Hello,

I would like to know why my cookies are always "-1" expiry. The browser preferences allows me to inspect my cookies. I get the same result using mozilla 1.2 and mac IE 5.2.

Here is my sample code:

			
				

				<%@ page import="java.util.*,java.io.*" %>
				

				<%!
				

				public static void printCookies(JspWriter out, Cookie[] cookies) throws Exception{
				

				

				out.println("Printing cookies");
				

				

				for(int i = 0; i
				< cookies.length; i++){
				

				

				out.println("Cookie "+i);
				

				out.println("name: "+ cookies[i].getName());
				

				out.println("value: "+ cookies[i].getValue());
				

				out.println("domain: "+ cookies[i].getDomain());
				

				out.println("path: "+ cookies[i].getPath());
				

				out.println("secure: "+ cookies[i].getSecure());
				

				out.println("max-age: "+ cookies[i].getMaxAge());
				

				

				}
				

				out.println("Done printing cookies");
				

				

				}
				

				

				%>
				

				

			
			
				
					

					<%  printCookies(out, request.getCookies()); %>
					

				
			
			

		

Result

			

			

			Printing cookies
			

			

			Cookie 0
			

			name: activeTabsindex.jsp?null
			

			value:
			

			domain: null
			

			path: null
			

			secure: false
			

			max-age: -1
			

			

			

			Cookie 1
			

			name: JSESSIONID
			

			value: 5BF9757F1CC1B9FC34EDA45BA5460B8E
			

			domain: null
			

			path: null
			

			secure: false
			

			max-age: -1
			

			

			

			Cookie 2
			

			name: activeTabsindex.jsp
			

			value:
			

			domain: null
			

			path: null
			

			secure: false
			

			max-age: -1
			

			

			

			Cookie 3
			

			name: foobar
			

			value: bar
			

			domain: null
			

			path: null
			

			secure: false
			

			max-age: -1
			

			

			

			

			Done printing cookies
			

		

How can we know if the cookie is not really a temp cookie?

Proof: I quit the browser (file > quit), launch the browser, and the cookies are all printed out (and with -1 for max age)!

I made a separate test-case creation cookie page. Please try the test page.

			
				

				<%@ page import="java.util.* " %>
				

				<%!
				

				

				public static Cookie addOrModifyCookie(String name,
				

				String value,
				

				String path,
				

				String domain,
				

				int expires,
				

				Cookie[] cookies,
				

				HttpServletResponse response){
				

				

				Cookie foundCookie = null;
				

				

				if(cookies != null)
				

				for(int i = 0; i
				< cookies.length; i++){
				

				

				if(cookies[i].getName().equals(name)){
				

				foundCookie = cookies[i];
				

				

				cookies[i].setValue(value);
				

				if(path != null)
				

				cookies[i].setPath(path);
				

				if(domain != null)
				

				cookies[i].setDomain(domain);
				

				cookies[i].setMaxAge(expires);
				

				break;
				

				}
				

				}
				

				if(foundCookie == null) {
				

				foundCookie = new Cookie(name, value);
				

				if(path != null)
				

				foundCookie.setPath(path);
				

				if(domain != null)
				

				foundCookie.setDomain(domain);
				

				foundCookie.setMaxAge(expires);
				

				}
				

				

				// put it down here, where it can be
				

				response.addCookie(foundCookie);
				

				

				return foundCookie;
				

				

				}
				

				

				

				

				%>
				

				

				

				<%
				

				

				final String DOMAIN =
				

				request.getRequestURL().toString().indexOf("127.0.0.1") > 5 ?
				

				null : ".dhtmlkitchen.com";
				

				

				Cookie c = addOrModifyCookie("foobar",
				

				"bar",
				

				"/",
				

				DOMAIN,
				

				60 * 2,
				

				request.getCookies(),
				

				response);
				

				

				out.print(c.getMaxAge());%>