Problems with IE searches

["Ericsson, Paul" <PEricsson@xxxxxxxxxx>]

We came across a problem with implementing our new OPAC, and wanted to know if anyone else has seen this, and what the resolution is(was) for you.

We are a new site and just beginning to implement our OPAC. When using the link from the help_index page to the Advanced Keyword search, the system adds to our base url the "command" /search/X so that the linking url is now http://mls.onconcord.com/search/X  A similar url is created for Simple Keyword searches http://mls.onconcord.com/search/Y   This link also shows up in places like the button for "ANOTHER SEARCH" that is on many screens. The problem we have is that in some instances the url leads to a faulty web screen that is for a different index, and the faulty web page is lacking almost all of the html for our web site (it is a "white screen" with only minimal text). 

One of the challenging parts of this is that most users outside the library do not experience the problem, but for some reason it is happening to users inside the library. Today we had some kind of a breakthrough in that we found it also varies for different browsers. We installed Netscape 7.1 (Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.0; en-US; rv:1.4) Gecko/20030624 Netscape/7.1 (ax) )   We (thankfully) cannot create the problem in Netscape, unless I enter the "wrong upper/lower case" character as the index code directly into a url. Otherwise, I have been doing side-by-side searching and clicking and linking with the two browsers. The result is that IE 6.0.2800  will consistently cause the problem of the same incorrect screens being displayed and Netscape will only display the correct screen. 

 Trashing MS IE may be a fun pastime for some folks, but our City MIS folks insist on this as the standard browser and we have no real choice there. Besides, if the problem crops up in other home user browsers, we need to correct the problem, not sidestep it with only using Netscape. III helpdesk staff seem to be working hard on this, but cannot replicate the problem at their end due to the nature of the problem. 

OK, so here are my questions/comments:
1) Has anyone had a problem that seems to be related to the upper/lower case of index codes that go into links & urls?
2) How did this get resolved for you. We know we can fix static links, but what about dynamic links that the III OPAC system generates?

Thanks for your thoughts and advice. Happy new year!

Paul

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	Paul Ericsson
	Adult Services Supervisor / Automation Coordinator
	Concord Public Library    http://www.onconcord.com
	45 Green St.     Concord, NH 03301     603 230-3697
	pericsson@xxxxxxxxxx
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