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How do I extend a users session and session variables in ColdFusion?

I have a ColdFusion application that has a form that uses session variables to prepopulate a form based on the user login ID and also store form input, in case of an error, the user will not lose the form data. However, I've now been requested to extend the session and login session time so that the user who begins to fill out the form, gets distracted by a phone call that takes over an hour, will not lose his/her data when they come back to continue filling out the form. Can someone help me to understand how this is done in CF?

Thank you.

erikTsomik

you can try something like this
<cflock scope="session" type="readonly" timeout="5">
<cfset Variables.session =
Duplicate(session)>
</cflock>

http://coldfusion.sys-con.com/node/41649

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erikTsomik

i would just store the values in the application scope

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SidFishes

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Elizabeth2

ASKER

Thank you both for your suggestions. Unfortunately, I know just enough to get myself in trouble. I'm not sure I know "how" to do either of these suggestions.

Attached is my Application.cfm. Could I just extend the session timeout from "20" to "120?" And then extend the cflock timeout of "15" to "120?" Would that accomplish the goal of allowing a user to come back an hour later and continue to fill out his form?

Are there any pitfalls to extending the session timeout? These clients use these forms several times per day, so I'm thinking they would be best left unchanged, but I told my boss I'd check into extending the sessions. If I could give a good reason why not to change the current settings, that would avoid any additional complications that I may not know how to handle.

What do you think?

elizabeth

<cfapplication name='xxxxxxx' clientmanagement='yes' sessionmanagement='yes' setclientcookies='yes' setdomaincookies='no' sessiontimeout="#CreateTimeSpan(0,20,0,0)#">


<!--- Finds the number of sessions being currewnt in use, and displays them where ever using the page <cfinclude template="/users_count.cfm"> --->
<cflock timeout="15" scope="APPLICATION" type="EXCLUSIVE"> 
    <cfif NOT isDefined("Application.UsersInfo")>
          <cfset Application.UsersInfo = StructNew()>
    </cfif> 
</cflock>
<cflock name="#CreateUUID()#" timeout="15" type="EXCLUSIVE">
      <cfset user_cfid = Evaluate(CFID)>
      <cfset user_time = Now()>
</cflock>
<cflock scope="APPLICATION" type="EXCLUSIVE" timeout="15">
 <cfif NOT StructKeyExists(Application.UsersInfo, user_cfid)>
  <cfset temp = StructInsert(Application.UsersInfo, user_cfid, user_time)>
 </cfif>
</cflock>
<cflock scope="APPLICATION" type="EXCLUSIVE" timeout="15">
 <cfloop collection="#Application.UsersInfo#" item="itmUser">
  <cfif
   Evaluate(DateDiff("n", StructFind(Application.UsersInfo, itmUser), Now())) GT 10>
    <cfset StructDelete(Application.UsersInfo, itmUser)>
  </cfif>
 </cfloop>
</cflock>

<!--- Logs user out once browser is closed --->
<cfif IsDefined("Cookie.CFID") AND IsDefined("Cookie.CFTOKEN")>
  <cfset Variables.cfid_local = Cookie.CFID> 
  <cfset Variables.cftoken_local = Cookie.CFTOKEN> 
  <cfcookie name="CFID" value="#Variables.cfid_local#"> 
  <cfcookie name="CFTOKEN" value="#Variables.cftoken_local#"> 
</cfif>

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SidFishes

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