Telecom New Zealand bill - PDF but not option to save...

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Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › Telecom New Zealand bill - PDF but not option to save...

freitasm

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#61779 23-May-2010 18:51

The Telecom website is annoying. I have three accounts, and I don't use Acrobat - I use something else. Iam trying to save the bill, which is in PDF format, but there's not link to the bill that allows me to do right-click Save As.

Bloody annoying if you ask me.

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#333685 23-May-2010 19:53

Wouldn't that be your browser interpreting the application/pdf mime type? Where is the bill download?

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freitasm

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#333703 23-May-2010 20:21

No, not the case. When you login to Telecom you have the option to look at your bill - it's a button. There's no link so no option to right-click and Save As. They expect Acrobat Reader to open as a browser helper.

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#333710 23-May-2010 20:27

Cant you just save/print the webpage as a PDF? eg using CutePDF http://www.cutepdf.com/or similar? Works well for me when I want to capture whole webpages.

freitasm

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#333726 23-May-2010 20:44

There isn't a webpage. It's a drop down list of bills, with a button that opens another page where you would expect Adobe Reader to open INSIDE the browser.

I don't use Adobe Reader.

They don't give an option to save, and don't have a hyperlink that you can right-click and Save As.

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#333729 23-May-2010 20:49

freitasm: No, not the case. When you login to Telecom you have the option to look at your bill - it's a button. There's no link so no option to right-click and Save As. They expect Acrobat Reader to open as a browser helper.

I just tried that on a machine, with no adobe and using Firefox it said open or save it...default filename was an aspx page...which I just renamed.

So the button just pushed a binary response stream with application/pdf as the mime type...I do somethig similar at work.

Not sure if IE gives you the same option. I agree though, a link would make more sense, but I imagine they're generating on the fly so the server side button is use to trigger the generation process (or retrieval process from their archive).

(I almost sound like I know what I'm talking about :) )

freitasm

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#333731 23-May-2010 20:53

No, IE doesn't give the option.

freitasm

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#333732 23-May-2010 20:55

Yes, it does ask to save in Firefox. But I am seriously considering removing Firefox from my system so this is not an option. It should work in all browsers with a download link.

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davidcole

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#333737 23-May-2010 21:01

but is that a telecom problem or an IE problem?

Can a server process be initiated from a hyperlink - without the bill being generated before hand?

Actually I can answer my own question, yes it can, we do it, but I doubt that you could right click our links at work and "save link as" as that wouldn't trigger off the server process to generate the PDF file.

freitasm

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#333745 23-May-2010 21:05

I think it's a usability problem - Telecom's side. They should make it work with any browser, by using just a standard hyperlink instead of expecting you to have a specific program.

A simple list of previous bills hyperlinking to the appropriate PDF would be enough to let anyone use it.

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#333748 23-May-2010 21:08

Yes,. but you're assuming the PDFs are in download ready form...they may be inside a larger pdf, or generated directly from their billing system on the fly.

I'm picking the former rather than latter, based on time.

freitasm

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#333749 23-May-2010 21:09

No, I don't think they are inside a larger PDF. I think they are generated on the fly. Which makes no difference - linking t a dynamically generated PDF from a drop down list and button in a form or from a hyperlink is the same...

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#333753 23-May-2010 21:21

freitasm: No, I don't think they are inside a larger PDF. I think they are generated on the fly. Which makes no difference - linking t a dynamically generated PDF from a drop down list and button in a form or from a hyperlink is the same...

But dropdown + button, or server side hyperlink still requires the server to do something...the point is the hyperlink is not a link that can be saved since it's target is a server method. So any result of that server side action will result in a pdf object in the response stream.

It would be link trying to save the in your "quote" button on the forums, it's doesn't save and object, but do something when clicked.

freitasm

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#333756 23-May-2010 21:23

I know how it works. Thanks. My point is that they expect Acrobat Reader to be in your system to open it INSIDE your browser when viewed through IE.

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#333829 24-May-2010 00:07

So you can't view the PDF in your preferred software, or you can't save it? What makes you think they want you to be able to save it (or care if you can or can not)?

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#333832 24-May-2010 00:21

Seems like an IE8 quirk to me.

The showPDF.jsp page posts to GetBillImage which returns a application/pdf in the response stream.

Both Chrome and Firefox show a dialogue to save or open the pdf.

IE8 doesn't which is a bit unexpected.

Edit: Works fine in IE7 (tested with IETester).
http://www.my-debugbar.com/wiki/IETester/HomePage

If IE8 usage is high enough they might code a workaround for what is IE8's probably faulty behaviour.

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