CODEWITHSUNDEEP
sessionsession-variablesphp
Romelus
Romelus

Reputation: 181

Session data not passed to other pages

The problem I am facing is two fold:

  1. I would like to use my session wrapper class as a way to create sessions across multiple pages.
  2. Would like a way to expire the above sessions after a set timeout.

As an example use case, if my site required authentication before accessing a page I would create an instance of my session wrapper, if the user's credentials were valid then I would redirect them to the account page.

// index.php
if (invalidUser) {
   // Show error
} else if(userIsValid($user_email, $user_pass)) {
   $sess = new Session("MySite", 10);
   Utils::redirect("accountPage.php"); 
}

Here is the utility method that redirects to the accounts page:

// utils.php
ob_start(); // Start output buffer
/**
  * Redirects the HTTP header to another location.
  *
  * @param (String) $address the new location to send the browser.
  */
  public static function redirect($address) {
     header("Location: $address");
     exit();
  }

Here is the implementation of the session wrapper class:

// session.php
class Session {        
       /**
         * Default Constructor.
         *
         * @param (String) $name the name of the session, as well as the session cookie name 
         * @param (String) $timeout the amount of time to permit the existence of 
         * this session.
         * -1, indicates that the session should live on indefinetely.
         */
        function __construct($name, $timeout = -1) {
            session_name($name);
            session_start();

            $_SESSION["timeout"] = $timeout;
            $_SESSION["created"] = time();
        }

    /**
     * Determines if the session is still considered "alive" based on its 
     * timeout + creation time.
     * If the session has expired we remove the session effectively "Timing out".
     */
    public static function isExpired() {

        // Default infinite timeout case
        if ($_SESSION["created"] == -1) {
            return false;
        }

        // Evaluate time left on session
        if(($_SESSION["timeout"] + $_SESSION["created"]) <= time()) {
            // Remove Session
            return true; 
        } else {
            // Session has not expired yet
            return false;
        }
    }
}

I would expect data within the $_SESSION global array on this page but its NULL. I have read similar posts but I guess I am missing something with my specific implementation.

// accountsPage.php
<?php
include_once("session.php");

Session::isExpired(); => false
print_r($_SESSION); => NULL

I know it partially works because If I do not redirect and then print the $_SESSION global array there is data within it. I know about adding session_start() at the beginning of each page but I would like to alleviate creating additional sessions and cookies.

Any help would be great thanks in advance!

Upvotes: 0

Views: 306

Answers (2)

DNX
DNX

Reputation: 118

Your Session::isExpired is behaving correctly by returning FALSE because the index of requested $_SESSION is not found and it is not under the same session_name.

Let's say on first page you called new Session('MyWebsite', 10);. In other pages, you need to call MyWebsite session name before starting session and getting $_SESSION values.

Session name will reset to default name for each new request if developer didn't specify which session name need to be recalled. That's why it will return null. I am changing your code a little bit.

function __construct($name, $timeout = -1) {
   session_name($name);
   session_start();

   if(!isset($_SESSION['created'])) {
      $_SESSION["timeout"] = $timeout;
      $_SESSION["created"] = time();
   }
}

public function isExpired() {
   /* your code here */
}

I am taking of the static from isExpired(), static didn't call class contructor. Example for your second page

<?php
include('session.php');

$session = new Session('MyWebsite', 10);
$session->isExpired();
print_r($_SESSION);

Upvotes: 1

neelsg
neelsg

Reputation: 4842

You have to call session_start() before sending output for every page. For "accountsPage.php", you do include the "session.php" file, but that file only defines the class, it does not actually call this function unless you have new Session("MySite", 10); somewhere in your page's code.

I recommend that you actually remove session_name($name); and session_start(); from __construct and instead place them at the top of the "session.php" script. Obviously you will need to replace $name with "MySite" (Hard coded), but there are ways around that.

Upvotes: 0

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