Summary

Using Internet Explorer 6, you download or open a Microsoft Office document file in PRPC and see an extraneous blank Internet Explorer (IE) window behind your active work window. When you have successfully downloaded or opened the file, the blank IE window does not close automatically as expected. You must manually close it.

Examples of where you might see this problem in PRPC include the following contexts:

• When using the Export to Excel feature in List Views
• When using the activity Code-Pega-PDF.View to view a PDF file

This problem is caused by a known Microsoft issue reported for IE6 and Windows XP SP2 with Microsoft Security Bulletin MS05-054 or later update installed. The problem may be observed on any PRPC release using this platform.

Suggested Approach

Read the Microsoft Support Article KB936880. Download and install the hotfix as instructed in the article.

The Microsoft hotfix provides two components:

• a hot fix patch to apply for Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2)
• a registry update to implement the change once the patch is applied.

Example

To see the problem before you apply the Microsoft hotfix and its resolution after you apply the hotfix, follow these steps:

1. Use the example code in Generating PDFs and attaching them to work objects or viewing them in a web browser, to create and open a PDF file from a List View that calls the activity Code-Pega-PDF.View.
2. After running the sample activity, notice the blank IE popup window that remains open after the PDF file has opened.

   

3. Apply the Microsoft IE6 hotfix KB 936880, including creating and enabling the iexplore.exe registry as directed in the hotfix article.
4. Re-execute the sample activity and open the generated PDF file. The blank window that previously remained open in the background is now closed automatically.

Reference

Microsoft Support Article ID: 936880The blank Internet Explorer window does not close automatically in Internet Explorer 6 for Windows XP Service Pack 2 after you successfully download a Microsoft Office document from a Web page

Additional Information

Generating PDFs and attaching them to work objects or viewing them in a web browser