include after PHP 404 header returning "Oops! This link appears to be broken."

Question

To make a long story short, I have dynamic pages on a website that display reviews. If there are no reviews associated with a particular city/county/area/etc the mysql query returns 0 rows which triggers the following code:

if (!$validRevQuery) {
    header("HTTP/1.0 404 Not Found");
    include("http://{$PDS['site']}/404.php?request=".urlencode($_SERVER['REQUEST_URI']));
    exit;
}

On some webhosts this triggers a "URL file-access is disabled" error. Which is fine, but on the ones that allow URL file-access, the 404 file is included and properly displayed. I changed the code slightly to display an absolute path like so:

if (!$validRevQuery) {
    header("HTTP/1.0 404 Not Found");
    $_GET['request'] = urlencode($_SERVER['REQUEST_URI']);
    include($_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT']."/404.php");
    exit;
}

And now, it's giving me the generic "Oops! This link appears to be broken." error page. (I have google toolbar, so this may be different depending upon browser and plugins). No idea why this is happening, so any help is appreciated!

Answer 1

Your problem has nothing to do with what you include: It's that your page is too small.

In my experience, Chrome's built-in "Oops" page is displayed, like the one in Internet Explorer, when the page emits only the 404 header and less than a defined number of bytes of content (I think it's 512 bytes in IE, don't know the limit in Chrome).

I tend to pad my 404 pages with a few hundred bytes of meaningless content wrapped in HTML comments, like

<!-- aaaa aaaa aaaa aaaa aaaa aaaa aaaa 
     aaaa aaaa aaaa aaaa aaaa aaaa aaaa  --> 

to make sure the custom 404 page is displayed.

Update: Or of course, use the opportunity for some cool ASCII Art!

   <!--                            oooo   ooo
                                   $   $  $   $
                                   "o  $ $  o""
                                     o  "   "ooooo
                                 oo ""           o$
                   o            o            oo  "
                  $$             $o$""$o  ooo$
                  $"$          o $    "$  $
        o$o       $ "$         $ $     $ $
         $$$o     $$ "$       o$ $     o $o
         "$ ""o   "$   "o     $$ "o     o"
     $o   $$   "o  $     "oo  $"  $   o$"
      "$   $o    "o$$       "o$    $o$" oo$
        "o "$o                     "$o $"$$
          "        oo$$$$$$$oo        $oo$$""      o" o
 """""""""      o$$$$$$$$$$$"$o             o"""$o$$  o$
       ooo$$$"o$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ "$o    o   o$$$o   $ $ o$
    o$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$    "oo  o      ""o  "$ $
   $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$      "$o   o$$"""$     " oo""o
o""""$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$"         ""$o"$o          "   o$
     "$$$$$$$$""""$""$$$""              "$oo$""$o     o$"""
      $$$$$$$"                           $""""$"  o""""
       $"""""$ooooo        ooooo$$$$$$$     o$" o"
        $     """" oooo$$$$$$$$$$$$$$"     $"  o"
      oo$   oooo$$$$$$$$$$$"""""$$$$"    o$" o$"
    "$ $o$$$$$$$$$$$$$""$     o$$$"oooo$"  o"
      "o$ "$$$$$$$$$$$$         $$o$"$$$   $"
        "$  ""$$$$$$$$$        o$"$$$ "$$o$$
          "o   ""$$$$$$o     o$$$$ ""$o """$
            "$o    ""$$$$$$o"  o$$$$oo o$$$$
               ""$oo     $$" "$$$"" ooooooo$
                    """"$"  o$"   oo$$$$$""$$
                       $ oo$"  o$$$$$""  ooo$
                       $o$"  o$$$$"  oo$$$$$$$o
                        $$ o$$$"  o$$$$$$"""""$o
                         "o$$"  o$$$$""  o$$$$$$$o
                           "$oo$$$$"  o$$$$$""" o$o
                             "$$$" oo$$$"" oo$$$$$$$
                          ooooo$oo$$$"" oo$$$$"""$$""
                         $"oooo $$$" o$$$$""      $
                       o$"o$   $$"oo$$""       " o$
                       $ o$$o  $$o$$"          oo$$
                       $ $$$$  $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
                       $ $$$$  $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$"
                       $ $$$$  $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
                       $ ""    ""$$$$$$$$$"""$""""
                       $o         $"$"    " $"
                        $o       $$  $o    o$
                         "$o   o$$    ""$$$"
                           """"""  -->

Answer 2

Trying redirecting using a 307 or 301 with a location header