• Microsoft VBScript runtime error '800a0009'Subscript out of range: '[number: 2]'
  /formmail.asp, line 96

Here is the problem code (line 96 is in red):

'----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
'verify the referer
'----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
referer = request.ServerVariables("HTTP_REFERER")
referer = split(referer,"/")
url_verified = "no"
for icounter = Lbound(url) to Ubound(url) '
if referer(2) = url(icounter) then
url_verified = "yes"
end if
next
if not url_verified = "yes" then
response.write("The url specified is invalid!")
response.End
end if


CAN ANYONE PLEASE HELP??!!!!

1 - referer is probably empty or not an array

OK - here's the deal...

formmail.asp is a free script by sortedsites.com, written as an asp alternative to the popular CGI script by Matt Wright - I'm pretty sure it is used by literally millions of users. Yet, I cannot find this error reported anywhere else.

Also, this error was reported to me by a client who got it after taking the time to fill out my form. I cannot replicate the error and I've never had anyone report it before either.

So, I guess my questions are:

1.) How could the referrer be empty?
2.) What could I do to correct this issue?

btw - here where the array is defined:

'Referrer's Array is defined here. Enter the valid domains which may use this script.
url = Array("www.your-domain.com","your-domain.com")'Set which urls that will be accepted. http://xxxxx/

How could the referrer be empty?

Very easily;

it is not a required field in the HTTP protocol and it is only filled when a link is "clicked". So, there is no referer from "bookmarks" or "typeins" and many "Internet Security", Privacy and Anti-virus / Anti spyware programs remove it from the browser.

You should not rely on it being there and check that it has a value before you try to use it.

formmail.asp is a free script by sortedsites.com, written as an asp alternative to the popular CGI script by Matt Wright - I'm pretty sure it is used by literally millions of users. Yet, I cannot find this error reported anywhere else.

That's because most ASP coders don't know bugger all about coding and errors like this usually go unreported and/or unresolved as a result. It also probably isn't used as often as you might think.

if you want the fix, add these two lines.

Line 1:

referer = request.ServerVariables("HTTP_REFERER") 
if referer <> "" then

Line 2:

if not url_verified = "yes" then 
response.write("The url specified is invalid!")
response.End
end if
end if ' this closes the first if condition that I created.

As Chris Hirst pointed out, you're not going to get a referral from type-in traffic, search engine spiders who revisit the page to try and reindex it without necessarily hitting another link first, pro-privacy programs, and some proxy servers.

There's a much more important lesson here that you should learn, unclechris, and you may not learn it the first time: 99.999% of ASP prewritten scripts suck and are faulty. They don't take into account all situations and are one-size-fits-a-small-market-so-it's-assumed-that-one-size-fits-all-solutions. The best thing you can do is to learn how to code a script like this yourself, and not rely on other people to come up with code samples for you.

Originally Posted by ADAM Web Design

That's because most ASP coders don't know bugger all about coding and errors like this usually go unreported and/or unresolved as a result.

well, maybe we'll all help a few souls out in the future when this page gets googled :-)

Thanks for the input and the fix Chris/Adam. Truely appreciated.

Originally Posted by ADAM Web Design

There's a much more important lesson here that you should learn, unclechris, and you may not learn it the first time: 99.999% of ASP prewritten scripts suck and are faulty. They don't take into account all situations and are one-size-fits-a-small-market-so-it's-assumed-that-one-size-fits-all-solutions. The best thing you can do is to learn how to code a script like this yourself, and not rely on other people to come up with code samples for you.

I'm trying, and will continue to! Thanks again.