DESCRIPTION
Users face an issue with the display of images on a document rendered in Flash view mode. When executing the document in DHTML mode (Interactive or Express) all images are correctly displayed. The Web Server serving the images, is set up in a way that if an image file does not exist physically on the machine, it will return a default image to avoid broken images.
STEPS TO REPRODUCE
1. Create a new document
2. Insert two images of which one exists on the web server while the other one does not.
3. Run the document in Flash Mode and note that only one image is displayed.
4. Run the document in Interactive Mode and note that both images are displayed.
Note: To reproduce the issue, Web Server must be configured in a particular way to serve a default image when the actually requested image does not exist at the HTTP request location.
CAUSE
This is a limitation of Strategy Web Flash view. The original issue is caused by the way, the (non-Strategy) image web server behaves when an image is not physically available at the requested location. For above example, the image Web Server was set up to return a HTTP 404 (not found) response but instead of the 404 error message it returns a default image file in the HTTP response content. This can be checked by running a Fiddler trace while reproducing the issue.
On the screenshot below, note that the linked image is not available. Thus, the Web Server returns a HTTP 404 status code as the file cannot be found. In this example, the Web Server serving the image has been set up to serve an image instead of the 404 error page. Note the Response Header on the bottom right returns the content-type as image/png.
While DHTML modes are able to handle a 404 response with image content-type, Flash view mode does not.
SOLUTION
An Enhancement Request is under review for Strategy Flash View mode to support this particular situation. Please contact Strategy Technical Support for an update on this issue.
WORKAROUND
There are alternative ways to configure a Web Server to serve a default image. For example, instead of returning a HTTP 404 response for missing images, the request may be configured to return either a redirect (HTTP 302) or OK (HTTP 200) status code, in which case this issue does not occur while the outcome is the same.
It would be recommended to review the above information with your System Administrator for environment specific configuration of image web server.
