Posted by Ben Holt on 09/14/05 09:04

bruce wrote:

>ben...
>
>your statements/approach is pretty much what i've been thinking of. however,
>with regards to the forums/cms apps.. i've yet to find one that actually
>keeps a track of the logged in users, that works when the user kills the
>browser..
>
>the ones that i've seen, that allow an admin to see who's online, appear to
>fail when i've killed the test user. the apps still show the killed user as
>being online...
>
>hence my isuue!
>
>
Bruce, what I have been trying to explain is that this _can_not_ be
overcome. The web is stateless. Connections between server and client
last only long enough for a file to be requested and sent, once that has
happened the server and client are no longer connected and have no
knowledge of each other. _No_ server-side program will be able to tell
you when a user closes their browser or goes to another web site. HTTP
simply doesn't provide what you are looking for.

- Ben

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