Laravel sessions table user_id always null - php

Question

I tried to set the session but the user_id column is always null. Other columns are working just fine. Is user_id reserved for anything? Did this happen to anyone?
What I am trying here is to authenticate the user,save the data to session and redirect to dashboard.
Here is the code:
public function login(Request $request)
{
$validator = validator::make($request->all(),[
'username' => 'required',
'password' => 'required'
]);
if($validator->fails()){
return redirect('/')
->withInput()
->withErrors($validator);
}
$username = $request->get('username');
$user = User::where('username', $username)->first();
$checkpass = false;
if(!empty($user)){
$password = $request->get('password');
$dbpass = $user->getAttributes()['pass'];
$checkpass = Hash::check($password, $dbpass);
if($checkpass){
//saving session after success login check
$request->session()->put('id',\Session::getId());
$request->session()->put('user_id', $user->id);
$request->session()->put('ip_address', $request->ip());
$request->session()->put('user_agent', $request->header('User-Agent'));
$request->session()->put('payload', base64_encode($request->getContent()));
$request->session()->put('last_activity', time());
//redirect to dashboard
return redirect('/dashboard');
}
}
if(empty($user) || $checkpass == false){
$errors = new MessageBag(['password'=>['Email and/or password invalid.']]);
return redirect('/')
->withErrors($errors)
->withInput(Input::except('password'));
}
}

Answer 1

You are using the database session driver. Laravel will thus handle sessions via the Illuminate\Session\DatabaseSessionHandler.php. If you check out the source, you will find a method getDefaultPayload which is called whenever you write/save the session to the database.
Inside this method you will find this:
if ($container->bound(Guard::class)) {
$payload['user_id'] = $container->make(Guard::class)->id();
}
which sets the user_id to the currently logged in user via Laravel's Guard. However, since you are not logging in with the Guard, this method will see the current user id as null and that is why you always get null.
Furthermore, in truth none of the properties you are setting are actually being set. Instead, they are all being set in the getDefaultPayload method of DatabaseSessionHandler.php.
This is where you should start in figuring out the best way to integrate Laravel's database session with your implementation. As I don't have more information about your application, I can't give you further direction as what the best solution might be and what would be the best change to make. Without knowing anything though, I might look into integrating your login system with the Laravel Guard because it does provide some other functionality as well. Or, a quicker solution might be to just directly modify this bit of the getDefaultPayload method.

Answer 2

You can do this under Illuminate\Session\DatabaseSessionHandler.php
protected function performUpdate($sessionId, $payload)
{
if(!Auth::check())
{
unset($payload['user_id']);
}
return $this->getQuery()->where('id', $sessionId)->update($payload);
}

Answer 3

It will fix if you using Auth::attempt because when you attempt the Auth facade laravel will set the user_id on the Session table/file/etc, something like this:
if(Auth::attempt([
'email' => $email,
'password' => $password
])) {
$user = Auth::user();
return [
'user' => $user,
];
}

Answer 4

Try this solution by making some changes Illuminate\Session\DatabaseSessionHandler.php
/**
* Add the user information to the session payload.
*
* #param array $payload
* #return $this
*/
protected function addUserInformation(&$payload)
{
if ($this->container->bound(Guard::class)) {
$payload['user_id'] = $this->userId();
}
// UPDATE "user_id" IN TABLE "sessions" USING YOUR OWN SESSION DATA [BEGIN]
if(\Session::has('login_id')){
$my_user = \Session::get('login_id');
$payload['user_id'] = $my_user;
}
// UPDATE "user_id" IN TABLE "sessions" USING YOUR OWN SESSION DATA [END]
return $this;
}
But make sure the logged-in session has been created by your own auth function first.
Sample dd(Session::all); of my application:
array:8 [
"_token" => "VSI617e5HjtrYnj59hGPG9AS0R7y5vvUA1fQ7mV6"
"language" => "EN"
"_previous" => array:1 []
"_flash" => array:2 []
"login_id" => "123"
]