How to adapt my PHP Session into an Array - php

Question

I have this PHP code which I'm using to trigger the user log in. For a successful log in, the user uses their registered email and password. My current PHP code allows the username to be echoed on whatever pages use the $_SESSION['loggedin'] = $dbusername. What I'm now trying to do is to adapt this PHP code to put an Array into the 'loggedin' session. I want the array to hold user registration details i.e firstname, lastname, company and email, aswell as their username (dbusername). This is to enable me to echo such details on a 'user account page'
My code:
<?php
session_start();
$email = $_POST['email'];
$password = $_POST['password'];
if ($email&&$password)
{
$connect = mysql_connect("*****","***","**********") or die ("Login failed!");
mysql_select_db("dbname") or die ("Could not connect to Database");
$query = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM regusers WHERE email='$email'");
$numrows = mysql_num_rows($query);
if($numrows !=0)
{
while ($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($query))
{
$dbemail = $row['email'];
$dbpassword = $row['password'];
$dbusername = $row['username'];
}
if ($email==$dbemail&&$password==$dbpassword)
{
include 'loginIntro.php';
$_SESSION['loggedin']=$dbusername;
}
else
echo "Incorrect Password";
}
else
die ("That email doesn't exist");
}
else
die ("Enter a registered email and password");
?>
Then on my 'user account page' I have this :
<?php
session_start();
$dbusername = $_SESSION['loggedin'];
?>
For the purposes of echoing the username this PHP code works fine, as all I have to do is : any time I want to display the users username. So going back to my original question - Please impart the necessary knowledge to adapt this PHP code to hold the users registration details so I can echo such details on whatever page(s) use the session in question. Please forgive my lack of knowledge and understanding, I've scratched my head so hard I've got cradle cap - which only babies get, but in this PHP game I'm an embryo. Thanks for whatever help comes

Answer 1

$_SESSION is a array
You can simply save a associative array inside of it.
$_SESSION['id'] = $x;
$_SESSION['username'] = $y;
$_SESSION['realname'] = $z;
or a nested array
$_SESSION['user']['id'] = $x;
$_SESSION['user']['username'] = $y;
$_SESSION['user']['realname'] = $z;
Beware
You are using deprecated functions.
There is no validation on data passed.
There is a risk (looks like 100%) of SQL injection.
As bwoebi said, you may not save password in clear text.
Suggested reading
http://php.net/manual/en/function.error-reporting.php
http://php.net/manual/en/language.types.array.php
http://www.php.net/manual/en/session.examples.basic.php
http://php.net/manual/en/filter.examples.validation.php
http://php.net/manual/en/faq.passwords.php
http://php.net/manual/en/security.database.sql-injection.php
http://php.net/manual/en/intro.pdo.php

Answer 2

If you want to use an Array as a Session variable, you have to serialize it first. (http://php.net/manual/en/function.serialize.php).
Then you can add it to $_SESSION, and unserialize (http://php.net/manual/en/function.unserialize.php) it on the other pages.
Now here are two advices : hash your passwords using sha1 (http://us2.php.net/manual/en/function.sha1.php), and don't use mysql_* functions, which are outdated. Consider using mysqli ou PDO.