Can't create SESSION - php

Question

<?php
ob_start();
session_start();
require ('openid.php');
function logout() {
echo '<form action="logout.php" method="post"><button class="btn btn-danger" type="submit"><i class="fa fa-power-off"></i> Log Out</button></form>'; //logout button
}
function steamlogin() {
try {
require("settings.php");
$openid = new LightOpenID($domain);
if(!$openid->mode) {
if(isset($_GET['login'])) {
$openid->identity = 'http://steamcommunity.com/openid';
header('Location: ' . $openid->authUrl());
}
return "<form action=\"?login\" method=\"post\"> <input type=\"image\" src=\"http://cdn.steamcommunity.com/public/images/signinthroughsteam/sits_large_noborder.png\"></form>";
}
elseif($openid->mode == 'cancel') {
echo 'User has canceled authentication!';
} else {
if($openid->validate()) {
$id = $openid->identity;
$ptn = "/^http:\/\/steamcommunity\.com\/openid\/id\/(7[0-9]{15,25}+)$/";
preg_match($ptn, $id, $matches);
$steamid = $matches[1];
$link = file_get_contents("http://api.steampowered.com/ISteamUser/GetPlayerSummaries/v0002/?key=".$key."&steamids=".$steamid."");
$decode = json_decode($link);
$newlink = $decode->response->players->profileurl;
$xml = simplexml_load_file($newlink."?xml=1");
#$custom = $xml->customURL;
if(strlen($custom) <= 4){
$user = $xml->steamID64;
} else {
$user = $custom;
}
$_SESSION['steamid'] = $user;
//Determine the return to page. We substract "login&"" to remove the login var from the URL.
//"file.php?login&foo=bar" would become "file.php?foo=bar"
$returnTo = str_replace('login&', '', $_GET['openid_return_to']);
//If it didn't change anything, it means that there's no additionals vars, so remove the login var so that we don't get redirected to Steam over and over.
if($returnTo === $_GET['openid_return_to']) $returnTo = str_replace('?login', '', $_GET['openid_return_to']);
header('Location: '.$returnTo);
} else {
echo "User is not logged in.\n";
}
}
} catch(ErrorException $e) {
echo $e->getMessage();
}
}
I checked this code 10 times (atleast) , but i don't understand why it doesn't create $_SESSION['steamid'] . Can you help me ?
I edited first post !

Answer 1

First off, you should try setting dummy data to test if your session is working at all. Right after your session_start() put a line like
$_SESSION['test'] = 'test';
var_dump($_SESSION);
If the key does not persist throughout requests then it means there is a problem with your session handler (possibly lacking write permission).
If your session is working then you start going down the tree of logic, check the expressions in each if statement to see what the execution path is, you do not provide any current output so I cannot tell right away.
This is not a definitive answer but I'm sure if you follow my advice you'll get to the root of the problem.