Error: The input is NULL

[cdicken]

Taliesyn

All that happens for me is that Actinic just brings up the same stage of the checkout in the new window

Are you definitely just linking to os000001.pl without any of the parameters that comes after it.

[taliesyn]

Originally posted by cdicken
Are you definitely just linking to os000001.pl without any of the parameters that comes after it.

Definitely. No parameters whatsoever.

I'll e-mail you a link if that's OK. I'd be grateful if you could give it a quick test and maybe let me know if I'm doing something wrong. Thanks.

[rmladden]

That is what happened on my web site too when I was testing it. That is why I asked about DisplayPage.

[cdicken]

I didn't get the error either. I'll get back to the development team.

Chris

[Laylah]

quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Edit Actinic.pm.

Search for 'Input is Null', you will see...

return ($::FAILURE, "The input is NULL", '', '', 0, 0);

replace this line with...
return ($::FAILURE, .
"The input is NULL <p><b>No data has been received.</b>" .
"<br>This may be due to a known bug in a Microsoft run time file." .
"<br>The bug along with the solution is described <a href='http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=831167'
target=_blank>" ."here</a>.", '', '', 0, 0);

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


In addition to the spurious full-stop after "$::Failure, -- no one responded to this so I assume it is spurious -- am I also correct in assuming that an html end-paragraph should be inserted as follows

target=_blank>" ."here</a>.</p>", '', '', 0, 0);

As I am a relative novice with both html and scripts I would be grateful for confirmation.

[Mike Hughes]

I'm fairly sure HTML end paragraphs (</p>) are pretty much optional and are really only need when the paragraph has an applied style.

I wouldn't worry about that one.

Mike

[gcamley]

I have corrected the patch and attached a replacement MS_Bug_Workround.txt on the Belle.

Anyone that has the original version needs to do the following: -

Edit OrderScript.pl
Search for 'sub ValidateInput'
Scroll down to...

my @Response = DisplayPage($sError, 1, $eDirection); # redisplay this page with the error messages

and remove the word 'my' so that it now reads...

@Response = DisplayPage($sError, 1, $eDirection); # redisplay this page with the error messages

Save and exit
Update the site.

My sincere apologies for the inconvenience caused by the error in the patch.

[rmladden]

Originally posted by gcamley
and remove the word 'my' so that it now reads...

@Response = DisplayPage($sError, 1, $eDirection); # redisplay this page with the error messages

Thanks for working it. I noticed it goes to the second order page now, which is good most of the time. I was able to force the error where it got to the second checkout page without knowing the shipping destination. That got confusing. So I changed the quoted line to
@Response = DisplayPage($sError, 0, $eDirection); # redisplay this page with the error messages

That seems brings it to the first checkout page.

[gcamley]

You are correct as the first checkout page is sequence zero and not 1 so the correct code is as you stated...

@Response = DisplayPage($sError, 0, $eDirection);

[Blitzen]

My NULL INPUT Error was Not Browser Related

I don't understand how this can be the browser or M$ anything because this happened to my Actinc v.5 all of a sudden.

I was using the same browser (IE 6.0.28 and other version) as always and the error you explain started showing up. This was tested on by my associate, too. Now it works - same computer, OS and same browser version.

After several frustrating refreshes, manual script uploads, etc., the site finally started working. (No, we do not have any auto updated enabled from M$ that would have updated the browser.) So far, I think there have been no problems. I hope.

[pinbrook_nick]

We have servers running Apache, and I have just upped the keep-alive timeout settings from 15 seconds to 60. I'll post results of this helping or not. Although I'll also be monitoring to see if the server gets a heavier load or not.

[pinbrook_nick]

Incidentally, has anyone contacted Microsoft about this yet? They are obviously aware of the bug, but maybe not the extent to which it is causing mayhem. All they would need to do to correct the problem is re-categorise the 831167 hotfix as critical. This would result in the computers that applied the buggy critical update that caused the problem in the first place, automatically downloading and installing the 831167 fix. It seems obvious that it is mostly people who have critical update notification running who got the problem.

Perhaps if Actinic contacted Microsoft, it would carry a little more weight?

[rmladden]

Originally posted by rmladden
We should be very angry at Microsoft. Their critical fix 832894 broke a basic IE function. Most people installed it. The fixing fix 831167 is not even on the recommended update list. Like most, my computer only has 832894 installed. Everybody would need to install 831167 manually.

831167 is now on the critical list. It should install automatically. The problem should be gone soon.

[Blitzen]

Losing Sales: Any Progess?

Compared with our non-Actinic websites, our Actinic ones are significantly lower compared with last year. Periodically, a customers phones to say they cannot check out at our Actinic stores. We are using v5 but this topic is the only one mentioning this serious problem.

We agree with Mike that a message to update the browser is not an acceptable practice for successful companies.

Has there been any progess on this issue?

[rmladden]

Since fix 831167 made it to the critical list, this problem is no longer severe. I have seen this error happen only 3 times in May. I added some code to trap the error and log it in my server log since it does not show up in Actinic’s error.err.

I suggest you add ‘<img src='null_error.gif' height=1 width=1>’ to the display error message to see how often this error is happening to you. It shows up as "file does not exists error" in the server log. You may have another problem.

I have attached my version of the beginning of the ValidateInput routine in OrderScript.pl that catches the error.