Re: Witango-Talk: Loss of Session State Issues.

Robert Garcia Wed, 20 Aug 2003 08:57:55 -0700

I am not having the problems with the post method, and the userreference as a post arg. I meant that the old code is intermittent, and does not work on cookie enabled browsers.

For instance go a page that you set up that displays your userreference. Then bookmark the page.

Use the bookmark to go back, sometimes a new reference is created, which means the cookie was not read correctly. This happens on my servers intermittently. I protect by using userreference in every link, not totally relying on cookies.

Robert.

On Wednesday, August 20, 2003, at 08:13 AM, Scott Cadillac wrote:

Hi Robert,

Sorry you're still having problems.

Just a guess, but is it possible your FORM posting sometimes uses an absolute address? That might be an alternate address or IP for your Server? This could cause a different UserReference key to be issued.
Typically everyone uses something like ACTION=<@APPFILE>, which is a
relative address, which is good - but I thought it was worth asking.
Also, just another guess, are you outputting a custom HTTP header (via local$httpHeader)? If so, unless the contents is precisely formed, this could contribute to Witango not properly assigning your UserReference key.

If everything still looks like it should, then I would suggest setting up a test environment where you track your UserReference key with an HTTP sniffer tool (or at least debug on every page) and see if you can reproduce this odd behavior.

The trick is seeing if your UserReference key value has suddenly changed or is missing altogether - either from the Witango_UserReference cookie or the _UserReference arguments.

I know, doesn't help much, but here's hoping. Cheers....
Scott Cadillac,
Witango.org - http://witango.org
403-281-6090 - [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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-----Original Message-----
From: Robert Garcia [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Wednesday, August 20, 2003 3:14 AM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: Witango-Talk: Loss of Session State Issues.
The only thing I would add to that phil, is that I have the problem
with browsers when I am sure cookies are not disabled with the old
delete code, and it is intermittent. Mostly not working, sometimes
working.
I am using the default setup on the server for userkey, and do no
altering of cookies and such.
Thank you for the info on how the newer servers look for
userreference.
Robert.

On Tuesday, August 19, 2003, at 11:43 PM, Phil Wade wrote:

I should note here that post args were not searched in T2K
or Witango 5
prior to the 058 build when the server was trying to locate the user
reference so the T2K server would only look in the cookies and
searchargs.
The 5.0.1.058 server and above looks for a user reference in the
following
order:
1.  user reference cookie
2.  user reference search arg
3.  user reference post arg
Once a user reference is found, the server will no longer
continue to
search
for a user reference in the remaining contexts so now the
server will
use
the first user reference found and not the last.
Search arguments can only be up to 255 chars long so if the server
receives
concatenated search arg data from the Browser it just uses
it. For
this
reason if you are not using user reference cookies and are
relying on
the
user reference search arg it is important to put the user
reference at
the
beginning of the search args, not at the end.
These changes should not have any affect on existing code,
except to
make
the delete of the search builders work with browsers that
have cookies
disabled (see code below).  The delete action passed the user
reference via
a postarg and always created a new user session in this instance.
This was
not a big issue as the search builder did not rely on any user
variables
until it was extended by a user.
Phil

On 20/8/03 2:31 PM, "Robert Garcia" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
The interesting thing about this, is I have a bunch of simple web
admin
apps with the witango default code, and I haven't had the problem
before. I think it started around v058 or so.
If I use this code:
<form method=post action="<@appfile>" name=deleteMe>
<input type=hidden name="_userreference" value="<@userreference>">
<input type=hidden name="CommonlabSchedule_uid1" value="<@COLUMN
"Common.epxLessonSched.rowid">">
<input type=hidden name="_function" value="delete">
<INPUT TYPE=SUBMIT VALUE="Delete Record">
</form>
It seems to work reliably, So I will have to make a lot of minor
changes.
Robert.

On Tuesday, August 19, 2003, at 08:50 PM, Scott Cadillac wrote:

Hi Robert,

When METHOD=GET is used in an HTML form, like in your
first example,
all the
FORM element names and values (such as your hidden fields) are
automatically
concatenated to the value of the ACTION attribute. This
then appears
in the
address bar of your browser.
BUT....if the ACTION attribute already contains other search
arguments
(such
as <@USERREFERENCEARGUMENT>), then they are sometimes
replaced by the
concatenated FORM elements. This is a classic
pain-in-the-*** issue.
Your <@USERREFERENCEARGUMENT> is being removed which can
cause you to
loose
Session state. In the first FORM example, just replace
METHOD=GET
with
METHOD=POST and it should work.
But of course, that doesn't explain your second or third
example, or
why
your Session-cookie didn't pickup the slack.
Are Session-cookies disabled deliberately in your
browser? If so,
then
checking things like <@USERREFERENCEARGUMENT> for all
your links will
be
necessary. This includes the TAF files before your actual delete
request.
Also, checking the value of your USERKEY setting in
witango.ini could
be
important too.
If Session-cookies are supposed to be working, then
something strange
is
certainly happening.
Have you tried seeing what's being passed back and forth
with an HTTP
Sniffer of some kind? This will show you exactly the
values are being
sent
to the Server (both session-cookies and GET and POST arguments). I
recommend
www.httpsniffer.com
Hope this helps. Cheers....
Scott Cadillac,
Witango.org - http://witango.org
403-281-6090 - [EMAIL PROTECTED]
--
Information for the Witango Developer Community
---------------------
XML-Extranet - http://xml-extra.net
403-281-6090 - [EMAIL PROTECTED]
--
Well-formed Development (for hire)
---------------------
-----Original Message-----
From: Robert Garcia [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Tuesday, August 19, 2003 9:23 PM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Witango-Talk: Loss of Session State Issues.
I have been having some problems for a while with some
admin pages
that
require a login, so session state is paramount.
If I use the standard code Witango uses for deleting a
record, most
of
the
time, state is lost:
<FORM METHOD=GET ACTION="<@APPFILE>?<@userreferenceargument>">
<INPUT TYPE=HIDDEN NAME="_function" VALUE="delete">
<INPUT TYPE=HIDDEN NAME="CommonlabSchedule_uid1" VALUE="<@COLUMN
"Common.epxLessonSched.rowid">">
<INPUT TYPE=SUBMIT VALUE="Delete">
</FORM>
I have also tried these variations:
<FORM METHOD=GET ACTION="<@APPFILE>">
<INPUT TYPE=HIDDEN NAME="_function" VALUE="delete">
<INPUT TYPE=HIDDEN NAME="CommonlabSchedule_uid1" VALUE="<@COLUMN
"Common.epxLessonSched.rowid">">
<INPUT TYPE=HIDDEN NAME="_userReference" VALUE="<@UserReference>">
<INPUT TYPE=SUBMIT VALUE="Delete">
</FORM>
<FORM METHOD=POST ACTION="<@APPFILE>">
<INPUT TYPE=HIDDEN NAME="_function" VALUE="delete">
<INPUT TYPE=HIDDEN NAME="CommonlabSchedule_uid1" VALUE="<@COLUMN
"Common.epxLessonSched.rowid">">
<INPUT TYPE=HIDDEN NAME="_userReference" VALUE="<@UserReference>">
<INPUT TYPE=SUBMIT VALUE="Delete">
</FORM>
However, if I use this code, I never lose state:
<p><a
href="<@appfile>?_function=delete&CommonlabSchedule_uid1=<@COLUMN
"Common.epxLessonSched.rowid">&<@userreferenceargument>">Delete this
Record</p>

Anyone else having these issues, or have any ideas?

--
Robert Garcia
President - BigHead Technology
CTO - eventpix.com
2781 N Carlmont Pl
Simi Valley, Ca 93065
ph: 805.522.8577 - cell: 805.501.1390
[EMAIL PROTECTED] - [EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://bighead.net/ - http://eventpix.com/ - http://theradmac.com/
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Robert Garcia
President - BigHead Technology
CTO - eventpix.com
2781 N Carlmont Pl
Simi Valley, Ca 93065
ph: 805.522.8577 - cell: 805.501.1390
[EMAIL PROTECTED] - [EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://bighead.net/ - http://eventpix.com/ - http://theradmac.com/
______________________________________________________________
__________
TO UNSUBSCRIBE: Go to http://www.witango.com/maillist.taf
_______________________________________________________________________ _ TO UNSUBSCRIBE: Go to http://www.witango.com/maillist.taf

--

Robert Garcia
President - BigHead Technology
CTO - eventpix.com
2781 N Carlmont Pl
Simi Valley, Ca 93065
ph: 805.522.8577 - cell: 805.501.1390
[EMAIL PROTECTED] - [EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://bighead.net/ - http://eventpix.com/ - http://theradmac.com/

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TO UNSUBSCRIBE: Go to http://www.witango.com/maillist.taf

Re: Witango-Talk: Loss of Session State Issues.

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