FIX: Generic Error Message with ServerXMLHTTP and a Long URL

View products that this article applies to.

This article was previously published under Q291088

SYMPTOMS

When you use the Open method of the ServerXMLHTTP object to retrieve an Active Server Pages (ASP) page using a long query string on the URL, you may receive one of the following error messages, rather than a meaningful error message:

Catastrophic Failure

-or-

0x80004005 Unspecified error

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STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article.

This bug was corrected in Microsoft XML 3.0 Service Pack 1.

For additional information on other fixes included in Microsoft XML 3.0 Service Pack 1, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

292935 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/292935/EN-US/ ) INFO: List of Issues Fixed in Microsoft XML 3.0 Service Pack 1

For the latest information and downloads of MSXML, refer to the following MSDN Web site at:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/xml/default.asp (http://msdn.microsoft.com/xml/default.asp)

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MORE INFORMATION

The Service Pack 1 version of the MSXML parser returns the following error message:

0x80072EE5 The URL is invalid

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Steps to Reproduce Behavior

Create the Col.asp file:

Create a new text document by using Windows Notepad or another text editor.

Paste the following code into the new text document:

<%@ Language=VBScript %>
<HTML>
<HEAD><META NAME="GENERATOR" Content="Microsoft Visual Studio 6.0"></HEAD>
<BODY>
<p><b>QueryString</b><br>
<% for each oFld in Request.QueryString
    Response.Write oFld & " = " & Request.QueryString(oFld) & "<br>"
   next %>
</p>
<p><b>ServerVariables</b><br>
<% Response.Write oFld & "VAR = " & Request.ServerVariables("HTTP_hello") & "<br>"
%>
</p></BODY></HTML>

Save the text file as Col.asp in the home folder of your default Web site (this is typically C:\InetPub\WWWRoot).

Create the setRequestHeader.vbs Windows script:

Create a new text document by using Windows Notepad or another text editor.

Paste the following code into the new text document:

 dim test
 Set test = WScript.CreateObject("Msxml2.ServerXMLHTTP")

 dim str
'str=string(3,"a")
 str=string(3000,"a")

 test.open "GET", "http://localhost/col.asp?longStr=" & str, 0
 test.setRequestHeader "hello", str
 test.send
 WScript.Echo test.responseText

Save the text document as C:\setRequestHeader.vbs.

At a command prompt, you can execute the script by using the following command:
wscript C:\setRequestHeader.vbs
1. You can verify your configuration by testing with the string of 3 "a"s. In the setRequestHeader.vbs file, comment the following line of code
  str=string(3000,"a")
  and uncomment the following line of code:
  str=string(3,"a")
2. You can generate the error by testing with the string of 3000 "a"s. In the setRequestHeader.vbs file, uncomment the following line of code
  str=string(3000,"a")
  and comment the following line of code:
  str=string(3,"a")