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A
Anonymous
August 31, 2011
Answered

Detect a remote URL using iframe and cf??

  • August 31, 2011
  • 2 replies
  • 3476 views

Is there a way to use coldfusion code to detect the URL string of a remote server/site if that server/site calls the .cfm page from my server using an iframe.

Sounds confusing.... I have a page on my site called test.cfm placed at the root.  I want to call that test.cfm page with an iframe from my blog... and on that test.cfm page the code (that I don't know how to write) will output the blog's URL string to the screen.

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Correct answer Owainnorth

Put a dump of the CGI scope in the page to be displayed, you might have it in CGI.referrer. Bear in mind though as with anything referrer, it relies on the user's browser sending you that data. Different browsers may do it differently, and you can't guarantee it'll do it at all.

2 replies

A
Anonymous
August 31, 2011

Thanks for the info.

My end goal was to replicate something like the quantcast analysis script but with iframe and cf instead of javascript.

I was also going to include a form that let's the person who knowingly puts my iframe on their page add additional data about their page.

I suppose there is a better way...

D
Dan_Bracuk
Inspiring
August 31, 2011

Regarding, "I was also going to include a form that let's the person who knowingly puts my iframe on their page add additional data about their page."

I suggest an experiment.  Knowingly put that iframe into a new page and have it do whatever it does.  Then look at the cgi variables on the receiving page.  Was the http referrer the parent page or the iframe?  Is that information relevent to what you were considering?

A
Anonymous
August 31, 2011

Absolutely.  The experiment was a success... I was just a little concerned about the news that not all browsers share certain data.

I tested the iframe on a blogger page and the http_referer and remote_host gave me the info I needed.

For now I'm happy and I suppose I'll just figure out what to do in those cases where the cgi's mentioned above do not return the data I need.

Owainnorth
OwainnorthCorrect answer
Inspiring
August 31, 2011

Put a dump of the CGI scope in the page to be displayed, you might have it in CGI.referrer. Bear in mind though as with anything referrer, it relies on the user's browser sending you that data. Different browsers may do it differently, and you can't guarantee it'll do it at all.

A
Anonymous
August 31, 2011

The dump did produce a couple data points I was looking for.

I did not know that about some browsers not returning CGI variables....  Is it only the http_referer variable?

Owainnorth
Owainnorth
Inspiring
August 31, 2011

A server cannot decide what it is sent by a browser, it's up to the browser to send what it likes. Often it's in their best interests, and it generally improves people's browsing experience as sites can do things exactly like what you're attempting here. However the fact remains that they don't *have* to send this information, and it doesn't *have* to be accurate.

I suspect the majority of browsers (certainly the popular ones) will send it by default; however things like robots and spiders might not. You need to make sure your site will still work without it, you don't want the site to break when something like Google spiders your site - firstly because you'll get spammed by all your error reports, but secondly because Google will downrank you if every page they hit returns an error 500.

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