HTTP Developer’s Handbook

Combinations

When speaking about using combinations with regard to state management, I refer to:

• The use of multiple variable types (URL variables, form variables, and cookies)

• The use of multiple identifiers (multiple variables) from the client to verify identification

It is sometimes appropriate to use combination methods of maintaining state. Whether you enforce that each method actually be used depends on your needs. For example, you might want to allow either a cookie or a URL variable to be used to communicate the unique identifier, so the users who prefer not to use cookies can have a unique identifier appended to each URL, whereas those who prefer cookies will not have anything passed on the URL. Alternatively, you may want to require ...