Undefined index: sessionName - php

Question

Hello I have created a login page which is
<form method="POST" action="log.php">
<table border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0"
style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15px; border: 0px; text-align: left; margin-top: 5px; background-color: transparent;"
width="100%">
<thead>
<tr>
<td style="border: 0px; width: 20%; background-color: transparent;">
Username:</td>
<td style="border: 0px; width: 30%; background-color: transparent;">
<input type="text" name="email" id="email" class="form-control"
autocomplete="off" required="">
</td>
</tr>
</thead>
</table>
<table border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0"
style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15px; border: 0px; text-align: left; margin-top: 5px; background-color: transparent;"
width="100%">
<thead>
<tr>
<td style="border: 0px; width: 20%; background-color: transparent;">
Password:</td>
<td style="border: 0px; width: 30%; background-color: transparent;">
<input type="password" name="pass" id="pass" class="form-control"
autocomplete="off" required>
</td>
</tr>
</thead>
</table>
</div>
<div class="spacer-20"></div>
</div>
<!-- Social Signup -->
<div class="social-signup">
<span class="or-break"></span>
<center>
<button type="submit" name="login" class="btn btn-primary">
<span class="glyphicon glyphicon-log-in"></span> Login
</button>
No account? Sign up
</form>
and the login Processor is as follows
<?php
// Login Controller
// require('config/config.php');
include './config/config.php';
$userName = $passWord = $name = "";
if (isset ( $_POST ['login'] )) {
$userName = mysqli_real_escape_string ( $con, $_POST ['email'] );
$password = mysqli_real_escape_string ( $con, $_POST ['pass'] );
$pass = md5 ( $password );
// Block handles Doctor Login using the email
$get_doc = "SELECT * FROM doctor_registration WHERE email='$userName' AND password='$pass'";
$run_doc = mysqli_query ( $con, $get_doc );
$rows = mysqli_fetch_array ( $run_doc );
$docId = $rows ['doc_id'];
$docEmail = $rows ['email'];
$name = $rows ['first_name'] . " " . $rows ['last_name'];
if ($userName == $docEmail) {
$_SESSION ['sessionName'] = $name;
$_SESSION ['sessionId'] = $docId;
echo "<script>window.open('doctor_dashboard.php','_self')</script>";
} else {
// Block handles user Login using the username
$get_user = "SELECT * FROM users WHERE username='$userName' AND password='$pass'";
$run_user = mysqli_query ( $con, $get_user );
$rows = mysqli_fetch_array ( $run_user );
$userId = $rows ['user_id'];
$uname = $rows ['username'];
if ($userName == $uname) {
$_SESSION ['sessionName'] = $uname;
$_SESSION ['sessionId'] = $userId;
echo "<script>window.open('user_dashboard.php','_self')</script>";
} else {
echo "<script>alert('Passowrd or username is not correct!')</script>";
}
}
}
?>
and for the dashboard the processor checks the email or username and redirects to one of the dashboard.
i have two dashboards which have the code bellow for starting and storing a session
<?php
session_start ();
include './config/config.php';
include './updateFunction.php';
include './InsertFunction.php';
if (isset ( $_SESSION ['sessionName'] ) && ($_SESSION ['sessionId'])) {
header ( "location:index.php" );
}
?>
and each time i try to login in both dashboards i get the error:
Undefined index: sessionName

Answer 1

You should use session_start() before using $_SESSION['sessionName'] = $name
in the login processor.
So preferably you should use session_start() at the beginning of the page

Answer 2

Put session_start(); in your config.php after <?php
then call config.php on every page on after <?php
you are getting session error because you haven't use session_start(); in your file