__doPostBack is undefined in IE11

Question

Using a readymade asp HyperLink control, IE 11 is giving the error SCRIPT5009: __doPostBack is undefined with a link to here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ie/xyf5fs0y(v=vs.94).aspx

This is seen in the F12 devtools console window.

Has anybody encountered this yet and is there a fix? This is a production environment.

EDIT: Applying hotfix http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2600088 didn't work for me, and IE 10 on Windows 8 works fine.

There is more recent article from Scott Hanselman with updated information. http://www.hanselman.com/blog/IE10AndIE11AndWindows81AndDoPostBack.aspx I will attempt these fixes and update this question but this appears to be isolated to windows 8.1 and IE11.

Answer 1

After struggling with the same issue for a few days, we came across this solution:

http://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/details/806542/fix-internet-explorer-11-not-detected-correctly-by-net-4-0-framework-when-custom-browser-files-are-used.

Add a new .browser file to the App_Browsers folder; we named the file 'IE11.browser', and if the App_Browsers folder doesn't exist, create it.

We then simply copied the body from the link above into the newly created file, redeployed, and now there's no more _doPostBack error.

The body of the file looked like this:

<browsers>
<browser id="IE11" parentID="Mozilla">
  <identification>
    <userAgent match="Trident\/7.0; rv:(?'version'(?'major'\d+)(\.(?'minor'\d+)?)(?'letters'\w*))(?'extra'[^)]*)" />
    <userAgent nonMatch="IEMobile" />
  </identification>
  <capture>
    <userAgent match="Trident/(?'layoutVersion'\d+)" />
  </capture>
  <capabilities>
    <capability name="browser"             value="IE" />
    <capability name="layoutEngine"         value="Trident" />
    <capability name="layoutEngineVersion" value="${layoutVersion}" />
    <capability name="extra"                value="${extra}" />
    <capability name="isColor"             value="true" />
    <capability name="letters"             value="${letters}" />
    <capability name="majorversion"         value="${major}" />
    <capability name="minorversion"         value="${minor}" />
    <capability name="screenBitDepth"     value="8" />
    <capability name="type"                 value="IE${major}" />
    <capability name="version"             value="${version}" />
  </capabilities>
</browser>

<!-- Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.3; Trident/7.0; rv:11,0) like Gecko -->
<browser id="IE110" parentID="IE11">
  <identification>
    <capability name="majorversion" match="11" />
  </identification>

  <capabilities>
    <capability name="ecmascriptversion"    value="3.0" />
    <capability name="jscriptversion"     value="5.6" />
    <capability name="javascript"         value="true" />
    <capability name="javascriptversion"    value="1.5" />
    <capability name="msdomversion"         value="${majorversion}.${minorversion}" />
    <capability name="w3cdomversion"        value="1.0" />
    <capability name="ExchangeOmaSupported" value="true" />
    <capability name="activexcontrols"     value="true" />
    <capability name="backgroundsounds"     value="true" />
    <capability name="cookies"             value="true" />
    <capability name="frames"             value="true" />
    <capability name="javaapplets"         value="true" />
    <capability name="supportsCallback"     value="true" />
    <capability name="supportsFileUpload" value="true" />
    <capability name="supportsMultilineTextBoxDisplay" value="true" />
    <capability name="supportsMaintainScrollPositionOnPostback" value="true" />
    <capability name="supportsVCard"        value="true" />
    <capability name="supportsXmlHttp"     value="true" />
    <capability name="tables"             value="true" />
    <capability name="supportsAccessKeyAttribute"    value="true" />
    <capability name="tagwriter"            value="System.Web.UI.HtmlTextWriter" />
    <capability name="vbscript"             value="true" />
  </capabilities>
</browser>
</browsers>

We didn't have to upgrade our .Net version from 4 to 4.5, and everything is now working as it should.

Hopefully this helps someone having the same frustrating issue!

Answer 2

Put below script in your master page will surely fix it. i had a similar issue and it got fixed.

<script runat="server">

protected override void OnInit(EventArgs e)
{
Page.ClientTarget = "uplevel";
base.OnInit(e);

}
</script> 

Answer 3

Installing the .NET Framework 4.5 on your web server should resolve it.

http://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/download/details.aspx?id=30653

Alternatively, if you can't install .NET Framework 4.5 there is a Microsoft hotfix for IE11 : http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2836939 (Thank you to @Afract for your comment)

Answer 4

Installing Framework 4.5 on our server requires wading through a swamp of red tape and filling out forms, so here is what I did:

Goto site : http://blogs.telerik.com/aspnet-ajax/posts/13-12-19/how-to-get-your-asp.net-application-working-in-ie11

Find the link to download a custom .browser file with the IE11 fix.

Save telerik_ie11_browser_file_fix.zip to your computer and unzip Telerik_IE11_fix.browser

Copy Telerik_IE11_fix.browser to the target server path of C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v4.0.30319\Config\Browsers

Run the following commands on your server (saw it on a hanselman fix blog) cd C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v4.0.30319 (or whatever framework version your are using)

Run C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v4.0.30319>aspnet_regbrowsers –i

Run iisreset on your server

Answer 5

Essentially what's going on is that there are 2 missing html hidden elements "eventtarget" and "eventargument", as well as a missing function "__doPostBack".

These are missing from the DOM.

I tried all the fixes listed for this and none worked. However using a combination of jquery and javascript there is an unobtrusive solution. Add this to your javascript on document ready and you're off to the races:

if ($('#__EVENTTARGET').length <= 0 && $('#__EVENTARGUMENT').length <= 0) {
  $('#YOUR_ASPNET_FORMID').prepend('<input type="hidden" name="__EVENTTARGET" id="__EVENTTARGET" value="" /><input type="hidden" name="__EVENTARGUMENT" id="__EVENTARGUMENT" value="" />');
}

if (typeof __doPostBack == 'undefined') {
  __doPostBack = function (eventTarget, eventArgument) { object
    var theForm = document.forms['YOUR_ASPNET_FORMID'];
    if (!theForm) {
      theForm = document.YOUR_ASPNET_FORMID;
    }
    if (!theForm.onsubmit || (theForm.onsubmit() != false)) {
      theForm.__EVENTTARGET.value = eventTarget;
      theForm.__EVENTARGUMENT.value = eventArgument;
      theForm.submit();
    }
  };
}

I understand that some of said installing 4.5 fixes this. I would definitely recommend that. However, if you're like me working on an enterprise public facing site with a cms system baked in .net 4, this might just be an easier solution, as opposed to possibly introducing new bugs created from updating your platform.

Answer 6

Adding a browser config file to App_Browsers (see above for XML) on Windows 2008 with IIS 7.5 is working for IE 11. On a previous site we did something else, but this is much simpler.

Answer 7

None of the hotfixes worked for me, neither updating ie.browser file. I'm on a Windows Server 2008 R2.

The only solution that worked though (apart from upgrading to .net 4.5) is the addition of the script suggested by @vishal in this thread.

Answer 8

I discovered a page that was missing the form tag with the runnat='server'. If this is not on your page then the postback will not be able to pass back the controls and properly fire any code behind

Answer 9

What happens is that IE11 is not recognised by Asp.net as a modern browser due to the fact that the user-agent changed, for anyone in same situation the only solution out of 100s of suggestions for me was Adding a setTimeout

instead of using below snipet

__doPostBack('ButtonPostBack', "");   

Use this one

setTimeout(function () { __doPostBack('ButtonPostBack', ""); }, 1);