servlet session tracking

[Chris Snapp]

Hi all,
This is most likely a common problem, but many a day has been spent working on it prior to this post.
I'm attempting to check for the existance of a "user" object in a session. If it exists then I want to parse the provided "run" parameter for method names and invoke them. If the "user" object does not exist than I want to direct the person to the login screen.
The login method will create the user based on a successful login attempt.

My problem is that by attempting to check if

 user != null 

I always end up with it equaling null and so I always hit the login function.
-Chris

//Process get or post type servlet call
protected void doEither(HttpServletRequest req, HttpServletResponse res) {
   HttpSession ses = req.getSession(true);
   User user = (User)ses.getAttribute("user");
   res.setHeader("Cache-Control","no-cache");
   res.setHeader("Cache-Control","no-store");
   req.setAttribute("servletPath", req.getServletPath());
 
   if(user != null) {
      try {
         invokeMethod(this, req, res, ses);
      }
      catch(MethodNotFoundException ex) {}
   }
   else {
      login(req,res,ses);
   }
}

edited by MC: removed tabs from code.
[ December 02, 2003: Message edited by: Mike Curwen ]

[shankar vembu]

are you setting the object user to the session anywhere?

[Benny Tang]

Hi,
Have you bind the instance of class User if the login process is successful ?
Benny

[Chris Snapp]

Shankar - I'm setting the user object in the login method (see below)
Benny - Sorry I'm pretty new to the Java world so I'm not sure about what you're talking about.

// login method to check username and password and set user obj with info
 
public void login( HttpServletRequest req, HttpServletResponse res, HttpSession ses ) {
   String message = "Welcome to Ideas!";
   String username = req.getParameter("username");
   String password = req.getParameter("password");
 
   if(username != null) {
      try {
         ResultSet rs = queryDB(SQL_checkUser(req));
 
         if( rs.next() ) {
            ses.setAttribute("user", 
                 new User( rs.getInt("id"), rs.getInt("totalLogins"), rs.getString("name") ));
            start(req, res, ses);
         }
         else {
            req.setAttribute("error","Invalid Username / Password");
            dispatch( "login.jsp", req, res );
         }
      }
      catch(Exception ex) {
         message = "Error: " +ex;
      }
   }
   else {
      message = "Username Not Provided";
   }
   req.setAttribute("message",message);
   dispatch( "login.jsp", req, res );
}

edited by MC: converted tabs to spaces in code.
[ December 02, 2003: Message edited by: Mike Curwen ]