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Topic: NWC files on a web page (Read 14833 times) previous topic - next topic

NWC files on a web page

I just found out that the nwc files that I have posted to my web page created for the purpose, may not show on some browsers because the mime type is not right and it doesn't seem changeable. My page is http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/G_HHayes

I would appreciate knowing what browsers can't display the nwc files correctly and if anyone has an idea what I could do, other than change my ISP.
Thanks

Graeme

Re: NWC files on a web page

Reply #1 –
A month or two ago, there was a forum thread on this very subject. Search the forum for "htaccess" or ".htaccess"

If that advice doesn't help... ?

Re: NWC files on a web page

Reply #2 –
See also: faq #94

The problems your visitors will experience are not as bad as they could be. Using the test utility pointed to in the faq, I tested your site. It returns application/octet-stream for your NWC files. This means that your NWC files will be correctly interpreted as binary files by all of your visitors. However, if a visitor has installed the NWC plug-in, it will not be shown in the plug-in if your visitor uses Netscape or Mozilla browsers. These browsers requires that the correct MIME type be set before invoking the corresponding plug-in.

Re: NWC files on a web page

Reply #3 –
Hmmm... I just checked a NWC plug-in file on my own site (Netscape 7.02) and it played well. But I don't recall ever manually setting the MIME type in Netscape. Did the installer do it automatically, or have I just forgotten what I did?

I do recall, however, that I installed the NWC plug in AFTER installing Netscape.

Re: NWC files on a web page

Reply #4 –
What Eric means is that the !(web site) should have the MIME type set, not the browser.
Sincerely,
Francis Beaumier
Green Bay, WI

Re: NWC files on a web page

Reply #5 –
Francis: I don't think that's what NWC meant, above. I interpret the message to mean that the web site DOES have the correct MIME type sent, but the recipient browser isn't responding correctly. I could be wrong.

If the user installed Netscape (or, upgraded from 4.x to 6.x+) AFTER previously installing the NWC plug-in, then the new installation may not recognize any previously-installed plug-in (not just NWC).

But, don't feel alone. The recent Windows Media Player 9 installer will now correctly recognize Netscape 6+, and install its plug-in. However, (1) It's still not scriptable in Netscape, and (2) The HTML OBJECT coding instructions offered by Netscape and Microsoft differ, and neither of them seems to be accurate.

<laughTrack>web standards</laughTrack>

Re: NWC files on a web page

Reply #6 –
I'll rephrase:

The NWC files returned at http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/G_HHayes do not have the proper MIME type. The MIME type that is sent is application/octet-stream. However, web sites that use this mime type work much better than web sites that send a text mime type (for NWC files).

Re: NWC files on a web page

Reply #7 –
Interesting. Didn't even know there was a problem. My site and NWC work fine with Internet Explorer. However, when I tried Netscape, just got gobblygook. (Note: Netscape does show that I have the Noteworthy plugin).

My server reset the Mime Type at his end to application/x-nwc to no avail. He is not sure what to do at this point

Wonder why Netscape should have a problem and IE not?

Re: NWC files on a web page

Reply #8 –
I could be totally [abbr='cause I thought "mime" was that guy in the park]wrong[/abbr], but
When you have two (or more) browsers installed, one of them has to be the default browser.  During the installation of the NWC plugin, Netscape was probably ignored (IE must be your default browser).

Re: NWC files on a web page

Reply #9 –
The installation program for the plug in seems to allow for the plug in to be inserted into several browsers, although I could be wrong. Comments anyone?

Re: NWC files on a web page

Reply #10 –
The plug-in can be used on as many conforming browsers as you can install into your system.

The variance between Netscape and IE browsers is due to MIME type. When a server sends the correct NWC mime type, Netscape browsers will not have any problem. If a server has sent the wrong MIME type in the past, but now sends the correct MIME type, the problem may still occur in the browser until the browser's cache has been cleared.

IE tends to ignore MIME type, which helps in this case, but can cause other problems. IE tends to let the dot extension on the end of a URL control its handling of a resource.

Re: NWC files on a web page

Reply #11 –
IE tends to let the dot extension on the end of a URL control its handling of a resource.

This is one of the things that makes it much more vulnerable to malware attacks than a browser that insists on the proper MIME type. An executable can be "disguised" as a harmless data file of some sort, and IE will naively open it.

Re: NWC files on a web page

Reply #12 –
There are numerous differences, some of them very subtle, between IE6 and Netscape 7. Lately, I have been learning strict HTML (and XHTML). I check my work with the W3C validator. Everything is fine. But does the page display the same in the two browsers? No! And I'm not even using plug-ins!

Recently, someone sent me an audio file in Ogg Vorbis format. When downloaded via right-click, the saved file was corrupted, presumably due to some MIME type problem. But the file could be played in real time (broadband). Huh?

<hystericalLaughter>web standards</hystericalLaughter>

Re: NWC files on a web page

Reply #13 –
Hmmm, this MIME appears to be quite silent in operation.

My web domain server added the MIME type (application/x-nwc). I cleared out my cache in my Netscape browsers. Still no luck. The Noteworthy utility indicates that the NWC files are still coming back as plain text.

I happened to notice that no "obvious" noteworthy file was listed under plug ins in Netscape, so I reloaded the plug in without success. (By the way, I use C:\Netscape 7\ as my main netscape directory for Netscape 7.0 and c:\Netscape as my main directory for Netscape 4.7 (which I need to keep due to some federal government interfaces I use). The plug in does not allow me to select the directory, so not sure if it is looking for another location . . .)

In any event, help? Are other folks getting gobbly gook in Netscape through, illustratively, http://www.psalmistry.com/nwc/115.nwc ?

Re: NWC files on a web page

Reply #14 –
I don't know what the NWC plug-in installer is doing, but I do know that when Netscape 7 came out, it installed itself within my pre-existing Netscape 6 folder, rather than creating a new Netscape 7 folder.

Re: NWC files on a web page

Reply #15 –
Steve -

At first that was a real headscratcher; at first I couldn't figure out what's wrong. Saving your file let me open it in NWC, so it's a standard NWC file. However, trying to open it in the browser shows "gobbledygook" -- but different gobbledygook than usual. It starts out "[NoteWorthy ArtWare]..." whereas an NWC file will normally start out "[NWZ]..."

Aha! It's an "uncompressed NWC file" (byte count 7919 bytes) instead of a "standard NWC file" (which would have a byte count of 1439 bytes). My guess is that this is a file from an older 1.5x or earlier version of NWC, which saved as uncompressed by default. I'll bet dollars to navy beans that your problem will be solved by replacing the file with the "standard" version. You just have to load it into a current version of NWC, and save it back.

Robert - (and anyone else) -
Both Netscape 4 and Netscape 6/7/ Mozilla 1.x simply have to have the plugin DLL(s) in the "Plugins" subdirectory. That's all there is to it, the next time you launch the browser it will find it there. The installer is a convenience, but I've successfully migrated plugins simply by copying the DLL's into the appropriate directory and restarting.

Re: NWC files on a web page

Reply #17 –
Head-scratcher indeed. The second file resulted in a 404 error, perhaps the URL is not quite right...

Re: NWC files on a web page

Reply #18 –
I knocked out the final period from that URL and was able to open it, but it still started with: [NWZ] followed by eight lines of seemingly random characters.  Normally an NWC file will open in the NW Composer and, if I want to keep it, will do a "Save As" from there.  To "look" at the above file, I had to download it, but NWC had no trouble opening it once I had done so.
Since 1998

Re: NWC files on a web page

Reply #19 –
In reply 13, Steve Pearson wrote:

"My web domain server added the MIME type [application/x-nwc]. I cleared out my cache in my Netscape browsers. Still no luck. The Noteworthy utility indicates that the NWC files are still coming back as plain text."

Correct. I just checked http://www.psalmistry.com/nwc/115.nwc and it returns text/plain as your MIME type. Therefore, you can be assured that your web domain server did NOT add the MIME type application/x-nwc for NWC files. An incorrect MIME type issued from a web server cannot be corrected by anything you do within NWC, with any version of NWC.

Re: NWC files on a web page

Reply #20 –
FYI: The file at http://www.psalmistry.com/Supplement2003/36.alt3.nwc does not return the correct MIME type either. It also returns text/plain.

The good news is that the headers indicate that you are being served by Apache on a Red-Hat/Linux box. This means that the .htaccess method should work fine for you if you have .htaccess privileges. If not, any server admin capable of setting up Apache on a Linux box should have no problem assisting you with setting the MIME type using our faq on the subject (faq #94).

Re: NWC files on a web page

Reply #21 –
Hi Guys,

Thanks for the thoughts and suggestions. Have sent them on to the server provider.

Fred: sorry about that last period on the site reference. Accidentally got added as part of the hyperlink.

Re: NWC files on a web page

Reply #22 –
The link works now, well after you take out that last period.
Since 1998