What is a session?

A session allows you to keep the value of variables between two HTTP requests.

A session is a collection-like container identified by an arbitrary unique string returned by the Session.Id property.

That identifier has the following form: <PREFIX>:<KEY>

• <PREFIX> is the prefix set to the Session.Prefix property, or the client IP address if no prefix is set.
• <KEY> is a 24 hexadecimal digits random number.

The session identifier is stored in a cookie named 'SESSION' in the client browser.

Storing values in session

The session can store values associated with string keys. You can store as many values as you want, but there are restrictions: only native datatypes, arrays, and collections can be used.

The session contents are stored in the following file:

"/tmp/gambas" &/ System.User.Id &/ "session" &/ Session.Id

The session is automatically restored at program launch.

Session creation

A newly session is automatically created as soon as you store a session variable, and no session currently exists (i.e. Session.Id is NULL).

If you call Response.Begin too early, the session cannot be created, as the HTTP headers have already been sent. You have two solutions then: Call Response.Begin after you are sure that the session has been created. Set Response.Buffered to TRUE, so that the headers are sent when you call Response.End.

Session destruction

You can abandon a session by using the Abandon method.