Re: [Webware-discuss] Webware 0.5 and Cookies: How to use setMaxAge()?

[Tripp L. <tl...@pe...>]

On Sun, 1 Apr 2001, Chuck Esterbrook wrote:

> I got 'max-age' from Tim O'Malley cookie module. I borrowed the 
> "setMaxAge()" name from the Java Servlet spec. You mention the 'expires' 
> attribute, but I'm not even aware of this. O'Malley's module mentions RFC 
> 2109, so I searched for it on Google.com:
> http://www.google.com/search?q=RFC+2109

For future reference, when you're looking for an IETF RFC, the "shortest
path to the source" is this URL formula:

	http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfcNNNN.txt

where "NNNN" is the RFC number prefixed with zeroes as necessary to make a
four digit number. (thus sayeth www.ietf.org).


> It defines Max-Age like so:
> 
> Max-Age=delta-seconds
> Optional. The Max-Age attribute defines the lifetime of the cookie, in 
> seconds. The delta-seconds value is a decimal non- negative integer. After 
> delta-seconds seconds elapse, the client should discard the cookie. A value 
> of zero means the cookie should be discarded immediately.

Since there are documented incompatibilities (or, rather, inconsistencies)
in the way different browsers implement max-age, expires, and other cache
control directives, might I suggest that Webware's cookie module acquire
some "l33t skillz" for dealing with these opaquely in addition to
transparently?

That is, Webware's cookie module could / should support a "setTimeout" 
(I'm not wed to that name) method that takes a timeout expressed in some
canonical form, and either a) translates it into a set of Expires /
Max-Age headers for the cookie that will "work" in all browsers, or uses
the User-Agent header to pick the "correct" mechanism for that user
agent...

No, I'm not volunteering, I'm suggesting. I'm an idea guy :)

-- 
   Joy-Loving * Tripp Lilley  *  http://stargate.eheart.sg505.net/~tlilley/
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  "Fiber makes you poop." -- From <http://www.pvponline.com/bts_studio.php3>