$_SESSION array not updating in Model (mvc) - php

Question

I have a Model Class which has a function which takes an array of filenames as an argument. It runs a foreach on the files and processes them.
The 1st line of the foreach is $_SESSION["file_processing"] = $file;
I have a js function that is called periodically and fetches $_SESSION["file_processing"] and outputs it in a div. This is how i plan to show to the user what file is being processed at the moment.
My js Functions :
function call_files_all_together() {
alert("You will start getting emails for all files. Thanks !");
var log = setInterval(function(){ProcessingFilesLog()},5000);
$("#ajax-loader-gif").html("<img src = \"/images/ajax-loader.gif\" />");
$.ajax({
type : 'POST',
url : '/query-set/create-all-files/'
}).done(function(data) {
alert(data);
clearInterval(log);
$("#ajax-loader-gif").empty();
});
}
function ProcessingFilesLog() {
console.log("get log called");
$.ajax({
type : 'POST',
url : '/query-set/file-log'
}).done(function(data){
console.log(data);
if(data != "")
$("#files-log").append(data + "<br/>");
else
console.log("empty data");
});
}
My controller function is below :
public function createAllFilesAction() {
$this->_helper->viewRenderer->setNoRender();
$this->_helper->layout->disableLayout();
$qs = new Model_QuerySet;
$qs->createAllFiles();
echo "Files Sent!";
// unset($_SESSION["file_processing"]);
}
public function FileLogAction() {
$this->_helper->viewRenderer->setNoRender();
$this->_helper->layout->disableLayout();
$log = $_SESSION["file_processing"] ;
var_dump($_SESSION);
echo $log;
}
My Model Functions :
public function createAllFiles() { #all
$db = Zend_Db_Table::getDefaultAdapter();
$ex = new Model_ExcelHandling;
foreach ($this->filename as $name=>$data){
echo $name.PHP_EOL;
$_SESSION["file_processing"] = $name;
//Do my things here.
}
}
The 1st time I run the script, I do not see the key "file_processing" in the $_SESSION array. The second time I run it, I see that $_SESSION["file_processing"] holds the value of last file that was processed when executed previously.
I seems like $_SESSION gets updated only after the loop ends or something down those line, I am not 100% sure.
I would appreciate any help..
Thank you

Answer 1

The $_SESSION variable is only updated after the script finishes, according to php.net:
Session data is usually stored after your script terminated without the need to call session_write_close(), but as session data is locked to prevent concurrent writes only one script may operate on a session at any time. When using framesets together with sessions you will experience the frames loading one by one due to this locking. You can reduce the time needed to load all the frames by ending the session as soon as all changes to session variables are done.
You will need to use something other than $_SESSION to persistently store the data, because I don't believe you can get $_SESSION to save multiple times for in a single script/request. One possible solution is to save the data in a database. It is up to you to figure out which persistent storage method you wish to use.
EDIT:
I may have spoken too soon. Perhaps you can use session_write_close() and then follow it up with session_start() after each assignment to the $_SESSION variable.