LDN - Luminis Developer Network

Hi folks,

We're having a nightmare issue involving user ability to download/view attachments. In particular, from users with Macs and anyone using Firefox. Our users are getting quite frustrated, and this problem is reproducible both in our production III.2 environment as well as our test III.3 server. Here's a summary from testing here (predominantely Mac focused, with some PC findings for Firefox at the end):

We have seen and had dozens complaints from students and faculty regarding the inability of Mac users to open attachments in their portal email. Below are the configurations that we have tested:

Test files:
.doc 111kb, 35kb and 24kb
.pdf 3MB
.ppt 1MB and 15kb
.xls 110kb and 19kb

Operating Systems:
OS 10.4.8 (The most current and most common Mac OS that we see, the same behaviors have been seen in 10.3.)

Safari 2.0.4
In most cases a 1kb file is downloaded to desktop; double-clicking the file opens the proper program but the document contains only the text “Bad request, your browser sent a query that server could not understand.” This occurs in .doc, .xls, and .ppt files in Office 2004. The attachments were sent from Outlook 2003.

Was able to open a 19kb .xls file and 24kb .doc (one character of text)
.pdf files seem to do okay.

Safari settings: Java and JavaScript are enabled (the default settings). Pop-ups are not blocked and Cookies are set to be received “Only from sites you navigate to.” These are all default settings. I’ve tried it with the “Open “safe” files after downloading” feature enabled and disabled. No toolbars are installed or any add-ons.

Firefox 1.5.0.7
In most cases a 1kb file is downloaded to desktop; double-clicking the file opens the proper program but the document contains only the text “Bad request, Your browser sent a query that server could not understand.” Same results if you choose to open with appropriate application. This occurs in .doc, .xls, and .ppt files in Office 2004. The attachments were sent from Outlook 2003.

Was able to open a 19kb .xls file and 24kb .doc (one character of text)
.pdf files seem to do okay.

Firefox settings: Java and JavaScript are enabled (the default settings). Pop-ups are not blocked and Cookies are allowed. No toolbars are installed or any other add-ons.

Netscape 7.2
You get a dialog box with options “Open with” or “Save.” If you choose to Open with Word you get the 1kb file/Bad Request; if you save file to desktop you get “could not be saved because an unknown error occurred” when it tries to save. Otherwise, same behavior as browsers above, including ability to open small .doc and .xls files and any .pdf file.

Netscape settings: Java and JavaScript are enabled (the default settings). Pop-ups are not blocked and Cookies set allowed. There are no toolbars or other add-ons installed.

Observations:
Behavior is essentially the same in all browsers. Interestingly, small (too small to be useful) .doc and .xls files seem to work okay, but not small .ppt files. PDF is good across all browsers.

I have done some of the same testing with other browsers (Camino, iCab, Opera) and results seem to be the same, though I have not tested as thoroughly; however, I have never had a call or walk-in case at the Help Desk of anyone using these browsers. I also have not done extensive testing in OS 9 (no longer supported by Apple) or using IE 5.5 (no longer supported by Microsoft) on OS 9 or 10. The little that I have done has had the same results. I don’t believe I’ve had a call this semester from anyone using OS 9. Anyone that calls using IE in OS 10 for any application, we recommend they stop using it and switch to Safari or Firefox.

On the PC side, we're experiencing extensive problems with the Firefox community. (“Bad request, Your browser sent a query that server could not understand.”) What's really maddening is it's rather inconsistent. On my personal workstation, I can download all attachments EXCEPT word documents. Excel spreadsheets work just fine...for me. For many, they don't.

Our assumption is that the Luminis community hasn't had their user base go through complex gyrations to set up their browser of choice to some magical configuration that works with Luminis. Based on this assumption, we have to then look at a configuration issue with Luminis. So, my question to you is, have any of you had these issues? And if so, what steps did you take to resolve them?

Thanks,
Jerry