Cannot make XBAP cookies work - session

Question

I am trying to make a XBAP application communicating with a webservice with login.
But I want the user to skip the login step if they already logged in the last seven days.
I got it to work using html/aspx.
But it fails continuously with XBAP.
While debugging, the application is given full trust.
This is the code I have so far to write the cookie:
protected static void WriteToCookie(
string pName,
Dictionary<string, string> pData,
int pExiresInDays)
{
// Set the cookie value.
string data = "";
foreach (string key in pData.Keys)
{
data += String.Format("{0}={1};", key, pData[key]);
}
string expires = "expires=" + DateTime.Now.AddDays(pExiresInDays).ToUniversalTime().ToString("r");
data += expires;
try
{
Application.SetCookie(new Uri(pName), data);
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
}
}
And this is what I have to read the cookie:
protected static Dictionary<string, string> ReadFromCookie(
string pName)
{
Dictionary<string, string> data = new Dictionary<string, string>();
try
{
string myCookie = Application.GetCookie(new Uri(pName));
// Returns the cookie information.
if (String.IsNullOrEmpty(myCookie) == false)
{
string[] splitted = myCookie.Split(new char[] { ';' }, StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries);
string[] sub;
foreach(string split in splitted)
{
sub = split.Split(new char[] { ':' }, StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries);
if (sub[0] == "expires")
{
continue;
}
data.Add(sub[0], sub[1]);
}
}
}
catch(Exception ex)
{
}
return data;
}
The pName is set with:
string uri = "http://MyWebSiteName.com";
When the user authenticate the first time, I call the WriteToCookie function and set it with 7 days to expire.
It looks like everything is fine as I get no exception of error messages. (I have a break point in the catch)
After that, I close the session and start it again.
The first thing I do is a ReadFromCookie.
Then I get an exception with the following message: No more data is available
So my application is sending the user automatically back to the login screen.
I also tried to do a ReadFromCookie right after the WriteToCookie in the same session, and I get the same error.
Application.SetCookie(new Uri("http://MyWebSiteName.com/WpfBrowserApplication1.xbap"), "Hellllo");
string myCookie2 = Application.GetCookie(new Uri("http://MyWebSiteName.com/WpfBrowserApplication1.xbap"));
It seems to me that the cookie is not even written in the first place.
So I am guessing I am doing something wrong.
Maybe the uri I am using is wrong. Is there a specific format needed for it?
Just like you need a very specific format for the expire date.
I have been searching quite a lot of internet for a good sample/tutorial about using cookies with XBAP, and I could not find anything really well documented or tested.
A lot of people say that it works, but no real sample to try.
A lot of people also handle the authentication in html, then go to the XBAP after successfully reading/writing the cookies.
I would prefer a full XBAP solution if possible.
To answer some questions before they are asked, here are the project settings:
Debug:
Command line arguments: -debug -debugSecurityZoneURL http://MyWebSiteName.com "C:\Work\MyWebSiteName\MyWebSiteNameXBAP\bin\Debug\MyWebSiteNameXBAP.xbap"
Security:
Enable ClickOnce security settings (Checked)
This is a full trust application (selected)
I also created a certificate, and added it the 3 stores like explained in "publisher cannot be verified" message displayed
So I do not have the warning popup anymore. I just wanted to make sure that it was not a permission issue.

Answer 1

Finally found the answer to this problem.
Thanks for this CodeProject I was finally able to write/read cookies from the XBAP code.
As I had guessed, the URI needs to be very specific and you cannot pass everything you want in it.
What did the trick was using: BrowserInteropHelper.Source
In the end the read/write code looks like:
Application.SetCookie(BrowserInteropHelper.Source, data);
string myCookie = Application.GetCookie(BrowserInteropHelper.Source);
It looks like you cannot use ';' to separate your own data.
If you do so, you will only get the first entry in your data.
Use a different separator (ex: ':') and then you can get everything back
The data look like this:
n=something:k=somethingElse;expires=Tue, 12 May 2015 14:18:56 GMT ;
The only thing I do not get back from Application.GetCookie is the expire date.
Not sure if it is normal or not. Maybe it is flushed out automatically for some reason. If someone knows why, I would appreciate a comment to enlighten me.
At least now I can read/write data to the cookie in XBAP. Yeah!