I'm trying to debug a problem with Internet Explorer 10 by controlling the interaction with the developer tools console, but I'm stuck in the odd behavior - sometimes the console just closes and all the recorded traffic is lost.
To be more precise, the call sequence is as follows (this is actually a standard SAML 2.0 authentication flow with the client certificate login in IDP):
Please note that everything after the initial access happens automatically, and the user does not need to click on any links or submit some forms.
Automatically submitting a POST form looks something like this:
<html> <head> ... some head data here... </head> <body onLoad="document.forms[0].submit()"> <form name="auto.submit.form"> ... some form fields here... </form> </body> </html>
The problem arises somewhere after point 2 - the developer tools console just closes, but this does not seem to affect the actual operation of the browser.
I also tried with HttpWatch Professional - I get the same effect - the plugin just stops recording or closes completely. In this case, I cannot use Fiddler, because it prevents me from debugging the actual problem (i.e., it works when Fiddler is enabled). Also the problem is specific to IE, so I cannot use the developer tools of another browser.
Any ideas / hints on this?
Update: I think I have solved at least part of the question: The developer tool window closes when navigating to another zone. That is, in my case, the host in step 2 is in the Internet zone, while the host from the other steps in the local intranet zone, then the developer tools window closes after switching from step 2 to step 3 (not when redirection from 1 - 2). The difference is that the first is executed through a javascript and self-submit form, and the other is only a 302 redirect response.
After I added all the sites to the local intranet zone, the problem stopped. However, its secret, and also seems to be more of an IE problem than a problem with developer tools, because HttpWatch seems to be affected by this.