session_start

[Carmen]

We have an application whose initial page is Menu.aspx. In other the user
cannot enter the application by using another page we have implemented
session_start:

Sub Session_Start(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As EventArgs)
Response.Redirect("Menu.aspx")

End Sub

Now, we are developing a new application and we want this new application to
be able to access a given page, not the menu.aspx page. My question is the
following:

Is there a way to know if the session is being started by typing directly
the url in the Internet Explorer or if it is being started by a call from
our new application?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Scott Allen]

By "new application" do you mean a client side app? A WinForms app?
You could always put a special header into the Agent string to
identify requests from your application. This is not a foolproof
approach (someone else could write thier own application and use the
same header to spoof your application), but unless you want to use
authentication and encryption there won't be a perfect method.