TinyMCE plugin does not work with NTLM

As noted on TinyMCEPluginDev several users have reported problems when using TinyMCE with NTLM authentication. The problem is that the page never loads or you are prompted for credentials which are then never accepted. (how the problem manifests itself depends on the browser used).

I too have the same problem.

TinyMCE is the default editor in TWiki 4.2 and NTLM authentication is used on many corporate intranet TWikis which means this "bug" is obviously a problem for the adoption of TWiki 4.2. Therefore I've taken the liberty of reporting this as priority "Urgent".

Sergei Klink reported on TinyMCEPluginDev that it could simply be fixed by removing

TWikiTiny.request.req.setRequestHeader("Connection", "close");

from twiki_tiny.js without much information as to why.

I've found the following links to support this:

http://forums.msdn.microsoft.com/en-US/sharepointdevelopment/thread/5561b6aa-4fc3-4114-bf23-817ccbc88959/

http://groups.google.com/group/ajaxpro/browse_thread/thread/278b4688f17641ff/4ad3cfc77899b17e?lnk=gst&q=ajax+ntlm&rnum=2#4ad3cfc77899b17e

-- TWiki:Main/LarsHaarber - 01 Aug 2008

OK, thanks Lars. I cannot test NTLM, but you can, so can you please remove that line and confirm here that it fixes the problem. When you have confirmed, then that together with the links will be enough for me and I will remove the line from the source.

-- CrawfordCurrie - 01 Aug 2008

I'm sorry for not having responded on this earlier. Holiday season I'm afraid. I've got bad news: I cannot make it work even by removing the line above. It is true that others have reported the opposite but as for me it doesn't seem to change a thing.

-- TWiki:Main.LarsHaarber - 31 Aug 2008

OK. I'm sorry, Lars, but as I said before I can't test NTLM, and I'm relying on you (and other NTLM users) to isolate this problem.

-- CrawfordCurrie - 16 Sep 2008

Re-prioritized from urgent to normal at TWiki:Codev/GeorgetownReleaseMeeting2008x11x24

-- TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny - 25 Nov 2008

Perhaps I should pick up from here, Crawford.... this does definitely not work by simply removing the line. It still tries to authenticate, and it still hangs with the error. Again, raw edit works, it MUST be something TinyMCE is calling.

-- TWiki:Main.IngoFechtel - 17 Feb 2009

Re-set to urgent, as I agree that this is a pretty significant bug.

-- TWiki:Main.IngoFechtel - 17 Feb 2009

OK, I just tried something else. I also found the "close" statement in the file

twiki_tiny_src.js

I deleted the line THERE, and it seems to work now....

-- TWiki:Main.IngoFechtel - 17 Feb 2009

Just found out that we have the same problem in attach.js (and attach_src.js) which is called when you press the attachment-button in TinyMCE. Just remove that line, and you will be fine.

-- TWiki:Main.IngoFechtel - 05 Mar 2009

OK, since the above info is a little on the short side - apologies - here the full version:
The TinyMCE plugin will not work as delivered with NTLM authentification in IE. The error will not surface in FF. What happens is that as soon as you edit a page and TinyMCE tries to fetch the content of the page you are about to edit from the server, there will be an authentication window. Even if you enter valid credentials, the authentification will not work, and the page cannot be edited.
The same happens when you hit the "manage attachments" button, as this action also tries to fetch data from the server.

There are two files (and their respective sources) which need to be edited in order for this to work. In all four files files, we are looking for a string saying
("connection", "close")

The first two files are in /www/wikipath/htdocs/twiki/pub/TWiki/TinyMCEPlugin and called twiki_tiny.js and twiki_tiny_src.js

The other two files are in /www/wikipath/htdocs/twiki/pub/TWiki/TinyMCEPlugin/tinymce/jscripts/tiny_mce/plugins/twikibuttons/jscripts and called attach.js and attach_src.js

If you delete the line containig the ("connection", "close") -statement, or the sequence between the ; in front of and behind that statement, the editor and attachment button will work.

(Changing priority to normal due to error solved, just needs to be looked over)

Good luck

-- TWiki:Main.IngoFechtel - 09 Mar 2009