Dynamic Ajax Content crashes Firefox

[avdistribution]

1) Script Title:
Dynamic Ajax Content
2) Script URL (on DD):
http://www.dynamicdrive.com/dynamici...jaxcontent.htm
3) Describe problem:

I'm setting this up to include a pdf brochure on a site and it works fine in IE 8 but keeps crashing FF v3.5.16. (I'm still using an older version because the latest one didn't seem as stable)

You can see the page in question here:
http://essentials-hairandbeauty.co.uk/2services.aspx.
The links are in the left column.

[jscheuer1]

I moved this from Bug Reports as it works here in Firefox 3.6.15, which is the latest version I'm aware of, unless you mean a beta 4 version.

In any case, the script itself works fine in Firefox, so it's likely this is something with your browser, and/or your implementation of the script.

There are a number of errors as regards mime type of some of the stylesheets involved (these are not loaded), as well as quite a number of standards issues in both the markup and (the ones that get used) styles.

Fixing these may or may not help. As I say it works in Firefox here. What exactly would I have to do to get Firefox 3.6.15 to crash? I tried several of the AJAX links, no real problem. The layout is odd, but no crashes.

There is also this error:

Error: uncaught exception: [Exception... "Component returned failure code: 0x80004003 (NS_ERROR_INVALID_POINTER) [nsIDOMHTMLUListElement.appendChild]" nsresult: "0x80004003 (NS_ERROR_INVALID_POINTER)" location: "JS frame :: http://essentials-hairandbeauty.co.uk/2services.aspx :: <TOP_LEVEL> :: line 753" data: no]

Nothing at that line though that suggests a possible cause.

[avdistribution]

Thanks, John.
I'm sure you're right and it's a local problem. I did try a box with FF 3.6 on it, but that wouldn't display an embedded pdf at all because of a setting in FF. I expect problems with IE, but usually when FF chokes, it's because I did something wrong...........
Not sure if it's significant, but the first link opens fine; it's when I hit another link it crashes everytime.
Some of the strange code/errors are most likely because this was built with the Office Live Small Business editor, which has many quirks and produces some odd code.

[jscheuer1]

I tried several, no problem.

If you're displaying PDF, then the Adobe plug in might be at issue - it may need to be upgraded or perhaps configured differently.

However, AJAX isn't the best way to show a PDF on the web. They do best in their own window (preferred), or in a pinch, in an iframe, or as you have it, in an object. Rather than fetch a page with a different object on it via AJAX, try just changing the src attribute of an iframe, use the actual PDF file, or changing the data attribute of the object tag, again using the actual PDF file.

[jscheuer1]

Later . . . I have a virtual machine running Windows XP. I installed Firefox 3.5.16 on it, along with Adobe PDF Reader 10. Still no problems after several 'page' changes.

Perhaps the problems you had with Firefox 3.6.15 were due to similar issues as are giving this trouble in your 3.5.16 version.

In any case, on the Firefox website they say (emphasis added, from - http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/...s+version&as=s):

This article describes how to install a previous version of Firefox, a process also known as "downgrading". For instructions on how to install a newer version, see Updating Firefox.

Problems after upgrading Firefox are generally not caused by the new version itself, but rather the upgrade process. Installing a previous version will not help for most problems. Some common issues include:

* Can't access websites anymore
* "Firefox can't connect securely..." error

Other problems can be solved by creating a new profile.

If you find none of these things work and you still want to downgrade to a previous version, you can do so by downloading and running a previous version's installer.

I did discover that the default install of Adobe Reader doesn't display your PDF files very well in the object. Perhaps you need to save them in the page formating you wish to display them in (requires PDF authoring software). The Adobe authoring software can force the reader to use these settings for PDF files saved with them.

The way it is now, I have to change the default display to 'single page continuous' and 'use system setting' (96 dpi) in order to get them to fit and paginate well (in the case of the 'Your body' one) in the space alloted by the object tag/index division combo in which they get displayed.

If you don't have authoring software that can do this, you should consider abandoning PDF and use HTML instead. Because, without that, the PDF files will display at whatever the user has last set his/her default page display preferences.