Uploadify (Session and authentication) with ASP.NET MVC

Question

When I use Authorize filter on an action or a controller used by uplodify (http://www.uploadify.com/) the action isn't reach...

moreover Session are not retrieved.

I found this to retrieved user session :

http://geekswithblogs.net/apopovsky/archive/2009/05/06/working-around-flash-cookie-bug-in-asp.net-mvc.aspx

But how to use it with [Authorize] filter and retrieved session ?

Answer 1

To correct this I propose you a solution... Send the auth cookie value and session id cookie value with uploadify and recreate it before session is retrieved.

here is the code to implent in the view :

<script>
    var auth = "<% = Request.Cookies[FormsAuthentication.FormsCookieName]==null ? string.Empty : Request.Cookies[FormsAuthentication.FormsCookieName].Value %>";
    var ASPSESSID = "<%= Session.SessionID %>";

    $("#uploadifyLogo").uploadify({
        ...
        formData: { ASPSESSID: ASPSESSID, AUTHID: auth }
    });

And then in Global.asax :

protected void Application_BeginRequest(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
      /* we guess at this point session is not already retrieved by application so we recreate cookie with the session id... */
        try
        {
            string session_param_name = "ASPSESSID";
            string session_cookie_name = "ASP.NET_SessionId";

            if (HttpContext.Current.Request.Form[session_param_name] != null)
            {
                UpdateCookie(session_cookie_name, HttpContext.Current.Request.Form[session_param_name]);
            }
            else if (HttpContext.Current.Request.QueryString[session_param_name] != null)
            {
                UpdateCookie(session_cookie_name, HttpContext.Current.Request.QueryString[session_param_name]);
            }
        }
        catch
        {
        }

        try
        {
            string auth_param_name = "AUTHID";
            string auth_cookie_name = FormsAuthentication.FormsCookieName;

            if (HttpContext.Current.Request.Form[auth_param_name] != null)
            {
                UpdateCookie(auth_cookie_name, HttpContext.Current.Request.Form[auth_param_name]);
            }
            else if (HttpContext.Current.Request.QueryString[auth_param_name] != null)
            {
                UpdateCookie(auth_cookie_name, HttpContext.Current.Request.QueryString[auth_param_name]);
            }

        }
        catch
        {
        }
    }

    private void UpdateCookie(string cookie_name, string cookie_value)
    {
        HttpCookie cookie = HttpContext.Current.Request.Cookies.Get(cookie_name);
        if (null == cookie)
        {
            cookie = new HttpCookie(cookie_name);
        }
        cookie.Value = cookie_value;
        HttpContext.Current.Request.Cookies.Set(cookie);
    }

And voila, with that method it's totally transparent.

hope it help some!! ;)

EDITED : use formData instead of scriptData

Answer 2

This solution works great. I translated the code to vb if anyone wants it:

    Protected Sub Application_BeginRequest(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs)
    'we guess at this point session is not already retrieved by application so we recreate cookie with the session id...
    Try
        Dim session_param_name = "ASPSESSID"
        Dim session_cookie_name = "ASP.NET_SessionId"

        If Not HttpContext.Current.Request.Form(session_param_name) Is Nothing Then
            UpdateCookie(session_cookie_name, HttpContext.Current.Request.Form(session_param_name))
        ElseIf Not HttpContext.Current.Request.QueryString(session_param_name) Is Nothing Then
            UpdateCookie(session_cookie_name, HttpContext.Current.Request.QueryString(session_param_name))
        End If
    Catch ex As Exception
    End Try


    Try
        Dim auth_param_name = "AUTHID"
        Dim auth_cookie_name = FormsAuthentication.FormsCookieName

        If Not HttpContext.Current.Request.Form(auth_param_name) Is Nothing Then
            UpdateCookie(auth_cookie_name, HttpContext.Current.Request.Form(auth_param_name))
        ElseIf Not HttpContext.Current.Request.QueryString(auth_param_name) Is Nothing Then
            UpdateCookie(auth_cookie_name, HttpContext.Current.Request.QueryString(auth_param_name))
        End If
    catch ex As Exception
    End Try
End Sub

Private Sub UpdateCookie(ByVal cookie_name As String, ByVal cookie_value As String)
    Dim cookie = HttpContext.Current.Request.Cookies.Get(cookie_name)
    If cookie Is Nothing Then
        cookie = New HttpCookie(cookie_name)
    End If
    cookie.Value = cookie_value
    HttpContext.Current.Request.Cookies.Set(cookie)
End Sub

Here's the part for the javascript variable assignment:

var auth = "<%=IIf(Request.Cookies(FormsAuthentication.FormsCookieName) Is Nothing, "", Request.Cookies(FormsAuthentication.FormsCookieName).Value)%>";
var ASPSESSID = "<%=Session.SessionID%>";

Maybe someone working in VB can benefit from that.