can v have if..else in httpd .conf file

Hi,
I am a newbie to apache(on win-nt).Our company have a website which can be viewed both by guests and by our employees.I have used <directory> directive to block access to a particular folder in our company web site.So whenever the guest tries to access some files present in the resricted folder, an authentication screen would pop up asking for username
and password and when correct credentials are supplied the user is given access to the restricted folder.Now the problem is there is a login page which will be used for our employees to login to the site.So when one of our employee has successfully logged in and now tries to view the files in the restricted folder,he is again shown the authentication screen .So is there a mechanism whereby we can prevent a previously authenticated person from getting authenticated again...Can we have a if ..else construct in the httpd file and set some variable during the first quthentication process and check for the variable during the <directory> directive validation...


Pls help..It is of utmost urgency...


Thanx,
Alfred

>> can v have if..else in httpd .conf file

The only way to do it as close as a if/else conditions in Apache is via mod_rewrite. Though not exactly if/else, but you can set RewriteCond and RewriteRule depends on the preceding condition.

>> he is again shown the authentication screen

Because the login.html is not under the protected area. There are a few workaround. Check this thread I posted few months ago -> http://forums.devshed.com/showthrea...hlight=AuthName , look for common-htpasswd specifically.