redirect with Anchor Tag in IE

The following PHP code snippet works in Firefox and Opera but NOT
Internet Explorer (I'm using IE v 6.0.2xxx)


$url =
"http://www.theredirectsite.com/testpage.php?IDa=162&IDb=19909#AT2";
header("Location: " . $url); /* Redirect browser */
exit;

The Anchor Tag: "#AT2" generates a 505 error in Explorer. When the
Anchor Tag [#AT2] is removed from the URL everything works fine.
Any thoughts on a workaround?

> The following PHP code snippet works in Firefox and Opera but NOT[color=blue]
> Internet Explorer (I'm using IE v 6.0.2xxx)
>
> $url =
> "http://www.theredirectsite.com/testpage.php?IDa=162&IDb=19909#AT2";
> header("Location: " . $url); /* Redirect browser */
> exit;
>
> The Anchor Tag: "#AT2" generates a 505 error in Explorer. When the
> Anchor Tag [#AT2] is removed from the URL everything works fine.
> Any thoughts on a workaround?[/color]

That's strange. Using your exact code there (simply changing the url),
it worked perfectly fine for me in IE. Maybe try replacing the # sign
with %23 instead, though I doubt that will fix the problem. I don't see
why it wouldn't work though.

Thanks for your comments. Here's the exact URL although I don't think
that makes a difference....

<?
// next line doesn't work in IE (but works in Firefox and Opera)
$url =
"http://www.giuseppeverdi.it/Inglese/page.asp?IDCategoria=162&IDSezione=581&ID=19909#AT 2";
// when uncommented the next line works in IE
//$url =
"http://www.giuseppeverdi.it/Inglese/page.asp?IDCategoria=162&IDSezione=581&ID=19909";
header("Location: " . $url); /* Redirect browser */
exit;
?>

BTW: It generates a 500 error in IE not 505.

Thanks for your comments. Here's the exact URL although I don't think
that makes a difference....

<?
// next line doesn't work in IE (but works in Firefox and Opera)
$url =
"http://www.giuseppeverdi.it/Inglese/page.asp?IDCategoria=162&IDSezione=581&ID=19909#AT 2";
// when uncommented the next line works in IE
//$url =
"http://www.giuseppeverdi.it/Inglese/page.asp?IDCategoria=162&IDSezione=581&ID=19909";
header("Location: " . $url); /* Redirect browser */
exit;
?>

BTW: It generates a 500 error in IE not 505.

An anonymous being wrote:
[color=blue]
> $url =
> "http://www.theredirectsite.com/testpage.php?IDa=162&IDb=19909#AT2";
> header("Location: " . $url); /* Redirect browser */
> exit;
>
> The Anchor Tag: "#AT2" generates a 50[0] error in Explorer. When the
> Anchor Tag [#AT2] is removed from the URL everything works fine.[/color]

I can't reproduce your problem with my Internet Explorer web
browser (version 6.0.2600.0000IC, Windows 98). Could you
provide a URI to a test case? The error is maybe peculiar
to your server's response.

HTTP/1.1 does not, in fact, permit a fragment identifier as
part of the URI in a Location header. Its errata, however,
corrects this mistake; and I imagine the next version will
include the revision. But because browser developers
understand the spirit of the protocol, not just its exact
words, most browsers can handle such URIs.
[color=blue]
> Any thoughts on a workaround?[/color]

Not at this time; sorry.

--
Jock

Jock,

This is the actual URL [the one with the Anchor Tag] in question:

<?
// next line doesn't work in IE (but works in Firefox and Opera)
$url =
"http://www.giuseppeverdi.it/Inglese/page.asp?IDCategoria=162&IDSezione=581&ID=19909#AT 2";
// when uncommented the next line works in IE
//$url =
"http://www.giuseppeverdi.it/Inglese/page.asp?IDCategoria=162&IDSezione=581&ID=19909";
header("Location: " . $url); /* Redirect browser */
exit;
?>

thanks....

An anonymous being wrote:
[color=blue]
> This is the actual URL [the one with the Anchor Tag] in question:[/color]

[ ... ]

Sorry, I meant the original URI, the one from which you are
redirecting. My reason for asking is that another part of
the response might be causing the problem. I suspect that
it's just a quirk in your browser though.

--
Jock

Jock,

Here's the URI:
http://www.allaboutopera.com/opera_r...opera_ndx=1358

The redirects in question are the "libretto" links -- Act 1, Act 2,
etc. Each of those links passes an Anchor Tag.
Thanks for your help.....

An anonymous being wrote:
[color=blue]
> http://www.allaboutopera.com/opera_r...opera_ndx=1358
>
> The redirects in question are the "libretto" links -- Act 1, Act 2,
> etc.[/color]

I get an error with my IE too, but not if I key the address
in directly. Turn off friendly error messages (Tools >
Internet Options > Advanced) and you instead get some
Italian text, after which you can press refresh to retrieve
the page.

You could, of course, miss out the middle man: rather than
linking to the horrible-looking

http://www.allaboutopera.com/redir/i...rl=http%3A%2F%
2Fwww.giuseppeverdi.it%2FInglese%2Fpage.asp%3FIDCa tegoria%3D
162%26IDSezione%3D581%26ID%3D19909%23AT1

link to the not quite so horrible-looking

http://www.giuseppeverdi.it/Inglese/...DCategoria=162
&IDSezione=581&ID=19909#AT1

IE does handle #s in Location URIs though; you can try it
yourself. I don't know why this redirect is any different.
Since the problem seems to be specific to IE, and it's off-
topic here, I'd consult an IE newsgroup. (They have a
separate group for this because it's not worth including IE
in discussions of proper browsers.)

--
Jock

:eek: Unfortunately, when PHP takes the string argument in the header() function, it does not properly pass the '#' pound sign to the header. The best solution for this is to return a blank page (or a 'you are being redirected, click here if you don't go there) with a META redirect in the head of the returned document. i.e. HTTP-EQUIV=Refresh CONTENT=0;url_to_redirect_to

Passing a blank page shouldn't affect any processing in the page, especially if your script buffers the output.

-~Cheers~-