Storing Value in HttpCookie

Question

Using MVC.

Function Login(ByVal token As String) As ActionResult
        Using client As New WebClient
            Try
                Dim jsonResponse As String = client.DownloadString(URL & "/Getuser&token=" & token)
                Dim obj As UserInfo = Newtonsoft.Json.JsonConvert.DeserializeObject(Of UserInfo)(jsonResponse)

                Response.Cookies.Add(New HttpCookie("token", token))
                Response.Cookies.Add(New HttpCookie("user_id", obj.id))
                
                Return Json(obj)

            Catch ex As WebException 
                Return Content("ERROR")

            Catch ex As Exception 
                Return Content("ERROR")
            End Try

        End Using
    End Function

I am sending a token to this function.
Then Using this token to get the User Info from a certain API
Then Storing this token in a HttpCookie

All this has been working fine for almost a month, Until it stopped working.

When I debugged, token had a value, and it stored it in the HttpCookie, but when I called Request.Cookies("token").Value it returned ''

Any help would be appreciated.

I did a trace on the Token..

I am writing the parameter "token" in a file before storing it in the cookie. then I am writing the cookie Request.Cookies("token").Value in a file,

 Function Login(ByVal token As String) As ActionResult
    WriteToFile("TOKEN RECEIVED = ", token)

    Using client As New WebClient
        Try
            Dim jsonResponse As String = client.DownloadString(URL & "/Getuser&token=" & token)
            Dim obj As UserInfo = Newtonsoft.Json.JsonConvert.DeserializeObject(Of UserInfo)(jsonResponse)

            Response.Cookies.Add(New HttpCookie("token", token))
            Response.Cookies.Add(New HttpCookie("user_id", obj.id))
            WriteToFile("TOKEN COOKIE = ", Request.Cookies("token").Value)
            Return Json(obj)

        Catch ex As WebException 
            Return Content("ERROR")

        Catch ex As Exception 
            Return Content("ERROR")
        End Try

    End Using
End Function

it returns the following:

TOKEN RECEIVED = X132WEeRT3AASDV
TOKEN COOKIE =

When I try to write both Request and Response Cookies:

WriteToFile("TOKEN COOKIE = ", Request.Cookies("token").Value)
WriteToFile("TOKEN COOKIE = ", Response.Cookies("token").Value)

Request.Cookies("token").Value Returns Empty String

Response.Cookies("token").Value Returns Actual Value

If you use a debugging tool like Firebug etc for Firefox, you can easily view what cookies you have set for a domain and what the content of that cookie is. That will help you identify whether or not the cookie is actually set correct and/or whether it's the re-read of the cookie that's incorrect. — Allan S. Hansen, Mar 12 '15 at 06:50
@AllanS.Hansen Thank you, It's showing that the cookie with user_id is full although the cookie with token is empty. I have no idea why. — HelpASisterOut, Mar 12 '15 at 07:44
could you edit your post to show us how and when exacty you write the cookie in a file — Bombinosh, Mar 12 '15 at 08:54

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 18 '15 at 22:37

Maybe your cookie just expire after one month? When using cookies don't forget to set expiration date, and check web browser settings (example: if you are using "tor browser bundle" this can be an issue).

HttpCookie myCookie = new HttpCookie("UserSettings");
myCookie["Font"] = "Arial";
myCookie["Color"] = "Blue";
myCookie.Expires = DateTime.Now.AddDays(1d);
Response.Cookies.Add(myCookie);

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/78c837bd%28v=vs.140%29.aspx?cs-save-lang=1&cs-lang=vb#code-snippet-1

This was my issue. I was not setting expiry date on Creating or Deletion, this is why the cookie remained in the browser and caused conflict. :) — HelpASisterOut, Mar 19 '15 at 08:13

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 05 '15 at 16:01

0

Make sure you access the cookies only during the actual Http request. Maybe you have changed the way (or place where) you call this function.

answered Mar 05 '15 at 16:01

pangular

699
7
27

I am doing everything as stated above.. Httpcookie server side is till returning a value of '' sometimes.. – HelpASisterOut Mar 11 '15 at 14:44

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Oct 31 '17 at 21:31

This is an old question on SO but for those interested, .NET team has created a new method to properly handle cookies.

This is available in .NET 4.7.1 and not earlier versions:

See under the section ASP.NET HttpCookie parsing here https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/dotnet/2017/09/13/net-framework-4-7-1-asp-net-and-configuration-features/

Storing Value in HttpCookie

3 Answers3