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IE 9 Crashes when trying to print anything displayed through WebDirect

Question asked by DSKatSCL on May 5, 2014
Latest reply on May 19, 2014 by TSGal

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Summary

Product

FileMaker Server

Version

13.x.x

Operating system version

Windows 7

Description of the issue

I know you can't script print functions inside of FileMaker if wanting to use it with WebDirect, however should I be able to print a text/numerical report that is being viewed by using the File>Print command in Internet Explorer or other browsers to print what is being viewed? IE 9 seems to crash every time I try to print from IE itself. Doesn't matter what printer I select.

1. I just want to verify if this is unsupported or am I missing something?

Is FMI working on being able to print reliably from WebDirect? I am working on multiple FMP/WD solutions for an eight hospital group and I need to be able to print from a web solution. There are a number of individuals that only need to view/print final reports. They are not involved in the creation of these reports and it is not cost effective to buy a FMP license for each machine if they are only accessing a report once a week/month.

Steps to reproduce the problem

Hit control P or select Print from the IE File menu. I have tried this with multiple printer/print drivers. PDF print drivers, and even to a file.

Expected result

That IE would print the report that is being viewed.

Actual result

Print dialogue window appeares and then I get a message The IE has stoped working and needs to close or IE crashes with a dialogue box stating it unexpectedly quit and needs to be restarted.

Exact text of any error message(s) that appear

I get a message The IE has stopped working and needs to close or IE crashes with a dialogue box stating it unexpectedly quit and needs to be restarted.

Configuration information

Tried this from 3 different Windows 7, IE 9 and IE 10 systems and from Chrome 27x from one of these systems.

Workaround

Not Found

No one else has this question

Outcomes

27 Replies

TSGal May 5, 2014 2:36 PM
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     DSKatSCL:

     Thank you for your post.

     Even from the screen shots, it is difficult to determine why your print job is failing.

     Instead of going to a printer, select PDF. If this works, then I can focus on the network. If this fails, then I can focus on the layout.

     TSGal
     FileMaker, Inc.
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DSKatSCL May 5, 2014 2:48 PM
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TSGal, Thanks for the quick response. I have tried it to mupliple printers, to both Adobe's PDF print driver, and Cute PDF, and as Print to File from the print dialogue box. I have also tried it from other layouts in this solution as well as two other completely unrelated FMP database solutions and they ALL fail when printing WebDirect solutions from IE and Chrome.
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TSGal May 5, 2014 2:54 PM
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     DSKatSCL:

     Thank you for the additional information.

     Open the FMServer_Sample.fmp12 file, and try printing to PDF. Using Windows 7, I just performed this under both Chrome 34 and Internet Explorer 10.

     TSGal
     FileMaker, Inc.
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DSKatSCL May 5, 2014 4:01 PM
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     TSGal:

     It works fine as long as you do not make any print setup changes. My solution also works if no print setup changes are made. Try to set your printout to landscape and print to the PDF.  The Sample crashes on my system if set to landscape (letter or legal size). My layout needs to be Landscape / Legal. Too much data to fit Portrait.

     What PDF printer are you using?
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TSGal May 6, 2014 11:03 AM
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     DSKatSCL:

     On my Windows 7 machine, I do not see a PDF driver. It appears to be pre-installed. With that said, I can save the sample file as landscape to a PDF file. See the screen shot below.

     When you go to print, do you crash before you dialog box where to save the file appears? Do you have poop-ups blocked?

     If you go to a different web page, are you able to print in landscape?

     Are all users having difficulty printing the sample file? Do some users print successfully?

     Instead of printing to a PDF file, are you able to print to a printer?

     TSGal
     FileMaker, Inc.
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philmodjunk May 6, 2014 10:41 AM
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TSGal, did you perhaps forget that PDF's cannot be uploaded here?
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TSGal May 6, 2014 11:05 AM
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     PhilModJunk:

     My apologies. I forgot to include the screen shot of my Print dialog box for WebDirect under Windows 7; not the resulting generated PDF. Previous post has been updated.

     TSGal
     FileMaker, Inc.
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DSKatSCL May 6, 2014 11:20 AM
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     To answer your questions:

     On my Windows 7 machine, I do not see a PDF driver. (look in the Start Menu > Devices and Printer to see if you have on installed) It appears to be pre-installed. With that said, I can save the sample file as landscape to a PDF file. See the screen shot below. No screen shot attached. What version of Internet Explorer are you using? IE 9 (both 32 bit and 64 bit) which this client uses and is a FMI blessed version according to the FMP spec's is what I am having issues with. I have tried it with 2 diffent PDF drivers. Adobe's and CutePDF, same results.

     When you go to print, do you crash before you dialog box where to save the file appears? Do you have poop-ups blocked? Popup blocker doesn't seem to have any effect on this issue. I can print in portait mode just fine. when popup blocker is either on or off. I get the crash imediately after hitting the print button in the print dialogue box. See the attached sceen shot of the message.

     If you go to a different web page, are you able to print in landscape? All non-WebDirect web pages print fine in landscape mode.

     Are all users having difficulty printing the sample file? Do some users print successfully? I have tried this on muliple windows 7 IE 9 machines with the same error occuring. I just tried it on a win 7 IE 10 machine and it works fine. I can't upgrade this client to IE 10, because they have other vendors they access big data repositories on a regular basis and these companies do not support anyrthing above IE 9 32 bit. I tried it on a machine running Chrome 34.x and it only saves/prints what would fit on a normal portrait page even if you tell it to print in landscape mode. No help for this client and the people that still have on Win XP. (separate issue).

     Instead of printing to a PDF file, are you able to print to a printer? As mentioned in the first post this happens if printing to a printer or to a PDF file. I have tried it with 3 printers, 2 different HP models and 1 Xerox model. The 2 HPs are even on 2 different networks. Same results/errors. It even happens if I open the print dialogue box and then click on Cancel.
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DSKatSCL May 6, 2014 11:25 AM
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TSGal,

Your screen shot is of Chrome, not Internet Explorer. Have you tried this in Internet Explorer 9, which is where my problem lies.
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TSGal May 6, 2014 1:04 PM
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     DSKatSCL:

     In your original post under Configuration Information, you mentioned Internet Explorer and Chrome. I rarely use Internet Explorer and Chrome (34) was available to me. That is the reason I tested with Chrome.

     I will find a machine with Internet Explorer 9 and get back to you.

     Do not update to FileMaker Server 13.0v2, as support for Internet Explorer 9 has been dropped. Only Internet Explorer 10 and 11 are supported.

     Sorry for not making myself clear. No PDF driver is listed under "Start Menu -> Devices and Printers". That is the reason why I believe the PDF driver is somehow preinstalled on my machine.

     TSGal
     FileMaker, Inc.
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DSKatSCL May 6, 2014 1:56 PM
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     In your original post under Configuration Information, you mentioned Internet Explorer and Chrome. I rarely use Internet Explorer and Chrome (34) was available to me. That is the reason I tested with Chrome. Check your Chrome PDF and let me know if it printed everything width-wise from the sample file, or does yours cut off the right side of your screen of it is wider than normal portrait letter size.

     I will find a machine with Internet Explorer 9 and get back to you. Thank you

     Do not update to FileMaker Server 13.0v2, as support for Internet Explorer 9 has been dropped. Only Internet Explorer 10 and 11 are supported.

(Running Version 13.0v1 (10-22-12013), the only update to this has been the manual install of the Heartbleed fix.)

     Sorry for not making myself clear. No PDF driver is listed under "Start Menu -> Devices and Printers". That is the reason why I believe the PDF driver is somehow preinstalled on my machine. Chrome has its own PDF convertion tool built in, Internet Explorer does not. That's what through me when you said there was one pre-installed.
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TSGal May 6, 2014 2:04 PM
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     DSKatSCL:

     PDF file looks okay. The very edge is cut off, but that is expected.. See screen shot of PDF file below.

     Found Internet Explorer 8, 10 and 11 on Windows 7. No 9 as of yet. I'll keep you updated.

     TSGal
     FileMaker, Inc.
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DSKatSCL May 6, 2014 2:12 PM
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It is not just a small amount that is missing from your PDF made from Chrome. It is about one third of the layout that does not get reproduced in the PDF. See the screen shot and compare to your printout/PDF. Everything inside of the green box is missing from the PDF.
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TSGal May 6, 2014 2:27 PM
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     DSKatSCL:

     The reason being the wide browser window. Keep in mind that the layout has left and right anchors. If I resize the window to be 10 inches wide and print to PDF, the right side will be included. See the resulting screen shot below.

     TSGal
     FileMaker, Inc.
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DSKatSCL May 6, 2014 2:39 PM
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Yep, I just figured that out, too. I was just over playing with a Win 7 and IE 11 machine and it works without the crash to a printer or to a PDF driver. I then realized that the sample had the right anchors set. IE 10 and 11 however will print page 1 as a blank page, then the layout/data is on pages 2+.

So, back to IE 9, can you let me know when you find a machine with Win 7 and IE 9 to test and let me know your results.

Thanks again, I really do appreciate your efforts.
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TSGal May 7, 2014 9:52 AM
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     DSKatSCL:

     I found a Windows 7 machine and installed Internet Explorer 9. The machine does not have a PDF driver, so I just configured it for a HP Printer.

     Accessing my original Server and the sample file via WebDirect, I was able to print without making any changes. I then went back into print and changed the orientation from Portrait to Landscape, and I still not get a crash. However, in both instances, I did receive a blank page before the actual data. Having talked to Testing, they informed me that the initial blank page is a known issue for Microsoft Internet Explorer 9 and 10. Since this also occurs for you with version 11, the original report has also been updated to reflect version 11.

     Since I don't get a crash from changing the orientation, is there something else yo would like me to try?

     On a side note, WebDirect is using a lot of HTML5. This is the reason why Internet Explorer 9 was dropped from being supported. If you go to HTML5test.com, you will see Internet Explorer 9 fails in a number of categories. Compare this to Chrome 27 (or 34). Don't get me wrong. I am well aware your clients have legacy systems that currently only support Internet Explorer 9. Do you have any information if these systems are going to be updated or include other browsers in the future?

     TSGal
     FileMaker, Inc.
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philmodjunk May 7, 2014 11:34 AM
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An entry in the Known Bugs List has been linked to this Issue Report specifically to report the blank page issue when printing from IE 9, 10 or 11.

Any Comments/Questions/Suggested Corrections should be posted here or in a new thread. Please do not post such comments to the Known Bugs List thread.
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DSKatSCL May 7, 2014 3:27 PM
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     TSGal,

     Thank you for all your testing and efforts. I have tried this on 3 more Win 7/ IE 9 systems and all have failed to print in landscape mode. I get the same error that IE encountered a problem and needs to close.

     Can you verify something for me? Windows 7 has a tendency to automatically and immediately update new installs of IE 9 to IE 10 without notifying the user that it has done this. Can you double check the machine you just installed IE on to make sure Windows didn’t install IE 10 over your IE 9 install before you tested printing in landscape mode? You can check this by selecting the Help Menu > About Internet Explorer.

     Thanks!
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TSGal May 8, 2014 6:29 AM
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     DSKatSCL:

     The person who owns the machine just checked and verified Internet Explorer 9 is running.

     TSGal
     FileMaker, Inc.
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DSKatSCL May 8, 2014 9:27 AM
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     Thank you very much for you assistance. Yesterday I tried this from a couple of the same computers and accessed a DB that is running on another computer that host DBs through FMPA 12. I tried the same DB that was hosted on the FMPS 13 and 2 other DBs that have never been opened in FMP13 Everything work perfectly.

     So, last night I went over to another client's headquarters and tried this from 4 of their computers with Win 7 and IE 9. Tried it with 2 of their DBs. It failed on theirs also. Same results.

     I also was looking further online and found a few other posts related to printing issues with IE 9 crashing when printing from WebDirect. IE 9 and 10 were listed on the original tech specs as the supported versions of IE for Windows.

     Where do I go from here it see about getting this resolved?
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TSGal May 8, 2014 10:03 AM
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     DSKatSCL:

     I've been searching this forum, and I am unable to find any posts with Internet Explorer 9 crashing when printing from WebDirect. Can you post them here so I can see the resolutions?

     I have asked for help from Testing and Development to see what other settings I have overlooked. I'll keep you updated.

     TSGal
     FileMaker, Inc.
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DSKatSCL May 8, 2014 10:15 AM
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None of the posts have had a solution. They just seem to end in a black hole, or people are told to move to IE 10, which as mentioned before is not an option for this client due to other national databases, and registries the hospital chain (that owns 8 hospitals and about 40 clinics) has to access on a regular basis. These other systems are not compatable with IE 10. This includes SAS's BOE system that is tied directly into the hospital chain's medical record system. I am trying to go the presence of FMP throughout this multi-state organization, and have a number of solutions built for them, but seem to be running into road blocks moving them into the version 13 platform. Everything was working fine on 12.
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philmodjunk May 8, 2014 12:31 PM
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          None of the posts have had a solution.

     Which means, if they are posts here in this forum, all the more reason for TSGal to take a look. It might mean that they merit a revisit by TS staff to offere better assistance.
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DSKatSCL May 8, 2014 6:46 PM
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     Here is one of the other posts in this forum:

     IE 9 crashing when printing

     Forum post posted February 24, 2014 by Yann Poirier

     13 Views, 3 Comments

     Title:IE 9 crashing when printing

     Post:

     We've been running into the issue of IE 9 crashing everytime we try to print a report. The report is fairly simple and we just do print, but IE crashes and no prints comes out.



     Has anyone ever had that issue?

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

          posted February 24, 2014 by PhilModJunk
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          And how are you using this older browser version?

          To access an IWPublished database?

          One published with WebDirect?

          One that uses custom web publishing?

          What OS platform and version are you using?

          What version of FileMaker?
          ----------------------------------------

     posted February 25, 2014 by Yann Poirier

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     And how are you using this older browser version?



     The issue only appears on IE9 on Windows machine



     To access an IWPublished database?



     We are not using IWP



     One published with WebDirect?



     We are using WebDirect



     One that uses custom web publishing?



     No Custom



     What OS platform and version are you using?



     File are hosted on OS Maverick 10.9.1



     They are view on Window 7



     What version of FileMaker?



     FM13

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

          posted February 25, 2014 by PhilModJunk
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          I don't believe that IE 9 was certified for use with WebDirect. I recommend downloading a newer version of IE
          -------------------------------------------


     FMI published on their website and in tech specs when FMP was released the following supported browsers:

     Chrome 27.x

     Internet Explorer 9

     Internet Explorer 10

     Safari 6.x



     II will see if I can find the other two post that were on other forums.



     Still hopeful to find a fix
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TSGal May 9, 2014 6:44 AM
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     DSKatSCL:

     Thank you for the information. I was able to search and find the link, as it appeared in the "Using FileMaker Pro" board.. I have just replied to the original poster (Yann Poirier) for more information.

     TSGal
     FileMaker, Inc.
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DSKatSCL May 19, 2014 6:55 AM
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TSGal:

Any updates on this issue? Did the previous poster reply to you with any outcomes?
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TSGal May 19, 2014 7:57 AM
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     DSKatSCL:

     There has been no contact by the customer (IE 9 crashing when printing).

     TSGal
     FileMaker, Inc.
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IE 9 Crashes when trying to print anything displayed through WebDirect

Summary

Product

Version

Operating system version

Description of the issue

Steps to reproduce the problem

Expected result

Actual result

Exact text of any error message(s) that appear

Configuration information

Workaround

Outcomes

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