Demystifying Cookie Handling in Sitecore Headless Rendering Host for .NET Core

Introduction

Sitecore Headless, a decoupled approach to content management, has revolutionized the way digital experiences are built and delivered. Its rendering host, a .NET core application, serves as the front-end gateway to Sitecore’s content repository, providing a seamless interface for rendering content and managing user interactions.

Cookies, ubiquitous in the digital landscape, play a crucial role in tracking user behavior, maintaining personalization preferences, and enabling authentication. In the context of Sitecore Headless, handling cookies within the rendering host requires careful consideration to ensure consistent user experience and to achieve functionalities between the Rendering Host and Sitecore Content Delivery server.

Cookie Handling Strategies

Several strategies can be employed to effectively manage cookies within the Sitecore Headless rendering host:

1. Cookie Sharing: Configure the Sitecore instance and the rendering host to share the same cookie domain. This allows the rendering host to access and modify cookies set by the Sitecore instance, ensuring consistency across the user experience.
2. Cookie Forwarding: Implement proxy settings that forward cookies from the rendering host to the Sitecore instance. This approach enables the Sitecore instance to track user behavior and maintain personalization preferences even when requests originate from the rendering host.
3. X-Forwarded-For Header: Utilize the X-Forwarded-For header to provide the visitor’s IP address to the Sitecore instance. This information is crucial for accurate analytics and personalization, especially when proxy servers or load balancers are involved.
4. Cookie Synchronization: Implement a mechanism to synchronize cookies between the rendering host and the Sitecore instance. This ensures that both systems maintain a consistent view of the user’s cookie state, preventing inconsistencies and potential errors.

Compliance Considerations

As with any cookie-handling practice, adhering to privacy regulations is paramount. The rendering host should implement appropriate mechanisms to inform users about cookie usage, obtain consent whenever necessary, and provide options for managing cookie preferences.

Technical Challenges & Workarounds

Within some circumstances it is not “practical” to share custom application cookies between the rendering host and Sitecore Pipelines / Content Resolvers therefore what you would “traditionally” manage with an application Cookie on the Content Delivery in the headless paradigma you would need to split the logic across the rendering host and the Sitecore Pipeline.

Within this code example I show you how to pass value between a cookie on the rendering host and an http header within the Sitecore pipeline.

	SitecoreLayoutRequest sitecoreLayoutRequest = _requestMapper.Map(httpContext.Request);
	string cookieValueFromContext = _httpContextAccessor.HttpContext.Request.Cookies["_XXXX_trk"];
	if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(cookieValueFromContext))
	{
	sitecoreLayoutRequest.AddHeader("XXXX", new string[] { cookieValueFromContext });
	}

view raw CustomRequestHandler.cs hosted with ❤ by GitHub

and once you are in the Sitecore Pipeline you can read your code from the header and use it to run IdentifyAs or any other Sitecore XDB related code….

	if (HttpContext.Current?.Request?.Headers.AllKeys == null)
	{
	return null;
	}
	var customCookie = HttpContext.Current?.Request?.Headers["XXX"];
	var result = ContactIdentificationManager.IdentifyAs(new KnownContactIdentifier("Salesforce.ContactId", customCookie));

view raw SalesforceContactIdentifyPipeline.cs hosted with ❤ by GitHub