Tech Forum Archive

Windows Exp print error for VT Coordinator

13 postsstarted by McLaughlinES 2,426 viewsoriginal topic

McLaughlinES
New Member
#1
My VT coordinator has been able to use all of the print out functions except for the Household report. I had her come to the church to replicate the problem. I had started Chrome before she got there; no problem. Then as an after thought she started back in but clicked on Windows Explorer. Printing from the Household tab just stalled. We have a new clerks computer with an up to date Windows Explorer. She returned home and used Chrome with no problem.
mevans
Senior Member
#2
Please clarify: Were you unable to generate the PDF, or was the PDF generated, but you couldn't print it?
jdlessley
Community Moderators
#3
McLaughlinES wrote:We have a new clerks computer with an up to date Windows Explorer. She returned home and used Chrome with no problem.
You mention Windows Explorer and Chrome in the same context. Did you mean to say the latest version of Internet Explorer instead of Windows Explorer?
JD Lessley
Have you tried finding your answer on the ChurchofJesusChrist.org Help Center or Tech Wiki?
McLaughlinES
New Member
#4
She was using Windows Explorer at home. Would not create the PDF. When we met at the church we used Chrome first with no problem. We then opened Windows Explorer on the clerk computer (new 1 yr ago) and again it create PDFs for all other tabs except the household tab.
McLaughlinES
New Member
#5
Sorry: Internet Explorer would not create PDF.
williamjackson
Member
#6
I was able to reproduce this with Internet Explorer 11 on Windows 8.1:
  1. Go to the Households tab (https://www.lds.org/htvt/#/households)
  2. Change Quorum/Auxiliary to Relief Society (I'm a ward clerk so I can see them all)
  3. Click Print, select Relief Society Sisters, then click Print
  4. Instead of generating a PDF, a new tab opens with the message "This page can't be displayed"
I believe the problem is that when you have more than about 147 entries in the list you want to print, the URL for generating the PDF is too long.

The URL looks like this:

Code: 

https://www.lds.org/htvt/services/v1/<unit_number>/print?auxiliaryId=<aux_id>&reportType=HOUSEHOLDS&individualIds=<individual_id>%2C<individual_id>%2C<individual_id>%2C<individual_id>%2C<individual_id>%2C<individual_id>%2C<...>
The maximum URL length is 2,083 characters in Internet Explorer. So there is really nothing you can do besides use another browser or somehow filter the list so it is short enough to print.
russellhltn
Community Administrator
#7
Hmmmm. I get nervous when I see URLs like that. It makes me wonder if the app is secure.
Have you searched the Help Center? Try doing a Google search and adding "site:churchofjesuschrist.org/help" to the search criteria.

So we can better help you, please edit your Profile to include your general location.
aebrown
Community Administrator
#8
russellhltn wrote:Hmmmm. I get nervous when I see URLs like that. It makes me wonder if the app is secure.
Why would that make it insecure? You still have to have a valid session with LDS.org in order for the request to work, and you can't poke individual IDs or any other data that will let you see any data you don't already have rights to see. All the permissions are still enforced on the back end.
Questions that can benefit the larger community should be asked in a public forum, not a private message.
russellhltn
Community Administrator
#9
aebrown wrote:All the permissions are still enforced on the back end.
As long as that's true, then that's fine. But speaking about web apps in general (not just church-developed apps), that that doesn't always happen.
Have you searched the Help Center? Try doing a Google search and adding "site:churchofjesuschrist.org/help" to the search criteria.

So we can better help you, please edit your Profile to include your general location.
scgallafent
Church Employee
#10
russellhltn wrote:Hmmmm. I get nervous when I see URLs like that. It makes me wonder if the app is secure.
You can put it in the URL or post it with request data. It's more visible in the URL, but there are plenty of browser extensions that will let you tamper with data for a POST request. Either way, you've got to enforce the restriction on the back end. Rule #1: Never trust the user.

One advantage to putting it in the URL is that it can be bookmarked.
lajackson
Community Moderators
#11
scgallafent wrote:Rule #1: Never trust the user.
Rule #2: The software always does exactly what the programmer told it to do.

Some kidding aside, I have always been impressed with programming savvy folks who can look at a problem and discover that a URL might be too long to fit in a browser, for example. Who knew that a 2,083 URL character limit might get overrun? The same guy who figured out that his father hard coded the passwords into the gwbasic game software many years ago.

The poor VT Coordinator in the huge ward never saw this problem coming.
russellhltn
Community Administrator
#12
scgallafent wrote:Rule #1: Never trust the user.
I'm glad you guys see it that way. Too often it's "make the thing work, add security later."

scgallafent wrote:One advantage to putting it in the URL is that it can be bookmarked.
If the "individual_id" is in the URL, doesn't that make it a static list and not dynamic?
Have you searched the Help Center? Try doing a Google search and adding "site:churchofjesuschrist.org/help" to the search criteria.

So we can better help you, please edit your Profile to include your general location.
scgallafent
Church Employee
#13
lajackson wrote:Rule #2: The software always does exactly what the programmer told it to do.
I call that "working as implemented." :)
russellhltn wrote:If the "individual_id" is in the URL, doesn't that make it a static list and not dynamic?
Yes. We'll need to have someone dig into that.