Mobile Disconnected Application and Session Time Out Problem

[frankiez]

I have a scheduled check in / out mobile app designed to work in disconnected environment. The app is HTML using UIWebView on the iPhone.
Everything works fine as expected except when the session times out and there is no session time out warning.
Scenario:
1. User logs in and retrieves latest schedule as long as the schedule list is clean (if dirty, user must sync before getting new data from the server)
2. User sessions times out, but no warning is displayed. Session length is currently set to 90 minutes. (some drive to sites much longer than 90 minutes)
3. User presses check in button which executes java script to get location and then update the check in time stamp field. I then update the list with the code below.
var lObj = {dialog.object}.getControl('LIST_SCHEDULE');lObj.updateTableRow(primaryKey,data,ops);
4. The app then attempts to execute {dialog.object}.synchronizeLists() which fails because session timed out and user is brought back to login page.
5. When user logs back, the list is dirty so user is notified that the list is dirty and must synchronize data.

Although the data is good, the user experience is not good. I need to have the session time out warning or some method of detecting that the session has timed out without going back to the server since we want to use the disconnected features. Can I set the session time out to 10 hours? Are there consequences for extended session time out settings?

If anyone has a possible solution or workaround, it would be much appreciated.

[Davidk]

Re: Mobile Disconnected Application and Session Time Out Problem

Does that mean you're using PhoneGap Build?

There's some information about the session timeout warning property of the UX in the release notes... http://downloads.alphasoftware.com/A...easenotes.html

[frankiez]

Re: Mobile Disconnected Application and Session Time Out Problem

I did not use PhoneGap. We created a simple XCode app that opens the URL in UIWebView. We deploy from our own internal server.
The release notes describe a session time out bug when checking the UX pre-render property. That would not apply to my case.
I wrote a simple xBasic call to just return a session variable value hoping to trap the session being timed out, but the AJAX call back redirects automatically to login when session is timed out. The AJAX failed option did not fire.
I see a few choices.
1. Figure out why session time out message does not appear. It appears in PC browser OR when I set iPhone setting Auto-Lock to "Never."
2. Figure out java script to check client session timer.
3. Set the session time out warning to 10 or 12 hours so app can stay open during the work day. I don't know if this will cause other problems having such a long session time out.
4. Write my own session time out to be less than the server time out.

[frankiez]

Re: Mobile Disconnected Application and Session Time Out Problem

To workaround this issue, I am testing a 60 minute timer event that fires an AJAX callback that does nothing. The callback should reset the session timer so the app stays alive during the day without increasing the session time out beyond 90 minutes. This should make the application more friendly in respect to redirecting to login page when session is timed out, but no warning is displayed.

[frankiez]

Re: Mobile Disconnected Application and Session Time Out Problem

The AJAX timer callback stops when the phone locks so the workaround will not solve the time out problem.

[kiwibruce]

Re: Mobile Disconnected Application and Session Time Out Problem

The AJAX timer callback stops when the phone locks so the workaround will not solve the time out problem.

Yeah this is exactly the issue we have, Is there ANY way around this?

[frankiez]

Re: Mobile Disconnected Application and Session Time Out Problem

FYI - The solution to my problem was removing all session variables from the application and changing the login expiration policy (found under web security configuration / login options) to "expires when the user closes the browser". This improved the user experience and the application is now working as intended. The app is supporting 50 users with more coming on each day on a single license application server.

[peteconway]

Re: Mobile Disconnected Application and Session Time Out Problem

Well done Frank.. Pete

[CharlesParker]

Re: Mobile Disconnected Application and Session Time Out Problem

I wanted to eliminate my session variable for much the same reason since I filter my components by my session variable and create all records referencing it - this variable is extremely important - any advice on how to eliminate it? what are my other choices? Are other variables just as "stable" or best suited for the way I use teh session var?

[frankiez]

Re: Mobile Disconnected Application and Session Time Out Problem

I chose to use a cookie for my EmployeeID value as my main argument for the logged in user. You need to balance security implications with the use of cookies for your application. The cookie is used for my argument binding in the list control data source. I attached some java script that I obtained from a video on how to save data to a cookie and use a remember checkbox the user id of the login component. Hope this is helpful.

Another method is to store the EmployeeID in a control on your login component and reference that from any other component using the following java script.
var pObj = {dialog.object}.getTopParentObject();
var vwhatEmployeeID=pObj.getValue('whatEmployeeID');"
This will obtain the value no matter how many levels deep your components are nested.

There may be better methods of accomplishing the goal of removing session variables, but this has worked for my application.
jsAfterLoginUXClientSiteEvent.txt