Sessions and variables not persisting over multiple pages - php

Question

The sessions between multiple pages on my site is not persisting. This it the session code I have at the start of each page:
<?php
#session_start();
echo session_id();
?>
I then add the variables to the session:
$_SESSION["CustomerID"]= $IDCustomer;
$_SESSION["PaymentID"]= $IDPayment;
var dumping this directly afterwards shows the correct variable. however, when doing the exact same on the next page, the variables are NULL. The only thing I have done between var dumping the variables on the first page, and var dumping them on the second page is clicking the hyperlink to switch the pages.
This is the code in full for each page:
<?php
require_once("php/init.php");
echo session_id();
$Cat = $_GET['Type'];
//create an instance of the ADO connection object
$conn = new COM ("ADODB.Connection")
or die("Cannot start ADO");
//show the connection string
$connStr = "PROVIDER=Microsoft.ACE.OLEDB.12.0;Data Source= \www\DMG Games Website\DMG Database.accdb";
$conn->open($connStr); //Open the connection to the database
//Read customer + payment from $Get
//Store in session variables
$IDCustomer = $_GET['CustomersDropdown'];
$IDPayment = $_GET['PaymentsDropdown'];
$_SESSION["CustomerID"]= $IDCustomer;
$_SESSION["PaymentID"]= $IDPayment;
//create the Products query
$query = "SELECT * FROM [Product Details]";
if (isset($Cat)) {
$query = "SELECT * FROM [Product Details] Where [Product Type] ='" . $Cat . "'";
}
//execute query
$rs = $conn->execute($query);
//count the number of columns
$num_columns = $rs->Fields->Count();
echo "There are " . $num_columns . " columns." . "<br>";
for ($i=0; $i < $num_columns; $i++) {
$fld[$i] = $rs->Fields($i);
}
//show the information in a table
echo "<table>";
echo "<tr>";
echo "<th> Product ID </th>";
echo "<th> Product Name </th>";
echo "<th> Product Description </th>";
echo "<th> Price </th>";
echo "<th> Quantity In Stock </th>";
echo "<th> Product Type </th>";
echo "<th> Image </th>";
echo "<th> Click to Buy </th>";
echo "</tr>";
while (!$rs->EOF) //carry on looping while there are records to be obtained
{
echo "<tr>";
for ($i=0; $i < $num_columns; $i++) {
echo "<td>" . $fld[$i]->value . "</td>";
}
echo "</tr>";
$rs->MoveNext(); //move on to the next record
}
echo "</table>";
//close the connection
$rs->Close();
$conn->Close();
$rs = null;
$conn = null;
$Customer = $_SESSION["CustomerID"];
var_dump($Customer);
$Payment = $_SESSION["PaymentID"];
var_dump($Payment)
?>
This is the code for the second page:
//create an instance of the ADO connection object
$conn = new COM ("ADODB.Connection")
or die("Cannot start ADO");
//show the connection string
$connStr = "PROVIDER=Microsoft.ACE.OLEDB.12.0;Data Source= \www\DMG Games Website\DMG Database.accdb";
$conn->open($connStr); //Open the connection to the database
// Get the url variables
$Pid = $_GET['newPid'];
// Read the quantity from the address
$Quantity = $_GET['newQuantity'];
//Create a query for retreiving the product image
$queryGetImage = "SELECT [Image] FROM [Product Details] Where [Product ID]=" . $Pid;
//execute the query
$rs = $conn->execute($queryGetImage);
echo "<h2> Add product to basket </h2>";
echo "</br></br>";
echo $rs->Fields("Image");
echo "</br></br>";
//declare the form
?>
<FORM NAME ="QuantityForm" METHOD ="get" ACTION = "">
Product ID:</br> <INPUT TYPE = "TEXT" NAME ="newPid" VALUE = "<?php echo $Pid;?>">
</br></br>
Quantity:</br> <INPUT TYPE = "TEXT" NAME ="newQuantity">
</br></br>
<input type="submit" />
</form>
<?php
//Create the AddToBasket query
if (isset($Quantity)) {
// Add the product and the quantity to the basket table
$AddtoBasketQuery = "INSERT INTO Basket([Product ID], [Quantity])
VALUES ('$Pid', '$Quantity')";
//execute the query
$conn->execute($AddtoBasketQuery);
//close the connection
$conn->Close();
$conn = null;
echo "</br> Your product has succesfully been added to your basket.";
}
?>

Answer 1

I don't see
session_start();
on your second script, you need to put it at the top of each script which wants to use session variables

Answer 2

You need to add session_start(); at start in second script. To access the Session variables this is required to start session before doing anything.