SESSIONS not transferring information php5.5 - php

Question

I have recently changed servers and things arent working like they did before
I have pin pointed that the session information is not tranferring from one page to the next
this is half of the first page
<?php include 'header.php';?>
<?php
session_start();
$id = isset($_GET['id']) ? $_GET['id'] : "";
$con = mysqli_connect("*","*","*","*");
// SELECT DATABASE
$db = mysqli_select_db("images", $con);
function GetCartId()
{
// This function will generate an encrypted string and
// will set it as a cookie using set_cookie. This will
// also be used as the cookieId field in the cart table
if(isset($_COOKIE["cartId"]))
{
return $_COOKIE["cartId"];
}
else
{
// There is no cookie set. We will set the cookie
// and return the value of the users session ID
setcookie("cartId", session_id(), time() + ((3600 * 24) * 30));
return session_id();
}
}
// Get data from the database depending on the value of the id in the URL
$id = $_GET["id"];
$strSQL = "SELECT * FROM images WHERE image= '$id'";
$rs = mysqli_query($con,$strSQL);
while($row = mysqli_fetch_array($rs)) {
$name = $row['image_name'];
echo '<h1 style="font-size:2em;">';
echo $name;
echo'</h1>';
echo '<div id = "galpic">';
$thispic = $row['image'];
echo '<div id = "pic">';
echo '<br /> <img src="'.$thispic.'" style = "max-width:100%;"/> ';
echo '</div>';
$description = $row['image_description'];
echo ' <h3>about</h3>';
echo ' <h3>card</h3>';
echo ' <h3>small</h3>';
echo ' <h3>big</h3>';
echo ' <h3>limited</h3>';
echo ' <h3>share</h3>';
echo '</div>';
}
$_SESSION['name'] = $name;
$_SESSION['thispic'] = $thispic;
THESE LAST TWO LINES ARE THE SESSION INFORMATION THAT WORKS FOR THE REST OF THIS PAGE BUT DOES NOT PASS THROUGH TO THE NEXT PAGE
then the next page is............
<?php include 'header.php';?>
<?PHP
session_start();
$con = mysqli_connect("*","*","*","*");
$_SESSION['name'] = '$name';
$_SESSION['thispic'] = '$thispic';
echo '<div id = "foodbowl">';
echo '<h1>ORDER FORM</h1>';
echo '</div>';
echo '<div id = "checkout">';
echo '<table style = "font-size:0.7em;margin-top:3%;line-height:100%;">';
echo '<tr>';
echo '<td>checkout progress bar:</td>';
echo '<td>check your order</td>';
echo '<td style = "background-color:#e8d9d9">fill in details</td>';
echo '<td>choose payment option</td>';
echo '<td>final check?</td>';
echo '</tr>';
echo '</table>';
echo '</div>';
function GetCartId()
{
// This function will generate an encrypted string and
// will set it as a cookie using set_cookie. This will
// also be used as the cookieId field in the cart table
if(isset($_COOKIE["cartId"]))
{
return $_COOKIE["cartId"];
}
else
{
// There is no cookie set. We will set the cookie
// and return the value of the users session ID
setcookie("cartId", session_id(), time() + ((3600 * 24) * 30));
return session_id();
}
}
$checkout = mysqli_query($con,"SELECT * FROM cart where cookieId = '".GetCartId()."'");
echo '<div id = "checkout">';
echo '<table>
<tr>
<th colspan = "4"><b>YOUR CHOICE</b></th>
<th><b>PRICE</b></th>
</tr>
';
while ($row = mysqli_fetch_array($checkout)){
$pic = $row['image'];
echo '<tr><td>';
echo $row['name'];
echo '</td><td>';
echo '<img src="'.$pic.'" style ="height:33px;"/>' ;
echo '</td><td >';
echo $row['product'];
echo '</td><td >';
echo '$'. $row['price'].'.00 au';
echo '</td></tr>';
}
echo '<tr><td colspan ="4">';
echo '<p>TOTAL</P>';
echo '</td><td>';
$result = mysqli_query($con,"select sum(price) as total from cart where cookieId = '".GetCartId()."'");
while($row = mysqli_fetch_assoc($result)){
echo '$'.$row['total'].'.00 au';
}
echo '</td></tr>';
echo '</table>';
echo '</div>';
$name = $row['name'];
$product = $row['product'];
?>
<form id="buyer" method="post" action="email.php" >
<p> these are the details Mandy will need to send your product -</p>
<?php
$checkout = mysqli_query($con,"SELECT * FROM cart where cookieId = '".GetCartId()."'");
while ($row = mysqli_fetch_array($checkout)){
echo '<br / >';
echo 'a '.$row['product'];
echo ' of '.$row['name'];
}
?>

Answer 1

You cannot have any - any - output before you call session_start(). That includes the blank line between ?> and <?php, as well as anything in header.php. When you do have output, it prevents you from sending a session cookie with session_start(). No cookie, no session.
Put session_start() at the very top of your scripts and don't open and close PHP tags (<?php ... ?>) without reason.