Sessions timing out too soon

Burke Prefect

I'm running a standard Vanilla install, board.godswitch.com, and something I'm running into is that if I wait too long to do anything, I get logged out. This kinda sucks as I tend to use post boxes as notepads and don't submit until I'm done. And I tend to get distracted by work. When I come back, it errors it can't find the discussion (cause the catagory is restricted) and I'm no longer logged in.

Any thoughts? Questions?

Minisweeper

session lengths are a server configuration thing. Is there any reason you're not using 'remember me' and cookies?

Arturo G.

What is the exact effect of 'remeber me'? Just to avoid the session timeout? Or something more?

Mark

Remember me creates a cookie. If your session times out, Vanilla will use the cookie to re-authenticate you and keep you signed in.

Burke Prefect

Maybe I'm forgetting to hit Remember me. I'll try it some more. Maybe I screwed something up.

Corso

Hi all. I'm new to Vanilla and to this forum. I have the same 'problem' Burke Prefect talks about. I think this can confuse users as other forums, webmails, etc don't require to select 'Remember me' to keep logged. Appart from that, many users can't use that option because they are on shared machines at work, cybercafe, school... This is just my opinion but if you say it's a server thing I'll try to deal with it. Any comments on this issue are appreciated. Thank you all.

Dinoboff

Even on a shared computer you can use the remember me option. You just need to logout to disable it (what you have to do anyway).

Corso

Oh, sure. But the problem is you can easily forget to logout on a shared machine and just close the browser window.

keith_

what do i need to do to extend the session length? edit "session.gc_maxlifetime " in php.ini? (seems to have no effect) i want the users name to apear a longer lapse of time in the "who's online " panel.

Minisweeper

The whos online panel does not work on the base of sessions, it just checks who's been signed in in the last 5 minutes...

keith_

DATE_SUB(NOW(), INTERVAL 5 MINUTE yess , sorry i was stupid i shoud have looked it up there ..

peterbp

I've had quite a few users lose their lengthy responses because of this. They don't know that they have to tick the remember me box in order to stay logged in for longer than a few minutes. Is there a way to default "remember me" to yes? If the previous post by Keith contains the answer could someone tell me how/where to do this. Thanks, Peter

WallPhone

It's somewhere else--edit your themes\people_signin_form_nopostback.php file, find the GetDynamicCheckBox line and change about in the middle of that line, the zero to a one, like this:ForceIncomingBool('RememberMe', 1)

peterbp

Thanks WallPhone, that works well.

wohoo

WallPhone's trick worked but still, how long is the session length? I was still logged out after a certain amount of time. Is it possible to have the user signed in forever, until he/she signs out himself?

Wanderer

On my forum I have it set to remember me but it still logs me out every coupla weeks.

wohoo

It was just a day or so for me, which is why it bothers me so.

WallPhone

The 'remember me' cookies should expire after 30 days... Its hard coded, but should renew if you sign out and back in.