I have come across this bug twice in as many weeks and in both cases the problem and the answers were the same.
Problem:
When the hosting page tries to display the combo box or drop-down value from the hosted page, the combo box or select box is un-clickable. Arrows keys however will still work.
Browser affected:
IE7 version 7.0.5730.13 (last IE7 update)
Cause:
This problem occurs when security update 2586448 is installed on a computer that is running Internet Explorer 7. The select box is in an iframe which is not hosted on the same domain as the main page.
How to test if this is your bug:
The first step is to identify if the problem is related to the IE7 bug. To test this do the following:
Make sure that the Allow script-initiated windows without size or position constraints option is enabled for the Trusted sites zone, and then temporarily add the affected site to the Trusted sites zone. To do this, follow these steps:
- In Internet Explorer, click Internet Options on the Tools menu. Or, press Alt+X and then click Internet Options.
- Click the Security tab.
- Click Trusted sites, and then click Custom Level.
- Scroll down to the Miscellaneous section to verify that the Allow script-initiated windows without size or position constraints option is selected.
- Click OK.
- Click Sites, type the name of the site into the Add this website to the zone box, and then click Add.
- Click Close, and then click OK.
If this fixes the problem on that machine then you know you are affected.
What are the solutions?
You really only have 3 solutions.
- Don’t use iframes
- Host the iframe within the same domain
- Add a conditional IE7 statement within the iframe or parent page telling the user to:
a. Upgrade their browser
b. Show apply to apply the hotfix for this bug
c. Show how to allow script-initiated windows (as above)
Links:
Update the browser: http://www.windows.com/ie
Apply the hotfix: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2586448
Full details of this bug: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2628724
