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ASP custom 404 error

Ian Lloyd over at A List Apart wrote up an article on 16 January 2004 about creating a custom 404 error page ("Page cannot be found") using Javascript. On 21 January, Andrew Waer wrote a PHP example. So I wrote an ASP example based on the other two (mostly on the PHP one, though). Please feel free to use this on your own site if you wish. Just keep the names and all of that other rights stuff.

I won't bore you with the details as to WHY this is important. Read Ian's article for more information.

You can see an example of how I used this on the Adventist Health System Midwest Region website. Use this bad link to get some idea.

Share your thoughts and discuss this with others.

here it is

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" 
 "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">
<head>
<title>ASP Error 404</title>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" />
</head>
<body>

<%
On Error Resume Next
'**
'*	A List Apart - The Perfect 404 
'*		http://alistapart.com/articles/perfect404/
'*
'*	Original Author	: Ian Lloyd (Javascript)
'*	Modified by	: Andrew Waer (PHP)
'*	Rewritten by	: Ed Knittel (ASP)
'*	Last Modified	: 01-28-2004
'*	
'*	Basically just an ASP conversion of Andrew's PHP script from Ian's Javascript
'*	With some extras
'**

Dim strReferer
strReferer = LCase(Request.ServerVariables("HTTP_REFERER"))
strURL = LCase(Request.ServerVariables("QUERY_STRING"))
blnSearchReferral = False
blnInsiteReferral = False
strError = "404"
strSite = ""

If Len(strReferer)<>0 Then
	'We have been referred to this page some another web page ...
	If (InStr(1,strReferer,".looksmart.co") > 0) OR (InStr(1,strReferer,".ifind.freeserve") > 0) OR (InStr(1,strReferer,".ask.co") > 0) OR (InStr(1,strReferer,"google.co") > 0) OR (InStr(1,strReferer,"altavista.co") > 0) OR (InStr(1,strReferer,"msn.co") > 0) OR (InStr(1,strReferer,"hotbot.co") > 0) OR (InStr(1,strReferer,"yahoo.co") > 0) Then
		'we have been referred to from a known search engine
		blnSearchReferral = True
		arrSite = Split(strReferer,"/")
		arrParams = Split(strReferer,"?")
		strSearchTerms = arrParams(1)
		arrParams = Split(strSearchTerms,"&")
		strSite = arrSite(2)
		sQryStr = ""
		
		' Define what search terms are in use
		' Be sure to Dim the array length appropriately
		Dim arrQueryStrings(5)
		arrQueryStrings(0) = "q="	//google, altavista, msn
		arrQueryStrings(1) = "p="	//yahoo
		arrQueryStrings(2) = "ask="	//ask jeeves
		arrQueryStrings(3) = "qt="	//looksmart
		arrQueryStrings(4) = "query="	//hotbot
		
		Dim i,q
		For i=0 To UBound(arrParams)
			'loop through all the parameters in the referring page's URL
			For q=0 To UBound(arrQueryStrings)
				sQryStr = arrQueryStrings(q)
				If (InStr(1,arrParams(i),sQryStr)) Then
					'we've found a search term!
					strSearchTerms2 = Split(strSearchTerms,sQryStr)
					strSearchTerms = strSearchTerms2(1)
					strSearchTerms = Replace(strSearchTerms,"+"," ")
				End If
			Next
		Next
		
		Response.Write "<p>You did a search on <strong><a href=""" & strReferer & """>" & strSite & "</a></strong> for <strong>" & strSearchTerms & "</strong>. However, their index appears to be out of date.</p>" & _
		"<h2>All is not lost!</h2>" & _
		"<p>We think that the following page(s) on our site will be able to help you:</p>" & _
		"<ul>"
			
		'--------------------------------------------------------------
		' Edit and repeat for all pages you want to match to the search phrases found
		If ((InStr(1,strSearchTerms,"usability") > 0) OR (InStr(1,strSearchTerms,"accessibility") > 0)) Then
			Response.Write "<li><a href=""http://www.alistapart.com/topics/usability/"">topic directory: usability</a></li>" & _
			"<li><a href=""http://www.alistapart.com/topics/accessibility/"">topic directory: accessibility</a></li>"
		Else
			Response.Write "<li>Sorry, but we can't seem to find any pages that may be useful.</li>"
		End If
		'---------------------------------------------------------------------
		
		Response.Write "</ul>"
		
	End If 'End of section dealing with referral from known search engine

If blnSearchReferral = False Then
		' ------------------------------------------------
		' for referrals from other sites with broken links
		arrSite = Split(strReferer,"/")
		strSite = arrSite(2)
		Response.Write "<p>You were incorrectly referred to this page by: <strong><a href=""" & strReferer & """>" & strSite & "</a></strong><br />We suggest you try one of the links below:</p>"
	End If
End If

If blnSearchReferral = True Then
	Response.Write "<p>Or you could try one of the following pages:</p>" & _
	"<p><a href=""/"" title=""Go to the home page for www.mysite.com"">Home Page</a><br />" & _
	"<a href=""site_map.asp"" title=""View the complete site map for www.mysite.com"">Site Map</a></p>"
Else
	' For referrals from other sites with broken links
	' ------------------------------------------------
	blnInsiteReferral = ((InStr(1,strReferer,"mysite.com/") > 0) OR (InStr(1,strReferer,"mysite.org/") > 0))

str = "<div class=""form"">"
	str = str & "<h2>Help us to help you ...</h2>"

If blnInsiteReferral = True Then
		str = str & "<p>It looks like one of our own links is broken - we're very sorry about this, and we will ensure that this is passed on so that the links can be fixed. All you need to do is press the button below.</p>"
		arrURL = Split(strURL,";")
		strError = arrURL(0)
		strURL = arrURL(1)
	Else
		str = str & "<p>In order to improve our service, you can inform us that someone else has an incorrect link to our site. We will do our best to notify them that this page has moved and ask them to update the link. <strong>Just press the button!</strong></p>"
	End If
	str = str & "<form method=""post"" action=""http://www.mysite.com/formprocessing/forms.asp"" onsubmit=""alert('Thank you for letting us know!');"">"
	str = str & "<input type=""hidden"" name=""Referring Site"" value=""" & strReferer & """ />"
	str = str & "<input type=""hidden"" name=""Page Requested"" value=""" & strURL & """ />"
	str = str & "<input type=""hidden"" name=""Error Type"" value=""" & strError & """ />"
	str = str & "<input type=""submit"" name=""cmdSubmit"" class=""button"" value=""Report this broken link >>"" />"
	str = str & "</form>"
	str = str & "</div>"
	Response.Write str
End If

%>
</body>
</html>

welcome.to.chicago :: 7 aug 2008 @ 6.22pm CT

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ASP custom 404 error

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