inserting and using cookies

clickit has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

Dear Monks,

I used cookie.lib to insert and retrive cookies for my CGI/Perl e-commerce application. While I set the cookies to expire after three hours, the cookies lasted only for the current browser session.

($ss, $mm, $hh, $dom, $mon, $yr, $wkd, $doy, $idt) = gmtime(time + 155
+52000);
@Mth = ('Jan', 'Feb', 'Mar', 'Apr', 'May', 'Jun', 'Jul', 'Aug', 'Sep',
+ 'Oct', 'Nov', 'Dec');
@Day = ('Sun', 'Mon', 'Tue', 'Wed', 'Thu', 'Fri', 'Sat');
$SetYear = 1900 + $yr;
$SetDay = $Day&#91;$wkd&#93;;
$SetMonth = $Mth&#91;$mon&#93;;
$SetDOM = sprintf('%02d', $dom);
&SetCookies('HBL5USERID',"$userid");
&SetCookieExpDate("$SetDay, $SetDOM-$SetMonth-$SetYear $hh:$mm:$ss GMT
+");
&SetCookieDomain('.healthbliss.net');
[download]

Did I do anything wrong with the above codes? Any help or comment would be deeply appreciated. Thank you!

Best regards,
Patrick

Comment on inserting and using cookies Download Code

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: inserting and using cookies by guha (Priest) on Jan 24, 2006 at 14:41 UTC
I have not used cookie.lib myself, so now I'm guessing .. Have you included the cookie in the page you send to the browser ? `print "Content-type: text/html\n"; &SetCookies('name',"$name",'email',"$email"); print "\n";` [download] The symptoms you describe sounds alot like either the above or that the SetCookieExpDate call didn't work. Or perhaps the order is essential, aka you need to call SetCookies after SetCookieExpDate ?	[reply] [d/l]
Re^2: inserting and using cookies by clickit (Initiate) on Jan 25, 2006 at 00:06 UTC
Hi, guha: Yes, the SetCookieExpDate call didn't work because SetCookies must be called after SetCookieExpDate. I didn't realize the order is essential. It works now! Thanks! Appreciated, Patrick	[reply]
Re: inserting and using cookies by davorg (Chancellor) on Jan 24, 2006 at 16:12 UTC
When you call `SetCookies`, you haven't set the expiry date, so your cookie is set with the default expiry date. Try calling `SetCookies` after you have set all of the required attributes of the cookies. Alternatively, stop using cookielib and just use the underlying CGI::Cookie calls. You'll have far more control over what is going on, and it's really no harder to do. -- <http://dave.org.uk> "The first rule of Perl club is you do not talk about Perl club." -- Chip Salzenberg	[reply]
Re^2: inserting and using cookies by clickit (Initiate) on Jan 24, 2006 at 23:58 UTC
Hi, Dave: Thank you for the advice! Where can I get the documentation on how to use CGI::Cookie? Appreciated, Patrick	[reply]
Re^3: inserting and using cookies by davorg (Chancellor) on Jan 25, 2006 at 09:38 UTC
The CGI::Cookie documentation on CPAN would be an obvious place to start. Also you might find the first half of this article to be useful. -- <http://dave.org.uk> "The first rule of Perl club is you do not talk about Perl club." -- Chip Salzenberg	[reply]
Re: inserting and using cookies by northwind (Hermit) on Jan 24, 2006 at 14:42 UTC
If your users were using Firefox, what you are seeing would make sense. Firefox has a feature to automatically expire cookies when you close the browser. Or am I not understanding your question?	[reply]