[WEB4LIB] Excel and Netscape

[Thomas Dowling]

This sounds very much like the second server does not know what mime type
to send with .xls files (which I believe is application/vnd.ms-excel).  In
all likelihood, your copy of Apache is set with a default mime type of
text/plain, so that's what it tell the browser when it starts sending this
unknown .xls file.

Netscape honors the text/plain header and tries to display the file as
such.  One of IE's greatest shortcomings is that it is always ready to
second-guess the server's Content-type header and display the incoming URL
the way it thinks is right.  This is a violation of RFC2068 (HTTP 1.1)
7.2.1:

     Any HTTP/1.1 message containing an entity-body SHOULD include a
     Content-Type header field defining the media type of that body. If
     and only if the media type is not given by a Content-Type field, the
     recipient MAY attempt to guess the media type via inspection of its
     content and/or the name extension(s) of the URL used to identify the
     resource. If the media type remains unknown, the recipient SHOULD
     treat it as type "application/octet-stream".

The solution, from your end, is to make sure you've got the correct
association for .xls in your copy of mime.types and then restart Apache.

Thomas Dowling
OhioLINK - Ohio Library and Information Network
tdowling at ohiolink.edu




----- Original Message -----
From: Kevin W. Bishop <bishopk at rpi.edu>
To: Multiple recipients of list <web4lib at webjunction.org>
Sent: Thursday, December 17, 1998 8:03 PM
Subject: [WEB4LIB] Excel and Netscape


>
>I have an Excel file (.xls) for which NNavigator should prompt the user
to
>download the plug-in and MSIE should download directly.  This works at
>present from an AIX/Apache server with a link like this:
><.../folder/folder/excelfile.xls>.
>
>Now I've moved the file to another Apache server and while MSIE downloads
>the file properly, NNavigator no longer prompts for the plug-in but opens
>instead a single, extended line of goobledygook.
>
>Is this a server configuration issue?  A bug in Netscape?
>
>This matter is time-sensitive.  Quick replies will be deeply appreciated.
>
>-kb
>
>__________________________________________
>Kevin W. Bishop
>Campus-Wide Information System Coordinator
>Libraries and Information Services
>Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
>110 8th St. Troy, NY, 12180-3590
>(518) 276-8332   Fax 276-8559
>bishopk at rpi.edu
>http://www.rpi.edu/rpinfo/
>__________________________________________
>
>