Problem with Cookies

COOKIE PROBLEM

We have a Lotus Notes database – which also runs on the Web, for our web users.

We have been using this database for the past 12 years with no problems.

All of a sudden, “Some pc’s cannot access the web application anymore.

What is happening is: we have a Login Form which opens up a Frameset – which contains an Embedded View and the Embedded View is coming out “Blank”,

And the Cookie contains garbage.

Example:

HTTP_Cookie: Matrimonial; _ga=GA1.3.8125741.1381154532

This is a sample of how the database works:

Weblogin Form - user selects a department from dropdown box & enters p/w

        Js header     contains  the function “StoreCookie()” 

                                            selectLoginID = document.forms[0].LoginID;

			selPos = selectLoginID.selectedIndex;

			selVal = selectLoginID[selPos].text;

document.cookie = selVal;

User then Clicks a “Submit” button which runs the function “StoreCookie()”

(Which is in the JS Header) - and a Frameset opens up passing in the ‘Department’ name in the Cookie.

When the Frameset opens - in the middle is an embedded view, which shows all the records for that Department name.

** What is happening is the Department name in the HTTP_Cookie field in the Frameset form – has garbage characters along with the Department name that is being passed in.

Example:.

HTTP_Cookie: - Matrimonial; _ga=GA1.3.8125741.1381154532

The cookie should only show the word “Matrimonial” - since it has all that garbage in the cookie field, the View comes out “EMPTY”.

Our Environment consists of:

Internet Explorer 7

Internet Explorer 8

Lotus Notes 6.5 users

Lotus Notes 7 users

We tried to see what was happening. When we try to access the web on some pc’s, we get in okay, but then when we try again later on the “Same” pc, or another day, we can’t get in anymore.

We cannot figure out what is causing this problem. It has to do with the “Cookie”.

We deleted cookies, etc, and still have problem on some pcs.

*** Note: This doesn’t happen on all of the pcs’ -

Subject: Problem with Cookies

What has changed? I can pretty much say you can rule out version of Notes which btw is no longer supported.

I can say the same about your IE versions.

What patches/software was added lately to the users desktop?

If you login to the same pc with an account that works on another pc does it work on that pc. Want to rule out user data vs pc.

does IE8 work?

I know I am not giving you answers just trying get you to get to a solution

Subject: RE: Problem with Cookies

Thanks Barry. It probably is some patch or software that was installed on the users pc. If we log into the same pc with another account, it still doesn’t work. IE 8 does work on some of the pc’s. Thanks

Subject: Problem with Cookies

The _ga value is coming from Google Analytics code. Your cookies should be name-value pairs. That is, if you expect to find a department with a value “Matrimonial”, then the cookie you’re storing should be named “department” (or something similar) and be assigned a value rather than just being a “naked” value. That would mean that HTTP_COOKIE would report a content value like:

department=Matrimonial; _ga=GA1.3.8125741.1381154532

Subject: RE: Problem with Cookies

Hi Stan, thanks for the information. We tried what you said, but how do we get rid of the extra characters in the HTTP_Cookie field the _ga=GA1.3.8125741.1381154532 ? Thanks

Subject: RE: Problem with Cookies

You don’t; it’s a legitimate cookie connected with your site. You stop using the entire value of the field. You can use Formula Language or Lotusscript to extract the value you are looking for — it’s just ordinary string manipulation.