172437 - Problem with rendering Deltek Time Collection

Status: RESOLVED INCOMPLETE

(Core Graveyard :: Java: OJI, defect)

Description

[Peter Lewis]

My apologies in advance for my ignorance.  The problem is that my employer
purchased and is using a Web App call Deltek time collection
(http://deltek.com).  It works in IE and Netscape 4.79 fine, but does not render
in mozilla nor netscape 7.  From the Deltek website, they say they are using
J2EE and EJB.  I'm using the java SDK 1.4.1 downloaded from java.sun.com.  Also
I tried this on my linux laptop with the same success.  Not sure if this is
related to some other problem with java, but could not find anything in other
reports.

Comment 1

[Matthias Versen [:Matti]]

-> Oji and no blocker.

Can do much without testcase

Comment 2

[Patty Mac]

Chris Petersen is a new QA contact for oji component. His email is:
[e-mail]

Comment 3

[Matthias Versen [:Matti]]

fixing small error for [e-mail] (filter with : SPAMMAILSUCKS)

Comment 4

[hbueno]

We too have started using Deltek Timecard Entry  and have the same exact
problem.  I've tried Build 2002101612 on Win2k and 98 with the same results.
Login dialog is slightly messed up and the main page doesn't display properly at
all.  Both PC's have Java plug-in 1.4. I've sent an email to Deltek about this.

You can view the login page at timecard.roe.com.  Unfortunately, I can't give a
login username/password to see the main page.

Comment 5

[Joshua Xia]

reassign to me

Comment 6

[David A. Wheeler]

I'm also having the same problem; my employer uses Deltek to collect
timesheet data, and I cannot use Mozilla or Netscape 7 to access it.
Netscape 4 and IE work fine.

This problem is a MAJOR BLOCKER at some businesses against using
Mozilla/Netscape 7+.  If an employee can't enter their timesheet data,
they probably won't get paid.

When I request "Help/About", I receive the following information:
 Deltek Time Collection
 DHTML client - Version 4.0
 Copyright (C) 2001 Deltek Systems Inc.
 All rights reserved.

As others have reported, the login screen doesn't display correctly
and the main (data entry) screen is completely hosed, with no hope of
rendering.

Deltek's "Time Collection User - DHTML version" is actually
"one of 3 browser-based time collection applications" that Deltek sells.
My organization used to use the version that required Java at the client end,
but we now use the DHTML version instead. I suspect Deltek is now
pushing the DHTML instead.  Deltek trumpets as an advantage in their
help system that, in their DHTML version, "No Java plug-in required."

The company's name is "Deltek Systems, Inc."
Some information about the product is at:
http://www.deltek.com/deltekweb.asp?id=75
They claim over 325,000 users.

I'll see if I can post some of the HTML that is causing the problems.

Comment 7

[David A. Wheeler]

Here's the company address:

Deltek Headquarters
13880 Dulles Corner Lane
Herndon, VA 20171
703/734-8606
800/456-2009
fax [phone]

Comment 8

[David A. Wheeler]

Attachment: The login screen for "Deltek Time Collection" (DHTML version) - bad rendering

This is a tar file of the Deltek Time Collection (DHTML version) login
screen.  I created this by logging in via Windows NT, running Netscape 7,
and doing a "save as" (entire page), then I created a tar file of the
resulting files.

Comment 9

[David A. Wheeler]

Here are a few more comments about the login screen I just uploaded.

The "bad rendering" of the DHTML version's login screen is as follows:
The labels of the text fields show up to the RIGHT (not the left) of the
data entry fields, and aren't lined up with the entry fiesl.  The
"ok" and "cancel" buttons are mispaled as well.
The "ok" button is near the right, and the "cancel" button is actually
on top of the bounding box for the login display.

This particular problem (the login screen) is merely ugly, not fatal, but
it should be fixed... and more importantly, it may give you a clue why
the main data entry screen is so messed up.

Comment 10

[David A. Wheeler]

Attachment: Deltek Time Collection (DHTML) main entry screen - hopeless rendering - "save as" from Netscape 7

This is tar.gz file of the main entry screen for Deltek Time Collection
(DHTML version).  It was collected by running Netscape 7 on Windows NT, but
the same problem happens on Mozilla regardless of the OS.

The rendering of this page is, frankly, completely hopeless, and makes it
impossible to use the timesheet application.
Instead of a grid of entries (showing project number, project name, and
a 2-week period of cells that let you enter hours), with a useful menu
bar on top, you get an oddly-placed menu bar, with nearly randomly placed
top-level elements around it; below, is a single column with the
title "Line".

The application works on Netscape 4.5.	However, loading these files back
into Netscape 4.5 will result in a better - but still unusable - rendering,
and loading these very files into IE 5 results in the same unusable display.
My guess is that application delivers different files depending on what
it thinks the browser does.

Whew!  I hope all this helps.

Comment 11

[David A. Wheeler]

Attachment: DeltekTime Collection (DHTML version), main entry screen, "save as" from Internet Explorer 5

This set of files (.tar.gz) was created using "save as" from
Internet Explorer 5 on a Windows NT machine.  Deltek delivers a different
file to IE.  IE can re-render this display offline fine; Netscape 7
(and thus Mozilla) can't. This shows that simply changing displays to
"fool" Deltek that it's Internet Explorer won't work.

Comment 12

[Aaron Lawrence]

Sorry, I cannot use these examples. 
In Mozilla or IE the first one renders as a couple of unlabelled entry fields
with two images of buttons randomly located.

The main entry screen doesn't render at all in IE 6 and you haven't downloaded
all the source from the other frames for Mozilla to show it.

A more useful idea might be screenshots of the pages in IE vs Mozilla, but
realistically, you'll have to give someone access to your login or a demo login.
Otherwise this will go nowhere.

Chances are very high it uses IE specific features anyway.

Comment 13

[Carl M. Springer, Jr.]

We experienced the same problem.  After a bit of research, we determined the 
cause was the webserver did not send the proper MIME type for the stylesheet 
used in the app.  IE apparently forgives this and figured it out, but Firefox 
did not.

Add this to your Time Collection server's web.xml:
 
  <mime-mapping>
  <extension>css</extension> 
  <mime-type>text/css</mime-type> 
  </mime-mapping>

My file was in c:\bea\deltek\applications\TC\DeltekTC\WEB-INF

You will need to restart the weblogic server after making this change.

Comment 14

[Peter Lewis]

Has anyone contacted Deltek, so they can incorperate this into a patch or something?

Comment 16

[David A. Wheeler]

I'd like Firefox to be modified so that it ALSO wasn't as sensitive to getting the right MIME type.  Carl M. Springer, Jr. says: "the webserver did not send the proper MIME type for the stylesheet used in the app.  IE apparently forgives this and figured it out, but Firefox did not."  I think Firefox should also forgive this; Firefox forgives many other errors in HTML, because the real world is messy.  Yes, web servers should be correct.  But leave validation to the W3C tools (which I recommend); browser users typically cannot change what the web servers are sending.  People will give up using Firefox if they can't get paid.

Comment 17

[Benjamin Smedberg]

Mass-closing bugs in the "OJI" component: OJI plugin integration was replaced with npruntime long ago, and these bugs appear to be irrelevant now. If there is in fact a real bug that remains, please file it new in the "Core" product, component "Plug-ins".