Tech problems today

There are some problems that I have run into today. They were a pain in the ass to find, and I just wanted to pass along the knowledge in case anyone else runs into them anytime soon.

1. We are using form based authentication for our web app. Cookies on the server config are turned OFF. We're using j_security check and running into a problem where it seemed like "something" was keeping the session tied to the ip. What was it? Cookies. When they are turned off. Grrr.... Apparently (wish I had an article) if you use form based authentication it uses cookies even if you tell it to use something else.
2. It looks like there is a problem with IE submitting forms with long hidden fields. If you click the submit button, it just sits there. No request gets sent. IE just goes "huh?" Of course other browsers seem to work okay. Update: This doesn't actually seem to be the problem. I broke up the string and it still doesn't work. More investigation is needed. I'll post what the solution actually is.

*sigh* We get paid to figure out the hard stuff. Sometimes I wish that wasn't the case.

Update 2: the problem was because we were calling the action on a GET and it was more than the maximum of 2,048 characters allowed. We have decided to use a different solution rather than just using a post.

Listening to: Vanessa Paradis - Sunday Mondays (Live!)