Thread

I set the Live Look template of a channel, but when clicking either Live Look after submitting an entry or clicking “view” from the CP edit list, I get this error:

“The URI you submitted has disallowed characters.”

I’ve tried it with numerous entries - all the same result. I notice it is creating a URL with a duplicate domain. Could that be the issue? How would I resolve that? Here is the URL it attempts to retrieve:

http://www.domain.com/EE/index.php?URL=http://www.domain.com/EE/index.php?/site/news/17

Hi jh40952,

What version of ExpressionEngine are you using?

Under Admin->Channel Administration->Channels and Edit Preferences. What do you have for “Channel URL”?

Under Admin->General Configuration, what do you have for “URL to the root directory of your site”?

I look forward to your reply!

Cheers,

Under the channel preferences the channel URL is blank. Under general config, the URL is

http://www.domain.com/EE/

Hi jh40952,

Let’s try adding a value into that Channel URL setting.

In Admin->Channel Administration->Channels and Edit Preferences: set “Channel URL” to match the URL in General Configuration.

Are you using .htaccess to remove index.php.

And… what version of ExpressionEngine are you using?

Cheers,

I updated the channel preferences to have the same URL as the site and still get the error message.

I’m using EE 2.3.1, and leaving the index.php in there (no .htaccess).

Hi jh40952,

Thank you for checking that for me.

... and leaving the index.php in there (no .htaccess).

And you also have “index.php” set as “Name of your site’s index page” in Admin->General Configuration ?

Have you made any adjustments to either admin.php or /system/index.php ?

Will you please post the contents of /system/expressionengine/config/config.php

/*
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
| ExpressionEngine Config Items
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
| The following items are for use with ExpressionEngine.  The rest of
| the config items are for use with CodeIgniter, some of which are not
| observed by ExpressionEngine, e.g. 'permitted_uri_chars'
|
*/

... your values here ...

// END EE config items

Be sure to obfuscate any sensitive URLs or paths.

Cheers,

oh - and the name of the site’s index is index.php. There have been no adjustments to the admin.php or system/index.php files.

Thanks again for your guidance!

Hi jh40952,

I went back over this, as I have been stumped up til now. I looked back over the sample link above and the error is the result of the second “?” in the URI.

Fortunately, that lends us a clue! Are you Forcing query strings? Admin->System Administration->Output and Debugging: Force URL query strings
Toggle that setting and try again.

And just to make double sure, you don’t have .htaccess at all, or you just aren’t using it to remove index.php?

Cheers,

I think that forced query string may be the issue. My client had their web host install EE for them, and this is the only EE build (of the 10+ I’ve built) that have that forced URL query strings set to “yes.” When I toggle it to no, the site breaks, saying:

No input file specified

Would this have to do with the client’s web hosting?

Also - there is no .htaccess file

Hi jh40952,

My client had their web host install EE for them

That’s the first time I’ve heard of something like this besides EngineHosting, interesting.

Would this have to do with the client’s web hosting?

Indeed it would.

Do you know who the host provider is? What are the results of running the Server Wizard?

Cheers,

My client had their web host install EE for them

That’s the first time I’ve heard of something like this besides EngineHosting, interesting.

Yes, it’s a first for me, too. I much prefer to do it myself or leave it to the people who know how. I ran the EE server wizard. All came up OK except the suggested “URL Segment Support.”

I’ve never heard of the host either: Special Domain Services.

Hi jh40952,

I ultimately think this issue lies with the host. I set every thing on my sandbox to match your setup, and I copied your example URL at the top, changing where needed, and could not reproduce the error.

There are 2 more things to try to rule out all our options.
1) Have you tried in several browsers?
2) Read the User Guide on Query Strings. In /system/expressionengine/config/config.php set:

$config['uri_protocol'] = 'QUERY_STRING';

Cheers,

Eureka! My client was persuaded to move to EngineHosting. The entire site works perfectly now. Thank you for your assistance. I’ll chalk this up as an experience in bad hosting.