Can record data affect the results of a URL Action without parameters?

Question

In my developer sandbox I have created a simple custom url list button that has the following:

{!URLFOR($Action.Custom_Object__c.New)}  

When I use this button on some of my record it results in the creation of a new record as expected. However, on other records it results in the URL No Longer Exists page.

On one of the broken records, I used the standard clone button to create a copy and on the resulting record the test button works.

Inspecting the button on the broken record:

<input value=" Test " class="btn" name="test" onclick="this.form.action = '/servlet/servlet.Integration?lid=00bc0000000R8tB&amp;eid=800c0000000LDfY&amp;ic=1&amp;retURL=%2F800c0000000LDfY&amp;wrapMassAction=1&amp;scontrolCaching=1'; this.form.onsubmit = function() { return true }" title="Test" type="submit">  

Resulting URL:
https://cs14.salesforce.com/servlet/servlet.Integration?lid=00bc0000000R8tB&eid=800c0000000LDfY&ic=1&retURL=%2F800c0000000LDfY&wrapMassAction=1&scontrolCaching=1

Inspecting the button on the working copied record:

<input value=" Test " class="btn" name="test" onclick="this.form.action = '/servlet/servlet.Integration?lid=00bc0000000R8tB&amp;eid=800c0000000LVqG&amp;ic=1&amp;retURL=%2F800c0000000LVqG&amp;wrapMassAction=1&amp;scontrolCaching=1'; this.form.onsubmit = function() { return true }" title="Test" type="submit">  

Resulting URL:
https://cs14.salesforce.com/a0O/e?retURL=%2Fservlet%2Fservlet.Integration%3Flid%3D00bc0000000R8tB%26eid%3D800c0000000LVqG%26ic%3D1%26retURL%3D%252F800c0000000LVqG%26wrapMassAction%3D1%26scontrolCaching%3D1

My question: Could data in the broken record be somehow causing this issue or does anyone know what else the issue could be?

Notes: The data was imported using Jitterbit from data queried from our Production org. Our sandbox has been updated to Summer15, but I do not know if the problem started before or after the update. The standard New button works as it should on all records.

Edit: Not using visualforce on either object. The original button and record in production work fine and a clone of the record causing the error works fine.

Answer 1

Option 1

Seems like it may have to do with Knowledge Article Number: 000170866.

Knowledge Article Number: 000170866

Description
Including visualforce pages in page layouts causes the page to not load and receives error: URL No Longer Exist. The URL that the error refers to is the servlet/servlet.integration trying to load the visualforce page.

Resolution
Staring with Winter 13 release salesforce added a new feature in Setup -> Security Controls -> Session Setting -> Enable clickjack protection for non-setup customer Visualforce pages.

Enabling this option will cause this error. To correct the situation simply disable this option.

Option 2

Another workaround might be to try changing to a plain URL, e.g. /a0O/e. Notice that both links are the same to start (/servlet/servlet.Integration), but the broken link is still stuck there, while that becomes the (encoded) retURL param of the working link. You might have to do some URL hacking to replace lost functionality.

It seems like sometimes if your page has an error, it will redirect to the servlet. See for example this question with no answer, or this question where hard-coding may have worked. At least if your link has no retURL param, I would think it would have to show you some sort of error if there is one. If you are using standard pages that may not help much...

Option 3

This seems unlikely, but it may be that there is some sort of compile error happening. Whether that would be the result of a bug in the compiler or in your org I can't even guess. This link may offer limited insight? It doesn't really jive with your observation that this behavior is on a per record basis if you can repeatably go back and forth between the records and the behavior is consistent. Additionally if you are not experiencing lag badly enough to mention thus far, it seems an unlikely explanation. Unless you somehow have a VisualForce Home Page Component that is causing the issue.

Have you contacted support?

Answer 2

I tried to replicate the issue today by extracting the same records from Production and reinserting them into my Sandbox. I was unsuccessful in causing the error. This further made me think the issue was with bad data in the record. I reviewed all fields on the record and discovered somehow I was able to import Production Ids into the Sandbox where the Id should have been invalid. Basically the CustomerSignedBy Id had the Contacts Production Id which does not exist in our Developer Sandbox org.
When I double click on the field the data disappears and when I click save it shows "Deleted" in that field. I test the button again and the errors is gone. So the answer to the question is yes invalid data can cause a custom button to error.

Steps to replicate the issue:
1. Export a Contract Record from Production with the CustomerSignedId populated.
2. Import the Contract Record into a Developer Sandbox and map the CustomerSignedId fields.
3. Use a custom button to create a new related record.

UPDATE: Ticket opened with Salesforce, they were able to replicate the import of an invalid Id into the CustomerSignedBy field, which is the root cause of this issue.

UPDATE II: Heard back from Salesforce today and they have turned this into a known issue and are still investigating. Until they find a fix, just make sure you are careful about importing invalid id's into lookup fields using some type of data loader as it can cause unexpected behavior.