The short answer
There is currently (that I know of) no simple way to extend the life of a single ASP.NET session. There is one possible solution: use a custom Session-State Store Provider!
The long answer
First things first: Start with something that is already built! Use the sample Session-State Store Provider (and its tutorial) provided by Microsoft. This sample Session-State Store Provider uses Microsoft Access as its back end; although, because it uses ODBC connections, you can have virtually any database back end supported through your installed ODBC drivers.
This sample Session-State Store Provider is simply a custom version of what ASP.NET uses internally (with the exception that ASP.NET's runs in-memory).
Secondly: Let's prepare the Access Database requirements, and the configuration.
Create the table as specified in the tutorial and in the comments of the file:
CREATE TABLE Sessions
(
SessionId Text(80) NOT NULL,
ApplicationName Text(255) NOT NULL,
Created DateTime NOT NULL,
Expires DateTime NOT NULL,
LockDate DateTime NOT NULL,
LockId Integer NOT NULL,
Timeout Integer NOT NULL,
Locked YesNo NOT NULL,
SessionItems Memo,
Flags Integer NOT NULL,
CONSTRAINT PKSessions PRIMARY KEY (SessionId, ApplicationName)
)
NOTE: If you want to use SQL Server, simply replace Text(...) with varchar(...), YesNo with bit, and Memo with varchar(MAX).
Add/update your web.config with the following (you can use connectionstrings.com to help you generate a connection string):
<configuration>
<connectionStrings>
<add name="OdbcSessionServices" connectionString="DSN=SessionState;" />
</connectionStrings>
<system.web>
<sessionState
cookieless="true"
regenerateExpiredSessionId="true"
mode="Custom"
customProvider="OdbcSessionProvider">
<providers>
<add name="OdbcSessionProvider"
type="Samples.AspNet.Session.OdbcSessionStateStore"
connectionStringName="OdbcSessionServices"
writeExceptionsToEventLog="false" />
</providers>
</sessionState>
</system.web>
</configuration>
Third: Adding a function that will extend for more than the specified Timeout.
Make a copy of the ResetItemTimeout function, and name it ResetItemTimeout2:
var ExtendedTotalMinutes = 2 * 60; // hours * minutes
public override void ResetItemTimeout2(HttpContext context, string id)
{
OdbcConnection conn = new OdbcConnection(connectionString);
OdbcCommand cmd =
new OdbcCommand("UPDATE Sessions SET Expires = ? " +
"WHERE SessionId = ? AND ApplicationName = ?", conn);
cmd.Parameters.Add("@Expires", OdbcType.DateTime).Value
= DateTime.Now.AddMinutes(ExtendedTotalMinutes); // IMPORTANT!! Set your total expiration time.
cmd.Parameters.Add("@SessionId", OdbcType.VarChar, 80).Value = id;
cmd.Parameters.Add("@ApplicationName", OdbcType.VarChar, 255).Value = ApplicationName;
try
{
conn.Open();
cmd.ExecuteNonQuery();
}
catch (OdbcException e)
{
if (WriteExceptionsToEventLog)
{
WriteToEventLog(e, "ResetItemTimeout");
throw new ProviderException(exceptionMessage);
}
else
throw e;
}
finally
{
conn.Close();
}
}
Fourth: Supporting the extension of a single ASP.NET Session!
Whenever you need to extend a session, call the ResetItemTimeout function as follows:
using Samples.AspNet.Session;
// from inside a User Control or Page
OdbcSessionStateStore.ResetItemTimeout2(this.Context, this.Session.SessionID);
// --or--
// from anywhere else
OdbcSessionStateStore.ResetItemTimeout2(System.Web.HttpContext.Current, System.Web.HttpContext.Current.Session.SessionID);
Footnotes
Read the comments on the page with the sample Session-State Store Provider;
There are obvious performance/maintainability improvements that could be done (especially with having duplicate code in ResetItemTimeout and ResetItemTimeout2).
I have not tested this code!
Edits
- I realized I missed the part where you want to extend more than the
Timeout - answer has been fully updated.
- Added footnotes section.
