117248 - sap.com - Frame with JavaScript appears to be empty.

Status: VERIFIED FIXED

(Tech Evangelism Graveyard :: English Other, defect)

Description

[Andreas Schlager]

At http://service.sap.com/SWCenter-Inst there is at the right side a frame
displayes, which has JavaScript code in it. It should display a navigation-tree
for selecting software to download.
This frame is displayed as almost empty, there is no hint that there should be a
nav-tree.
I tried this with Mozilla 0.9.6 on Linux and 0.9.7 on WinNT 4.0. With Netscape
4.5  (AIX) or IE4.01 (NT4) it works.

I have the source-code of the frame here (taken with the option "View Frame
Source"), if you need it.

-Andy.

Comment 1

[Phil Schwartau]

Yes, Andreas, could you attach the source as a text file, 
via the "Create a New Attachment" link above? It requires a UserID
and password to access http://service.sap.com/SWCenter-Inst.

Before you do this, however - open Tasks > Tools > JavaScript Console.
Clear out any errors from previous websites. Then load
http://service.sap.com/SWCenter-Inst again. Do you see any errors
in the JavaScript Console now? 

If you do, find the file and line number where the error occurred.
It would be helpful if you could attach that file also to this bug. 

Thank you -

Comment 2

[Andreas Schlager]

Attachment: JScript of a frame in http://service.sap.com/SWCenter-Inst

Comment 3

[Andreas Schlager]

Hi,

I've attached you the source of the frame as you wanted. I've checked if there
is a JavaScript error on the JavaScript-console, but there comes no error up.

- Andy.

Comment 4

[Phil Schwartau]

Attachment: Same as above HTML attachment, but with <!DOCTYPE> removed

Comment 5

[Phil Schwartau]

Attachment: Same HTML, with <!DOCTYPE> included

Comment 6

[Phil Schwartau]

Comment on attachment 62966 [details]
Same as above HTML attachment, but with <!DOCTYPE> removed

No good; <base> element is missing

Comment 7

[Phil Schwartau]

Comment on attachment 62967 [details]
Same HTML, with <!DOCTYPE> included

No good; <base> element is missing

Comment 8

[Phil Schwartau]

Attachment: Try again; the given HTML with <base> element added

Comment 9

[Phil Schwartau]

Using Mozilla trunk binary 2001122709 on WinNT. The above attachment
(id=62971, with <base> added) looks the same for me in Mozilla as in IE6.

I see a menu to the left with four items. First item = "Best Practices
for mySAP.com"  Last item = "Workplace Plug-In".

No errors appear in the JavaScript Console. Reassigning to Browser-General,
as no JavaScript Engine issues are apparent here. It won't be easy to 
debug the parent site, as it requires a UserID and password. 

Note there are Evangelism bugs associated with SAP:

Bug 99450
service.sap.com does not work with Mozilla/Netscape

resolved as a duplicate of 

Bug 87489
sap.com - SAP Internet Demo system says "Your browser will be supported soon" 

which is still assigned.

Comment 10

[Phil Schwartau]

Andreas, what do you see when you load attachment id=62971 above?
Does it look the same in Mozilla as in IE? 

It is hard to debug sites one frame at a time, however. Would it be
possible to set up a test account at the site, say with

                   UserID = mozilla
                   Password = bugzilla

That would help us out a lot - thanks.

Comment 11

[Phil Schwartau]

Another Evangelism bug at this site:

Bug 106779
no dtd-reference in page layout is almost unreadable

Comment 12

[Andreas Schlager]

Hi Phil,

the page you submitted seems to be ok.

I've trying to set up a test-account for you, but this takes some time. SAP is
very restrictive in this point...

- Andy.

Comment 13

[Christopher Aillon (sabbatical, not receiving bugmail)]

A test account would be helpful, not only for this bug but for bug 98466 as
well. I have a feeling these two bugs are related.

Any update on the test account, Andreas?

Comment 14

[Brian Clark]

I can confirm this bug on SAP's site. My company is an SAP customer and I have
an OSS ID to login here. The issue is the same as this page on the SAP site as
well: http://service.sap.com/swcenter-main

I don't think it is the same as bug 98466. Bug 98466 is related to an SAP
product, and this bug is related to SAP's Customer support website.

If Andreas can't setup an account, I will see if I can create an ID for bugzilla
testers to login to the site. The problem is that this is an SAP customer
support site, and SAP customers can't just create an ID as you have suggested.
There is a whole set of security that has to be configured with it.

Comment 15

[Andreas Schlager]

Hi,

finally I got an acoount at SAP.
login: S0002425137
password: e607a907

I keep this account open as long it is needed.

Andreas.

Comment 16

[Phil Schwartau]

Andreas: thank you for providing a test account!!!
Confirming bug and reassigning to Layout -

When I load the site using Mozilla binary 20020116xx on WinNT,
I see exactly what Andreas has reported. Since the navigation
frame BY ITSELF seems to load OK (see attachment id=62971 above),
this is a mystery to me. 

I still see no errors in the JavaScript Console. The missing content
is written as a series of <tr> elements inside a table. The DOM Inspector
shows that our content model contains the first row of the table
("SAP Installations & Upgrades"):

<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" 
bgcolor="#003366">
<!-- set infocenter name -->
<tr>
<td align="center" colspan="3" width="258" height="38" nowrap 
class="current-node">
<a href="javascript:callInfocenter()" class="infocenter-name" title="Back to 
entry page for this content area"
onmouseover="return status='Back to entry page for this content area';" 
onmouseout="return status=' ';">SAP Installations &amp; Upgrades</a>
<br>
<a href="http://service.sap.com/swcenter-inst" target="_top" class="Quicklink" 
title="Right mouse click to add this content area to your browser favorites">
<script>getAliasURL()</script></a>
</td>
</tr>


But the DOM Inspector doesn't have any of the following rows. For example,
the very next row: 


<!-- top images ------------------------------------->
<tr><td align="left" valign="top" bgcolor="#003366" height="37" colspan="3" 
style="background-image:url(/~sapidb/002006825000000585412001E.jpg);background-l
ocation:top;background-repeat:no-repeat;"><img
src="/~sapidb/002006825000000585402001E.gif" alt="" width="30" height="20" 
border="0"></td></tr>
<tr><td>


So for some reason Mozilla is not including these subsquent rows in 
the content model. NN4.7 and IE6 do.

Comment 17

[timeless]

if you count the -'s after 'top images', you'll see it's one more than a 
multiple of four.  which means you have <!--[comment start] top images 
[lotsofnops]-> no comment terminator yet.

Comment 18

[Phil Schwartau]

I believe timeless is right. Reassigning to Tech Evangelism to get this 
mistake corrected in the site's HTML.

From http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/intro/sgmltut.html#h-3.2.4 :

3.2.4 Comments
HTML comments have the following syntax:

<!-- this is a comment -->
<!-- and so is this one,
     which occupies more than one line -->

White space is not permitted between the markup declaration open delimiter("<!")
and the comment open delimiter ("--"), but is permitted between the comment
close delimiter ("--") and the markup declaration close delimiter (">").
A common error is to include a string of hyphens ("---") within a comment. 
Authors should avoid putting two or more adjacent hyphens inside comments.


cc'ing timeless; I just have one question for everyone: why is it that
this site renders OK in NN4.7 and IE6? Is it that Mozilla/N6 is stricter
about enforcing this principle? 

Comment 19

[Christopher Hoess (gone)]

When we're in strict mode, we apply the correct comment parsing (which we relax 
for quirks mode).  Maybe other browsers don't consider a frameset DTD with system 
identifier strict, which we do.

Comment 20

[Brian Clark]

I submitted this information to SAP via the "Feedback" link on the
http://service.sap.com/swcenter-inst page. I copied in Timeless' comments as
well as the W3C link posted by Phil. Other people (especially SAP Customers)
should notify SAP as well, as the more people that complain, the faster they
will look at fixing this problem.

Comment 21

[Andreas Schlager]

Christopher, I think, the end-user shouldn't have to care if the browser is in
strict or in quirks-mode.
The browser should display the site he is visiting as good as possible, no
matter about what's wrong, that's all.
It should be as fault-tolerant as possible, I think.

Andreas.

Comment 22

[Bob Clary [:bc] (inactive)]

temporarily mark with eapp even though this is evang so I can find it again.

Comment 23

[Heikki Toivonen (remove -bugzilla when emailing directly)]

Major corporations depend on eapp bugs, and need them to be fixed before they
can recommend Mozilla-based products to their customers. Adding nsbeta1+ keyword
and making sure the bugs get re-evaluated if they are targeted beyond 1.0.

Comment 24

[Bob Clary [:bc] (inactive)]

eapp was incorrectly used to change this to nsbeta1+. Evang bugs should not be
nominated. Removing nsbeta1+

Comment 25

[Brian Clark]

This has been fixed! I don't have the ability to change the STATUS of this bug,
but someone who does can change it to resolved. I received notification from SAP
that they fixed the problem, and I tested it myself. It now works as it should.

Evangelism works! :-)

Comment 26

[Christopher Hoess (gone)]

Your wish, &etc.

Comment 27

[Brant Gurganus]

Cannot verify, requires login.

Comment 28

[Brian Clark]

The userid and password are available in comment # 15 in this bug. It is also
listed in the status whiteboard field.

Comment 29

[Brant Gurganus]

Thanks, verified
2002022203/WinXP

Comment 30

[Michael Gabriel]

*** Bug 118712 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Comment 31

[Pascal Chevrel:pascalc (PTO until April 26)]

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