Perrin Harkins <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >Jeff AA wrote: >> Don't mix transient query sessions with a User Session that stores info >> about the user's logged in state etc. It would be normal for one user to >> have multiple queries in a login session > >Hold on, I think we actually agree, but you're using the word session >for a bunch of different things. What you're saying here sounds like >the opposite of what you said above. In common usage, a session is the >state of the user's interaction with the application. A cache of query >data would be something else.
Something I am exploring is separating session data into a session and a context. The session holds the logged in state and other information that is independent of what the customer is actually doing. The context tells us where the customer is in the site and possibly even tracks what they have done (if we need an audit trail---e.g., an account management system). The nice thing about the context then is that customers can have multiple ones for multiple windows and they can have more than they have windows. They should be able to save a context for later (for example, if they are going through a long process and have to run to class in the middle of it). Contexts also give us a way to see what the customer is seeing if they have problems (the most recent page will be cached as part of the context and they can transfer ownership of the context to a help queue [by some easy-to-use reporting mechanism not yet defined]). Since contexts are separate from the session, they can be assigned to different sessions, even different owners. Contexts allow us to pick up where a customer left off if the session is terminated for some reason (e.g., times out without logging out). Something I'm working on, but it gives some idea of what might be possible and what might ultimately be needed in situations like this. :) -- James Smith <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, 979-862-3725 Texas A&M CIS Operating Systems Group, Unix
