InfoPath Dev

Has one of your users reported opening a form that has a custom HTML task pane and they tell you they see a bunch of code in the task pane. You can't reproduce the issue but what you see in their screen is the raw HTML markup code showing. If the user tries the same thing on another machine it works fine. Well we think we've figured out what's wrong.

There is a little known setting in IE which affects this. Here is what you need to do:

1. Launch Internet Explorer.
2. Go to Tools::InternetOptions.
3. Click the Security Tab.
4. Click the Internet icon.
5. Click the Custom level... button.
6. Find the setting "Open files based on content, not file extension".
7. Ensure this is set to "Enable". Enable is the default but sometimes it can get altered. We don't know why.
8. Click ok multiple times to close all the dialogs. This should resolve the issue.

I kinda hate to resurect an old thread like this but .... This solution used to work but no longer works for me. For one I am unable to change this value in IE8 for the Internet Zone although it is there. The form I am working with is a URN Based Form originally created with InfoPath 2003 (worked in 2007 as well), full trust enabled, installed and registered with jscript generated by InfoPath 2003 SDK. It used to work but now I'm left in the dark here. Any help would be most appreciated.

Why are you unable to change the value? Is it disabled? I'm using IE 9 and don't see the above mentioned setting at all....

If the form is registered and users have InfoPath installed locally, Windows should be able to connect the XML to InfoPath and InfoPath will know which form template to use based on the information in the XML's header.

I'm now using Window 7 & IE 8. The option appears both in the Internet and Intranet Zones. I am able to change it in the Intranet Zone but not the Internet Zone. It is set to disabled and I am unable to set it to enabled.

The form is installed locally. It is regestered and fully trusted. The issue is that the HTML documents which are Resource files in the form, no longer display properly in the Custom Task Pane. The pages are loaded into the CTP but are not rendered properly, only the raw HTML is displayed. This is occuring for all users running an combination of Win XP, Vist,, or 7 with IE 7 or 8.

Ok, well I was obviously very confused about that. Doh!

Well, what's the encoding on the HTML files? Are all users opening with the same locale setting? Does it work for anyone?

locale setting all the same. The only way I have been able to get the HTML to render properly is rather convoluted ...

For me this issue started when IE 8 was pushed out to us ... Not long after after an update was pushed for IE 7 and the problem started there too ...

PseudoNym:

I'm now using Window 7 & IE 8. The option appears both in the Internet and Intranet Zones. I am able to change it in the Intranet Zone but not the Internet Zone. It is set to disabled and I am unable to set it to enabled.

Group policy, perhaps? You mention IE being "pushed out" which makes me think an IT department may be involved -- have you tried asking them why that setting is disabled?

Yeah... I've been waiting on an answer for that one ... I have a local admin account but am unable to change it when logged in with admin rights. I tried changing the reg setting at

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\MAIN\FeatureControl\FEATURE_MIME_SNIFFING]
"iexplore.exe"=dword:00000001

to 1 (which MS states is the default) from 0 to no avail ...

Maybe I'll hear back from IT sometime in the next week (won't hold my breath though).

Patrick Halstead:

Ok, well I was obviously very confused about that. Doh!

Well, what's the encoding on the HTML files? Are all users opening with the same locale setting? Does it work for anyone?

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.1//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml11/DTD/xhtml11.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" />

Maybe it's because it's using a DTD. Maybe it's because it has a weird charset=iso-8859-1. I don't know. But, I do know that changing the HTML will fix it. Just need to know what to change. Good luck!

FYI

For anyone having this issue and cannot find the setting in IE9, it is called  'Enable MIME Sniffing'