Having trouble with long forms in IIS6 (and IIS5). I just tested IIS6
by creating a static HTML page with a large form (196 fields). Here is
the code:

<HTML>
<HEAD>
</HEAD>
<BODY>
FORM TEST<BR><BR>
<FORM METHOD=POST ACTION="formtest.html">
<INPUT TYPE="submit"><BR><BR>
<INPUT TYPE=text NAME="Field_0">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
....
<INPUT TYPE=text NAME="Field_196">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
</FORM>
</BODY>
</HTML>

Saved this on our IIS6 server as formtest.html and opened the page.
When I submitted it I got a CGI Timeout. If I cut back the fields to
say 190, it works (as long as I keep the fields empty. if I enter
enough lines of text, it CGI Timeouts as well).

IIS5 has the same issue, but it can handle 379 empty fields (submits
immediately) but not 380 empty fields (CGI Timeout after 5 minutes)

Need some help because many of our forms are longer than this.

RE: Long Form submitted issues CGI Timeout by DominicRyan

DominicRyan
Mon Nov 21 16:11:11 CST 2005

You can alter the CGI timeout value in your metabase, but I'd probably
recommend that you look at breaking up your forms as putting that much info
into one form could lead to problems. See how you go anyway...
--
Dominic Ryan
http://www.it-hq.org
IIS MVP, MCSA, MCSE


"Alfredo" wrote:

> Having trouble with long forms in IIS6 (and IIS5). I just tested IIS6
> by creating a static HTML page with a large form (196 fields). Here is
> the code:
>
> <HTML>
> <HEAD>
> </HEAD>
> <BODY>
> FORM TEST<BR><BR>
> <FORM METHOD=POST ACTION="formtest.html">
> <INPUT TYPE="submit"><BR><BR>
> <INPUT TYPE=text NAME="Field_0">
> .....
> <INPUT TYPE=text NAME="Field_196">
> </FORM>
> </BODY>
> </HTML>
>
> Saved this on our IIS6 server as formtest.html and opened the page.
> When I submitted it I got a CGI Timeout. If I cut back the fields to
> say 190, it works (as long as I keep the fields empty. if I enter
> enough lines of text, it CGI Timeouts as well).
>
> IIS5 has the same issue, but it can handle 379 empty fields (submits
> immediately) but not 380 empty fields (CGI Timeout after 5 minutes)
>
> Need some help because many of our forms are longer than this.
>
>

Re: Long Form submitted issues CGI Timeout by David

David
Mon Nov 21 18:08:11 CST 2005

I do not think this is a problem with IIS5 or IIS6. I created a HTML page
posting 700 fields in exactly the same fashion as your test, and it POST'd
just fine. I verified that the form variables actually got read. Only
difference is that I used my own ISAPI DLL as the ACTION to handle and echo
the request back.

So, I think the problem is either with:
1. Whatever .html is ScriptMapped to is not written correctly to handle
larger entity body
2. What ISAPI Filters are installed on the server. Some may be screwing up
larger request entity body
3. Is this over SSL or not. This can be problematic if SSL Renegotiated
certificates in the middle.

For #1 and #2, I have seen many ISAPIs and CGIs that assume a certain
read-ahead buffer and are never written to properly handle larger entity
body. Since I already have counterpoint to your proposal that there is some
limit, I am starting with the assumption that there is something wrong with
what you are using or running on IIS.

--
//David
IIS
http://blogs.msdn.com/David.Wang
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
//
"Alfredo" <Alfredo.Ospina@c-b.com> wrote in message
news:1132592325.414552.299050@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
Having trouble with long forms in IIS6 (and IIS5). I just tested IIS6
by creating a static HTML page with a large form (196 fields). Here is
the code:

<HTML>
<HEAD>
</HEAD>
<BODY>
FORM TEST<BR><BR>
<FORM METHOD=POST ACTION="formtest.html">
<INPUT TYPE="submit"><BR><BR>
<INPUT TYPE=text NAME="Field_0">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
....
<INPUT TYPE=text NAME="Field_196">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
</FORM>
</BODY>
</HTML>

Saved this on our IIS6 server as formtest.html and opened the page.
When I submitted it I got a CGI Timeout. If I cut back the fields to
say 190, it works (as long as I keep the fields empty. if I enter
enough lines of text, it CGI Timeouts as well).

IIS5 has the same issue, but it can handle 379 empty fields (submits
immediately) but not 380 empty fields (CGI Timeout after 5 minutes)

Need some help because many of our forms are longer than this.



Re: Long Form submitted issues CGI Timeout by Alfredo

Alfredo
Tue Nov 22 08:12:51 CST 2005

> So, I think the problem is either with:

> 1. Whatever .html is ScriptMapped to is not written correctly to handle larger entity body

I tried ACTION="formtest.pl" with similar results. formtest.pl is just
a standard perl script. After hitting the submit button, it seems like
the page goes nowhere.

> 2. What ISAPI Filters are installed on the server. Some may be screwing up larger request entity body

NONE

> 3. Is this over SSL or not. This can be problematic if SSL Renegotiated certificates in the middle.

NOT over SSL

Since you don't think its what I described and I have answered you
questions (as best as I can), do you think you can help a newbie like
me with some ideas to try to resolve this issue, i.e. some things that
I can try.


Re: Long Form submitted issues CGI Timeout by David

David
Tue Nov 22 15:37:03 CST 2005

It looks like formtest.pl is not written correctly to handle large entity.
You can't just take standard perl scripts and make them targets of POST -
they have to handle the incoming data stream correctly or else things either
hang or disconnect prematurely - and all those failures would be bugs in the
script.

When I substituted with my ISAPI, reading large forms was not a problem on
IIS5 or IIS6, so I do not think the problem is with IIS nor with CGI timeout
happening on long forms. I think the problem is with the perl script
misbehaving such that it causes a CGI timeout.

You want to contact whoever supports formtest.pl and get them to
investigate. This is a fundamental sort of issue that you cannot reconfigure
IIS to "workaround".

You also want to use network sniffers like Network Monitor or Ethereal to
get a capture of the entire HTTP request/response as evidence of what is
going wrong. Just making claims that it "doesn't work" is very hard to get
anyone to do anything because it is so vague -- hard facts like sniffer
traffic and analysis showing what is wrong is usually more effective.

--
//David
IIS
http://blogs.msdn.com/David.Wang
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
//
"Alfredo" <Alfredo.Ospina@c-b.com> wrote in message
news:1132668771.056386.115020@g44g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> So, I think the problem is either with:

> 1. Whatever .html is ScriptMapped to is not written correctly to handle
larger entity body

I tried ACTION="formtest.pl" with similar results. formtest.pl is just
a standard perl script. After hitting the submit button, it seems like
the page goes nowhere.

> 2. What ISAPI Filters are installed on the server. Some may be screwing up
larger request entity body

NONE

> 3. Is this over SSL or not. This can be problematic if SSL Renegotiated
certificates in the middle.

NOT over SSL

Since you don't think its what I described and I have answered you
questions (as best as I can), do you think you can help a newbie like
me with some ideas to try to resolve this issue, i.e. some things that
I can try.