Question

I have a C# application that has links to certain features on a web application that uses the same login credentials. If the user has logged in using the application and they click a link, a new browser window opens (usually IE but may be just the default browser) and asks the them to authenticate again.

Is there a way to make the account stay logged in whether it is in the C# application or in a separate browser window? The web application uses cookies to store the users session variables for authentication, the C# application has the same session info but not in a cookie.

Essentially I need to create a cookie from the C# application’s session information and pass it to the new browser window.

Any ideas?

Answer 1

I believe any new window instance will start a new session and therefore wipe out any session cookies you may have created prior to opening a new browser through either Process.Start("iexplorer.exe", "www.msn.ca") or webBrowser1.Navigate("www.msn.ca", true).

However I finally found a work around for this problem. It involves the following:

1. Create your own web browser that looks almost exactly like Internet Explorer. See the folowing link for code for a basic browser and customize it as needed.

   http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms379558(VS.80).aspx

   I fixed the bug by replacing the obsolete RaftingStrip with the ToolStrip, ToolStripContainer. (Email me if you want this debugged code. I’d post it but I think it’s too long for this forum.)

   For myself, I added

   1. constructor to pass the target url, set it to the Address bar, set it as the home page and also pass the security token

   2. properties to enable/disable the Address bar and Search bars

   3. added Cut, Copy, Paste, SaveAs, and Print buttons

   4. changed the progress icon from “C#” to an hourglass

2. On the web browser form’s declaration section, add

   DllImport("wininet.dll", CharSet = CharSet.Auto, SetLastError = true)]
   public static extern bool InternetSetCookie(string lpszUrlName,
            string lbszCookieName, string lpszCookieData);
   

3. On the web browser form load and Create_a_new_tab(), before the webpage.Navigate() insert the lines below that save the token to a session cookie. (This may also be required on the button_go_click and button_search_click events if navigating to a new domain. Personally, I would disable the Address and Search bars if passing a security token.)

   string url = comboBox_url.Text.Trim();  // write the session cookie
   string security_token = "my_session_id=12345" // should have been passed to constructor
   InternetSetCookie(url, null, security_token);
   

The user will never know the difference and you have control over what features to turn on/off or implement.