Re: MathML won't display (or: what triggers mathplayer behaviour?)

There are demo pages on the internet that can test (some aspects of)
whether or not the browser is using the content-location header.

For instance:
http://jigsaw.w3.org/HTTP/CL/

On 5/29/07, Richard Kaye <R.W.Kaye@bham.ac.uk> wrote:
>
> Dear all
>
> I have made a few small discoveries.
>
> Most importantly, that the mimetypes text/xml and
> application/xhtml+xml behave quite differently in
> IE7 in at least two different ways.
>
> If I serve a document with extension .xml and
>   Content-type: text/xml; charset=utf-8
> then Mathplayer is triggered correctly provided
> I have the appropriate key in ../PROTOCOLS/Filter/
> with name "text/xml; charset=utf-8".  If the same
> file is served with
>   Content-type: text/xml;charset=utf-8
> (no space) then all is OK but only provided I
> rename the registry key, removing the space.
>
> Do the same for "application/xhtml+xml; charset=..." with a
> file still with .xml extension and I get a readable
> web page, but no MathML and MathPlayer is not started.
> (that's even after checking all the registry keys etc
> are correct). In all the experiments I have done, if the
> extension is .xhtml and there is a charset spec in the
> Content-Type then the IE always displays the xml tree.
>
> I was able to display MathML-enabled XHTML correctly, when
> served from a tomcat servlet (where there was no
> file or file extension) but only after changing the
> mimetype to "text/xml;charset=utf-8" and tweaking the
> registry on the client accordingly.  I can't verify
> Robert's idea that it is somehow the way the document is
> served, though clearly IE uses an extension (.xml, .xhtml)
> if one is available.
>
> So it seems to me that: (1) it seems that IE makes an effort to
> display html when the extension is ".xml" irrespective of
> the mimetype; and (2) fiddling with the registry keys works
> for text/xml but not for application/xhtml+xml. It's getting
> late over here and I am tired.  I may be jumping to false
> conclusions over here, so if you are interested you had better
> double-check this yourself.
>
> This does not yet provide me with a workaround for my blog
> server since the Tomcat I have insists on removing the space
> in the "; charset=..." even when I deliberately put it there,
> and therefore a registry tweak would be needed on all
> client machines. (That's because MathPlayer installs with
> the "text/xml; charset=utf-8" key but not the
> "text/xml;charset=utf-8" key. If only one is provided then that
> is probably the right way round as my Apache actually inserts
> a space in ";charset=..." even when I deliberately omit it...)
>
> A couple of other things:
>
> 1. I did try the effect of adding a BOM a long time ago, with
> no effect on the documents giving me XML trees.
>
> 2. I have also used URLs with no extension (the correct
> document provided by content negotiation) successfully before.
> I didn't think the client knew the full name of the file in
> such cases, but now I look at it I have noticed a
>   Content-Location: <filename>
> HTTP header which might explain a lot.  Does IE use this?
>
> 3. I had never thought about using text/xml until now.  I seem to
> remember reading reasons why text/xml is a Bad Thing, but can't
> remember them. Anyone else know?
>
> Richard
>
>
> On Tue, 2007-05-29 at 08:48 -0700, Robert Miner wrote:
> > Hi Jacques,
> >
> > There isn't a direct connection between the charset and the XML tree.
> > But just as IE doesn't seem to always follow the rules for determining
> > the encoding, it also does not play by the rules for determining the
> > MIME type (as I'm sure you know).
> >
> > The XML tree shows up when IE doesn't believe the http header's
> > declaration that the MIME type is application/xhtml+xml and doesn't
> > start up MathPlayer.  Somewhere later on, it must realize the document
> > is XML at least, since it displays the tree.  But at the point it is
> > supposed to invoke MathPlayer if the MIME type is application/xhtml+xml,
> > the call never comes, at least as far as I can determine by setting a
> > breakpoint in the relevant routine in the debugger.
> >
> > We had been experimenting with the charset parameter, on the hypothesis
> > that somehow that might be preventing IE from recognizing the MIME
> > declaration in the http header. But it doesn't seem to.  Mostly it seems
> > like if the document is dynamically generated, so there isn't a file
> > name in the http header, IE just sniffs the content and get's it wrong
> > for purposes of firing off MathPlayer.  At least that is what the
> > experimental evidence seems to suggest to me.
> >
> > I thought perhaps Richard's comment about the BOM meant that if there
> > was a BOM, suddenly IE's sniffer did the right thing and recognized the
> > content as application/xhtml+xml and fired up MathPlayer.  But I guess
> > not.
> >
> > --Robert
> >
> > Robert Miner
> > Director, New Product Development
> >
> > Design Science, Inc.
> > 140 Pine Avenue, 4th Floor
> > Long Beach, California  90802
> > USA
> > Tel:  (651) 223-2883
> > Fax:  (651) 292-0014
> > robertm@dessci.com
> > www.dessci.com
> > ~ Makers of MathType, MathFlow, MathPlayer, WebEQ, Equation Editor,
> > TexAide ~
> >
> >
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: Jacques Distler [mailto:distler@golem.ph.utexas.edu]
> > > Sent: Tuesday, May 29, 2007 10:19 AM
> > > To: Robert Miner
> > > Cc: R.W.Kaye@bham.ac.uk; www-math@w3.org; William F. Hammond
> > > Subject: Re: MathML won't display (or: what triggers mathplayer
> > > behaviour?)
> > >
> > > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
> > > Hash: SHA1
> > >
> > >
> > > On May 29, 2007, at 9:33 AM, Robert Miner wrote:
> > >
> > > > So does the byte order mark solve the problem in all the situations
> > > > you know of?  It would be great if it really was that simple?
> > >
> > > Depends on what "the problem" is.
> > >
> > > MSIE (both 6 and 7) does not, under some circumstances, respect the
> > > established rules for setting the encoding of the document. Instead,
> > > it tries to sniff the encoding, a procedure that probably does not
> > > play well with the MathPlayer plugin. See, e.g. this discussion:
> > >
> > >      http://annevankesteren.nl/2005/02/charset#comment-3167
> > >
> > > That, as far as I can tell, does not have anything to do with the "IE7
> > > +MathPlayer shows an XML document tree"  problem.
> > >
> > > Or, if it does, no one has explained the connection to me.
> > > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
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> > > Comment: PGP Key - http://golem.ph.utexas.edu/~distler/distler.asc
> > >
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> >
> >
>
>
>


-- 
http://chris.chiasson.name/

Received on Wednesday, 30 May 2007 01:41:25 UTC