Using session variables on other pages - php

Question

This question might be a bit stupid but I am only starting my adventure with sessions - didn't need to use them before. On the homepage I have a session which stores all the variables properly, that's no problem.
When I go to a sub-page under the same domain and try to call the variables from session, I just get empty fields. I tried doing print_r($_REQUEST); on the sub-page and it prints out the following:
Array ( [wp-settings-1] => libraryContent=browse&editor=html [wp-settings-time-1] => 1478015951 [PHPSESSID] => 0744bf21ab3712e4735e07d926433aa3 [sec_session_id] => 60e56049f51c76e9ec4932c6702e7b72 )
Which matches the output on the homepage. I know I should do a session_start(); but when I include that in my code I get the following error:
Notice: A session had already been started - ignoring session_start()
The reason I know that the variables are not being passed is because when I do
if(isset($_SESSION["user_id"])){
$user_id = $_SESSION["user_id"];
}
echo "User id: " .$_SESSION["user_id"];
I only get
User id:
And whenever I try to call the variable I get an error that it is not set.
Is there a step that I am missing?
Setting the session variables:
if ($stmt->num_rows == 1) {
// If the user exists we check if the account is locked
// from too many login attempts
if (checkbrute($user_id, $mysqli) == true) {
// Account is locked
// Send an email to user saying their account is locked
return false;
} else {
// Check if the password in the database matches
// the password the user submitted.
if ($db_password == $password) {
// Password is correct!
// Get the user-agent string of the user.
$user_browser = $_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'];
// XSS protection as we might print this value
$user_id = preg_replace("/[^0-9]+/", "", $user_id);
$_SESSION['user_id'] = $user_id;
$sessions['user_id'] = $user_id;
// XSS protection as we might print this value
$username = preg_replace("/[^a-zA-Z0-9_\-]+/", "", $username);
$_SESSION['username'] = $username;
$_SESSION['login_string'] = hash('sha512', $password . $user_browser);
// Login successful.
return true;
} else {
// Password is not correct
// We record this attempt in the database
$now = time();
if (!$mysqli->query("INSERT INTO login_attempts(user_id, time)
VALUES ('$user_id', '$now')")) {
header("Location: ../error.php?err=Database error: login_attempts");
exit();
}
return false;
}
}
} else {
// No user exists.
return false;
And the function to start secure session:
function sec_session_start() {
$session_name = 'sec_session_id'; // Set a custom session name
$secure = SECURE;
// This stops JavaScript being able to access the session id.
$httponly = true;
// Forces sessions to only use cookies.
if (ini_set('session.use_only_cookies', 1) === FALSE) {
header("Location: ../error.php?err=Could not initiate a safe session (ini_set)");
exit();
}
// Gets current cookies params.
$cookieParams = session_get_cookie_params();
session_set_cookie_params($cookieParams["lifetime"], $cookieParams["path"], $cookieParams["domain"], $secure, $httponly);
// Sets the session name to the one set above.
session_name($session_name);
session_start(); // Start the PHP session
session_regenerate_id(); // regenerated the session, delete the old one.
}

Answer 1

By seeing you code i understand it is wordpress site,
if yes follow following steps:
step1: add following code into your wp-content/themes-folder/functions.php
add_action('init', 'myStartSession', 1);
add_action('wp_logout', 'myEndSession');
add_action('wp_login', 'myEndSession');
function myStartSession() {
if(!session_id()) {
session_start();
}
}
function myEndSession() {
session_destroy ();
}
step 2: set user_id
$_SESSION['user_id'] = "your id";
step 3: to access your session id
if(isset($_SESSION['user_id'])) {
$value = $_SESSION['myKey'];
} else {
$value = '';
}
if your site is not a wordpress
add session_start() at header.php(or first line of your code)
then use your session variables.