CGI scripts and 'changing' BASEHREF?

[dtop]

Hi,

For the past week or so my client has been calling me to tell me his catalog is "broken". It appears that an incorrect BASEHREF is appearing in the cgi scripts.

Here's the site - click on Special Offers and see if the search results look ok to you (no broken image links etc?):

GasflameDirect

The correct BASE reference is:
http://www.gasflamedirect.com/shop/acatalog/

The faulty scripts have a different BASE reference:
http://www.gasflamedirect.com/acatalog/

The only temporary solution I've found is to change the CGI script number in Network Setup and re-upload the scripts - but it always changes back when my customer does a product update/upload.

Any help appreciated!


All the best
Shaun

[NormanRouxel]

Looks OK to me.

There are often different Primary template for various sections of the site. Look in Design / Options / Layouts / Primary Templates and make sure they all use the correct BASEHREF code. Your clinet and you may be out of sync there.

[dtop]

Norman,

Thanks, but they all use the same basic template: Centered Primary Template which appears to create the HTML pages with the correct BASEHREF code.

The static HTML pages are all okay - its only the CGI script generated pages that appear to exhibit this behaviour, and from what you tell me (you can see it all fine) its not happening for everyone.

Could this be a browser issue? (not that anything has changed in that respect for either mine or my client's PC's)


All the best
Shaun

[Nadeem]

Hi there

The BASEHREF is taken from the "Catalog URL" in "Advance | Network Setup". Try checking your client. Also it possible that a session file is corrupted, which will also contact the basehref. Try going into "Advance | Troubleshooting" and click on "Purge Session Files". Remember this will remove everyone shopping cart, so do this its a quiet time

Kind Regards

[dtop]

Nadeem,

Thanks for the advice. It worked temporarily, however a couple of days later the problem returned

Each time I cure it, it returns shortly afterwards!

It seems the Actinic cookie is being incorrectly set in IE on a regular basis, however there is nothing in the Network Setup that includes this incorrect path that is being used by the CGI scripts.

It's really driving me mad - any additional advice would be much appreciated

[James M SellerDeck]

Hi there

It just seems it the search results page that is not getting the correct BASEHREF values...

Can you have a look in Design|Options|Layouts, and for the Primary templates, click Edit and see if the are using the same BASEHREF value, the results page BASEHREF is controlled by the Checkout Pages Layout if no results are returned - so it would be worth checking these aswell.

[dtop]

Hi James,

Thanks for the reply.

They all use the same template Centered Primary Template which has the following BASE HTML code:

<Actinic:BASEHREF VALUE="NETQUOTEVAR:BASEHREF"/>

Additionally, when I hard-code the BASE HREF into the template it DOES NOT effect the CGI generated search results HTML code, so it doesn't look like the CGI script gets its BASE reference from this template?

Can anyone from Actinic shed any light on how the CGI scripts determine the BASE HREF for their HTML code?

Any other thoughts?


All the best
Shaun

[TraceyG]

Hi,

One thing you might want to check are any links from other sites to this one. If the link points to 'http://www.gasflamedirect.com/acatalog/' then this can cause problems with the base href as it sets this in the online session file for the customer. It all seems to be working ok for me.

[dtop]

Tracey,

Thanks for your thoughts but AFAIK there are no such links into the site and it still happens even when I've removed all IE's temp files, restarted the browser, and start directly from the GasflameDirect homepage (no other referring site/page).

All the best
Shaun

[TraceyG]

Hi Martin,

OK, it was just a thought.

The only temporary solution I've found is to change the CGI script number in Network Setup and re-upload the scripts - but it always changes back when my customer does a product update/upload.

Am I right in thinking that this problem only occurs after your customer updates the site and is fixed when you update the site?

When you change the script ID number do you get your client to do the same?

[webyourbusiness]

have you checked the Act_PrimaryCheckout.html as well?

[dtop]

Tracey: My apologies, changing the script number doesn't actually change things - removing all the cache files from IE cures it for a while, but it does return as Actinic appears to persistantly set the incorrect BASE ref in cookie.

webyourbusiness: All three primary templates have the same BASE HTML code (Act_Primary.html, Act_PrimaryCheckout.html, Act_PrimaryLeft.html):

<Actinic:BASEHREF VALUE="NETQUOTEVAR:BASEHREF"/>

How is the cookie set in the first place, the first time you call-up a script - could it be hard-coded into the cookie?

All the best
Shaun

[TraceyG]

Hi Martin,

could it be hard-coded into the cookie?

No, otherwise why would it work sometimes. The cookie is created when you first run a script and the base href value is added at that point.

Just in case something has become corrupt, have you tried going to the 'Help' menu and selecting 'Troubleshooting'. If you are using v7.0.2 or higher there is a 'Web Site Purge and Refresh' button at the bottom. Use this and tick both options and this will replace your scripts with the original ones and delete the *.cats and *.fils from your server.

If you are using v7.0.1 then you will have to do this manually, by opening windows explorer and browsing to your site folder. Delete the *.cat, *.fil, *.pl, *.pm and *.cgi files. Then copy the *.pl and *.pm files from the 'actinic v7\original\' folder and paste them back into your site folder. Then ftp to the server and remove the *.cat and *.fil files from the '\shop\acatalog\' folder and also the '**000002.cgi' and the '**000002.pm' files from your cgi-bin folder. Then go to the 'Web' menu in the software and select 'Refresh' website'.

Please note that both of these options will replace your scripts with the original actinic scripts so if you have made any customisations you will need to re-apply them.

If this does not solve the issue then it will need some further investigation so I would suggest registering a support query here so we can get a copy of your snapshot to run some further tests.

[webyourbusiness]

webyourbusiness: All three primary templates have the same BASE HTML code (Act_Primary.html, Act_PrimaryCheckout.html, Act_PrimaryLeft.html):

<Actinic:BASEHREF VALUE="NETQUOTEVAR:BASEHREF"/>

yes - on your machine they do - but this goes wonky when the client uploads right? Are you 100% sure that the client's templates match yours - 100% ?

SOMETHING has got to be different... it has to be...

[dtop]

webyourbusiness: I don't run Actinic at my office; I VPN into my clients' network and run it on his server directly (there is only one copy of Actinic on the go).

Tracey: I've done a complete purge and refresh as suggested and it didn't help - I've also purged session files, etc. and still no joy, so it's probably time to start a ticket and get more in-depth with it.

Many thanks
Shaun