Python and ASP - failure on 2nd and subsequent page loads

Wed Sep 30 19:57:28 EDT 2009

I would be grateful for any advice about a problem which is preventing me from using Python for my current project.

I am hoping to use Python 2.6.2 on the server side with Microsoft ASP [not ASP.NET; version details below].   The behavior I see is:

1.       Load very simple page [text below] into browser [Firefox or IE, versions below].  Everything displays, fine.

2.       Exit browser, restart it, and reload the same page; or open a second tab and load the same page.

3.       In either case, page fails to load, with error:
Python ActiveX Scripting Engine, ASP 0211 (0x80020009)
A built-in ASP object has been referenced, which is no longer valid.

If I edit the page in any way, or just 'touch' it, and refresh the browser, the page will load correctly the first time, and then fail again as described.

The page I am using has no actual Python scripting, just the LANGUAGE directive.  Here is the complete page text:

<%@LANGUAGE=Python%>
<HTML>
<head></head>
<body>
<h1>Python Test</h1>
<p>
</body>
</html>

Of course, things don't get any better if I put in <% %> with some actual Python in between.

I found a five-year-old newsgroup posting with what seemed to be a similar (but not identical) problem.   This thread said that the problem went away if server-side debugging was turned off.  I have it turned off, no effect.    I also tried adding some Response object settings to disallow cacheing, but these did not have any effect.

Version Info:

Python:  2.6.2
PyWin:  pywin32-214 (I ran the client\pyscript.py and server\axsite.py scripts for setup)
Client OS:  Windows XP Pro SP2
Browsers:   Firefox 3.0.14, IE 8.0.6  [identical bug]
Server:   IIS 5.1

Note, I also tried using Python 3.1 with corresponding pywin, but I could not get that to work with ASP at all;  just got server 500 errors.   I'd prefer to use Python 2.6.2 anyway since I am fairly new to Python.

I would be very grateful for any expert pointers on this, since if I can't solve it I will probably have to go use PHP, Javascript, or something else.  Thank you!

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