FIX: ASP Session Variables Empty When Office 2000 MIME Types Are Streamed with Internet Explorer (264143)

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a bug in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article.

The problem has been corrected in SR-1 for Office 2000. You can download the service release from the Office update page on the following Microsoft Web site at:

http://office.microsoft.com

MORE INFORMATION

Steps to Reproduce Behavior

Create a new virtual directory on your Web server, and name it SessionTest.

Start Microsoft Notepad to create a new Active Server Page. Place the following code in Notepad:

<%@ Language=VBScript %>
<HTML>
<BODY>
<% if Request.Form("text1") = "" then %>
<FORM action="default.asp" method=POST name=form1>
<INPUT type="text" name=text1>
<INPUT type="submit" value="Button" name=button1>
</FORM>
<% else
     Session("Sample") = Request.Form("text1")
     strRedirect = "redir.asp"
     Response.Write("<META HTTP-EQUIV=Refresh CONTENT=""0;URL=" + strRedirect + """>")
   end if %>
</BODY>
</HTML>

Save the file as default.asp in the SessionTest virtual directory.

Create a new file in Notepad and place the following code in the edit window:

<%@ Language=VBScript %>
<%
   Response.ContentType = "application/vnd.ms-excel"
%>
<HTML>
<BODY>
<TABLE>
  <TR><TD><% =Session("Sample") %></TD></TR>
</TABLE>
</BODY>
</HTML>

Save the file as redir.asp in the SessionTest virtual directory.
When you navigate to http://<servername>/SessionTest/default.asp, there is a window with a text box and a button. Enter some text in the text box, and then press Submit.
On a computer with the Office 2000 SR-1 update, note that you are redirected to redir.asp and are able see the text in Excel.
On a computer without the Office 2000 SR-1 update, note that you are redirected to redir.asp, but are not able to see the text in Excel.

REFERENCES

For additional information, click the article numbers below to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

199841 HOWTO: Display ASP Results Using Excel in IE with MIME Types

247318 BUG: Word 2000 and Excel 2000 Do Not Redirect Correctly when Using Response.Redirect