session expires after logged in

[rahemeen]

as i developed a website using asp.net 2 vs2005 with database sqlserver and my website was running fine few days back but now i am getting a problem. i.e
user is logged in and browsed a page which page is only logged in users can browse and when he runs server side script on that page immediately session expires and user redirected to login page. what causing page to redirect to login page. can anybody explain it and solve my problem.

thanking you in advance.

[Plater]

Is your SQL server handling the session state?
I'm not sure how that sort of thing is handled.

These are for regular session state handling but may still apply:
Are you callin Session.Abandon() anywhere?
Has the session timeout happened?
Does the user have restricted cookie/security issues (like possibly just did a windows update and new security things were enacted)?

Are any errors occuring in your program?
If you do a build(and a publish if it's remotely hosted) your sessions will expire.

[rahemeen]

thanks dear plater. i am not that expert so i have no idea about whether sql server handling session timeout or not. and s iam calling session.abondon() in a link button labled 'sign out' on the same page.
and if user updated and new security restrictions applying then this problem i checked on two different pcs. and mean my page is online and i checked from two different areas. but the same problem

[Plater]

Well I would double-check the IIS settings to make sure:
Your "Session state mode" is set to "InProc"
Your "Cookieless mode" is set to "UseCookies"
and your "Session timeout" is set to asuffeciently long enough time "20"(minutes)

Then check to make sure no errors are being thrown that would be causeing your session to expire.

[rahemeen]

i check all settings are fine and the same coding few days back was working fine but now it is giving this problem. in web.config file i am using windows authentication mode. and just loggin check up using database and session variables. below see web.config file (plz reply if any changes required)

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!-- 
    Note: As an alternative to hand editing this file you can use the 
    web admin tool to configure settings for your application. Use
    the Website->Asp.Net Configuration option in Visual Studio.
    A full list of settings and comments can be found in 
    machine.config.comments usually located in 
    \Windows\Microsoft.Net\Framework\v2.x\Config 
-->
<configuration>
  <appSettings>
    <add key="CMSConnectionString"
      value="server=(localhost);UID=sa;PWD=111;DATABASE=netdb;" />
  </appSettings>
    <connectionStrings/>
    <system.web>
        <!-- 
            Set compilation debug="true" to insert debugging 
            symbols into the compiled page. Because this 
            affects performance, set this value to true only 
            during development.
 
            Visual Basic options:
            Set strict="true" to disallow all data type conversions 
            where data loss can occur. 
            Set explicit="true" to force declaration of all variables.
        -->
        <compilation debug="true" strict="false" explicit="true" />
        <pages>
            <namespaces>
                <clear/>
                <add namespace="System"/>
                <add namespace="System.Collections"/>
                <add namespace="System.Collections.Specialized"/>
                <add namespace="System.Configuration"/>
                <add namespace="System.Text"/>
                <add namespace="System.Text.RegularExpressions"/>
                <add namespace="System.Web"/>
                <add namespace="System.Web.Caching"/>
                <add namespace="System.Web.SessionState"/>
                <add namespace="System.Web.Security"/>
                <add namespace="System.Web.Profile"/>
                <add namespace="System.Web.UI"/>
                <add namespace="System.Web.UI.WebControls"/>
                <add namespace="System.Web.UI.WebControls.WebParts"/>
                <add namespace="System.Web.UI.HtmlControls"/>
            </namespaces>
        </pages>
        <!--
            The <authentication> section enables configuration 
            of the security authentication mode used by 
            ASP.NET to identify an incoming user. 
        -->
 
        <authentication mode="Windows"/>
        <!--    The <customErrors> section enables configuration 
            of what to do if/when an unhandled error occurs 
            during the execution of a request. Specifically, 
            it enables developers to configure html error pages 
            to be displayed in place of a error stack trace.
 -->
        <customErrors mode="off" />
           <globalization fileEncoding="windows-1256" requestEncoding="utf-8" responseEncoding="utf-8" culture="en-US"/>    
    </system.web>
</configuration>

plz if any changes required in web.config file reply
thanx a lot for your replies

[Plater]

With custom errors set to off, is it possible an error is occuring that you cannot see?

[rahemeen]

dear peter
plz help me out same session expiring very shortly after logging in and i am and my expert friends suggested that may be unhandled exception is causing this session expiry. can you plz tell me how to get rid of unhandled exception or how to know where unhandled exception is raising.

thanx in advance

[Plater]

Change the setting that hides errors from users to off (so that errors will show up in page)
Use the page until you find an error.
OR run the project in debug mode and see if Visual Studio catches any errors.

[rahemeen]

Visual Studio does not catch any error it perfectly shows build succeeded and that dll iam uploading on server. and i changed web.config file and i did <customErrors mode="On" /> but still no error raising and supposing i have a page to add new poll after logged in i am accessing this page and after filling the form when i click on save button it is going to login page. without saving the data. each logged in user page is i am able to accessing first time after log in when i use it or press any button it is redirecting to login page.

[Plater]

I am NOT talking about a build succeeding(although at least that part is working), I am talking running in debug mode.

[rahemeen]

s dear i ran in debug mode also build succeeded and for your information my web application is running fine on my pc. no session expire problem nothing iam able to login and until sign out my page is working fine. no problem working on my pc.but problem is online. after i uploaded my application on web server online this problem i am facing offline on pc i have no prob. with my web application

[Plater]

Does your browser block the cookies sent by your online server?
The session number is kept as a cookie on the client side and is required for it to work correctly.

[rahemeen]

below is my code when in page_load i check session variables and allow page to be browsable plz check the code & let me know is it correct or not.

//************************************************** ******************

 Protected Sub Page_Load(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Me.Load
        If Not Session("USERID") > 0 Then
            Response.Redirect("UserLogin.aspx")
        Else
            If Not Session("ROLE") = "Administrator" Then
                Response.Redirect("usercp.aspx")
            End If
        End If
        If Not IsPostBack Then
            FillCategories()
        End If

//************************************************** ******************
above code when i do some save button click or some action after loged in page expires and goes to UserLogin.aspx page

what is wrong in this code can u tell me plz

[Plater]

I would guess that the trouble is on the client-browser side.
Check to make sure your client-browser is set to allow cookies and session cookies

[Frinavale]

below is my code when in page_load i check session variables and allow page to be browsable plz check the code & let me know is it correct or not.

//************************************************** ******************

 Protected Sub Page_Load(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Me.Load
        If Not Session("USERID") > 0 Then
            Response.Redirect("UserLogin.aspx")
        Else
            If Not Session("ROLE") = "Administrator" Then
                Response.Redirect("usercp.aspx")
            End If
        End If
        If Not IsPostBack Then
            FillCategories()
        End If

//************************************************** ******************
above code when i do some save button click or some action after loged in page expires and goes to UserLogin.aspx page

what is wrong in this code can u tell me plz

Try changing your

  If Not Session("USERID") > 0 Then

to be

  If Not Session("USERID") Is Nothing Then

Also change

Session("ROLE") = "Administrator"

to be

String.Compare(Session("ROLE"), "Administrator")=0
 

[rahemeen]

If Not IsPostBack Then
 
If Not Session("USERID") Is Nothing Then
            If String.Compare(Session("ROLE"), "Retailer") = 0 Then
                strUSERID = Session("USERID")
            Else
                Response.Redirect("usercp.aspx")
            End If
        Else
            Response.Redirect("UserLogin.aspx")
        End If
      FillBrands()
End If
 

the above code works fine page is not expiring until sign out but server side action on page like loading data on dropdownlist not working.

as i am loading brands in one dropdownlist and when we choose any brand from the list it will load product names in another dropdownlist which is not happening if i use above code. but the problem of session expire is not happening with this code. just clarify me that which method is true code to check the login and role should be kept inside if not ispostback then .... end if or outside.

[Frinavale]

If Not IsPostBack Then
 
If Not Session("USERID") Is Nothing Then
            If String.Compare(Session("ROLE"), "Retailer") = 0 Then
                strUSERID = Session("USERID")
            Else
                Response.Redirect("usercp.aspx")
            End If
        Else
            Response.Redirect("UserLogin.aspx")
        End If
      FillBrands()
End If
 

the above code works fine page is not expiring until sign out but server side action on page like loading data on dropdownlist not working.

as i am loading brands in one dropdownlist and when we choose any brand from the list it will load product names in another dropdownlist which is not happening if i use above code. but the problem of session expire is not happening with this code. just clarify me that which method is true code to check the login and role should be kept inside if not ispostback then .... end if or outside.

I would check that the user is logged in and within the roles Every page request. This means that I would not put it within the if not IsPostBack.

As for your second DropDownList not filling....please post the method that handles your first DropDownList post back event so that we can have a better look at what's going on.

Also, in the future, could you please post your code within [code] tags.
For example, if I were to post VB.NET code I would type the following:
[code=vbnet]
'My VB.NET Code Pasted Here
[/code]


Thanks

-Frinny