[RESOLVED] Cookies exists otherwise create it

[aconybeare]

Hi, I'm have a little trouble with my cookies

I'm using cookies to hold session data. Mainly because I don't want the session to time out - If there is a way of using session vars without the session timing out then I'd love to hear about it.

Anyway my cookie may or may not have been set depending on where the user has been on the site. when I try to set the value I'm getting an error Object reference not set. I'm positive it's the cookie because I can see the MS_No in the querystring and the spelling etc. is all okay.

If Not Page.IsPostBack Then
  ' Get the cookies
  Dim MS_No As HttpCookie = Request.Cookies.Item("MS_No")
 
  ' Check the query string for the ms #
  If Not IsNothing(Request.QueryString("ms_no")) Then
    If Request.QueryString("ms_no").ToString <> String.Empty Then
      [HL="#FFFF00"]MS_No.Value = Request.QueryString("ms_no").ToString ' Set the instance value[/HL]
      Response.Cookies("MS_No").Value = MS_No.Value ' Set the base value
    End If
  End If
End If

All help will be greatly appreciated

Cheers Al

[Patch21]

Is it a persistent cookie? Does it actually save to the hdd?

[aconybeare]

Hi Patch,

Thanks for your reply, will that return the existing cookie if there is one?

[Patch21]

Yeah i think the code i posted wont, think I misunderstood your question. Can you see the cookie on the drive?

[Patch21]

This is the code I use to check if a cookie exists:

'This procedure checks if the cookie exists
    Private Function KeyExists(ByRef aKey As String) As Boolean
        Dim Context As HttpContext
        Dim e As System.Collections.IEnumerator
 
        Context = HttpContext.Current
        e = Context.Request.Cookies.GetEnumerator
 
        'Check if the Cookie exists
        Do While e.MoveNext
            If e.Current.Equals(aKey) Then
                Return True
            End If
        Loop
 
        Return False
    End Function

[aconybeare]

These cookies are session cookies so they don't actually get written, and by that I mean I mean I'm not setting the "expire" property

[aconybeare]

How about this -

If IsNothing(MS_No) Then
  MS_No = New HttpCookie("MS_No", Request.QueryString("ms_no").ToString)
Else
  MS_No.Value = Request.QueryString("ms_no").ToString
End If

[Patch21]

Dont see anything wrong with that...

[aconybeare]

yar seems to be working, thanks for your help