IE won't dowload Excel created by script

Linux. Apache 2.2.3.

I'm using a perl CGI script and Spreadsheet::WriteExcel to create
an Excel spreadsheet. It works just fine with the Firefox browser.
When I try to use it with IE7, there are errors.

There don't seem to be any errors on the server side. The access_log
shows return code 200. Nothing appears in error_log.

IE opens a "File Download - Security Warning" window. It recognizes
the type as "Microsoft Excel Worksheet". The options are "Open",
"Save", or "Cancel". If I choose Open or Cancel it says "Could not
open <URL of file>". Sometimes it doesn't do that. Instead it
says "Internet Explorer cannot download <filename> from <server>.
Internet Explorer was not able to open this internet site. The
requested site is either unavailable or cannot be found."

The Content-type is "application/vnd.ms-excel".

I find this quite puzzling. Does this look at all familiar?

On 2008-02-04, Patrick Nolan <pln@glast2.Stanford.EDU> wrote:
> Linux. Apache 2.2.3.
>
> I'm using a perl CGI script and Spreadsheet::WriteExcel to create
> an Excel spreadsheet. It works just fine with the Firefox browser.
> When I try to use it with IE7, there are errors.
>
> There don't seem to be any errors on the server side. The access_log
> shows return code 200. Nothing appears in error_log.
>
> IE opens a "File Download - Security Warning" window. It recognizes
> the type as "Microsoft Excel Worksheet". The options are "Open",
> "Save", or "Cancel". If I choose Open or Cancel it says "Could not
> open <URL of file>". Sometimes it doesn't do that. Instead it
> says "Internet Explorer cannot download <filename> from <server>.
> Internet Explorer was not able to open this internet site. The
> requested site is either unavailable or cannot be found."
>
> The Content-type is "application/vnd.ms-excel".
>
> I find this quite puzzling. Does this look at all familiar?

More information: My server is capable of doing https, so I tried
it. It works. IE complains bitterly about my self-signed
certificate, but it will download the spreadsheet file.

On 5 Feb, 00:03, Patrick Nolan <p...@glast2.Stanford.EDU> wrote:
> On 2008-02-04, Patrick Nolan <p...@glast2.Stanford.EDU> wrote:
>
>
>
> > Linux. Apache 2.2.3.
>
> > I'm using a perl CGI script and Spreadsheet::WriteExcel to create
> > an Excel spreadsheet. It works just fine with the Firefox browser.
> > When I try to use it with IE7, there are errors.
>
> > There don't seem to be any errors on the server side. The access_log
> > shows return code 200. Nothing appears in error_log.
>
> > IE opens a "File Download - Security Warning" window. It recognizes
> > the type as "Microsoft Excel Worksheet". The options are "Open",
> > "Save", or "Cancel". If I choose Open or Cancel it says "Could not
> > open <URL of file>". Sometimes it doesn't do that. Instead it
> > says "Internet Explorer cannot download <filename> from <server>.
> > Internet Explorer was not able to open this internet site. The
> > requested site is either unavailable or cannot be found."
>
> > The Content-type is "application/vnd.ms-excel".
>
> > I find this quite puzzling. Does this look at all familiar?
>
> More information: My server is capable of doing https, so I tried
> it. It works. IE complains bitterly about my self-signed
> certificate, but it will download the spreadsheet file.

MSIE is weird in lots of ways - this is just one of them.

I've not played with IE7 very much, but suspect you're setting the
mime type directly in the header (Content-Type: X-app/ms-excel) Try
providing the file as an attachment with 'Content-Disposition:
attachment; filename="myfile.xls"'

(IIRC this will force a download rather than opening the embedded
Excel within MSIE)

C.