src attribute with javascript (lazy loading). But when combined with iDangerous Swiper, that method caused the error.
I have a web service which the customers use by inserting an external JavaScript (hosted on my servers). Recently, due to server outage - the external JavaScript became unavailable and my customers' websites came to a crawl as browser didn't load rest of the website until it loaded the JS (it goes into header of the websites).
I am trying to work out methods so that customers' website don't slow down even if my server goes down and for that I wanted to simulate a condition where the my server isn't responding. Note that if I specify a wrong URL, browser won't load the JS but in case URL is right and server isn't responding, browser will stall loading rest of the page. I want to simulate the last case. Any ideas how can I go about it?
PS: On server side, I am using the LAMP stack.
Create a script that sleeps for a configurably long time
Something like
<?php
$how_long = $_GET['seconds'];
sleep($how_long);
echo "alert('Finished sleeping!');";
?>
Then you just access this script instead, for example by putting this in your HTML code
<script src="http://example.com/hang_for.php?seconds=3600" />. That would sleep for an hour. There will be another timeouts that'll trigger first configured in php.ini, but that's exactly what you want to test, no?
If the "P" in your LAMP is PHP, you could use the sleep function (documented here). Then, have your test page load your PHP script as the source of your Javascript to see what happens.
Did you try looping back the server into itself (or any other HTTP server w/o the webservice on)?
unplugging is pretty drastic, the off-button should do.
Unplug the server. Having no power makes a server unresponsive...