Using $_SESSION between pages that are in different directories - php

I was wondering how I would pass something using a session between pages that are in two separate directories. For example, if I had the following code, what would I need to add to make it work?
Page 1: directory\directory1\directory2\Page1.php
session_start();
$_SESSION['example'] = '123';
Page 2: directory\dir1\dir2\Page2.php
session_start();
echo $_SESSION['example'];

Your code should work if these pages are served within the same domain.

You do not have to session_start() in each page. Just write that, in a single file and share that file between the pages you want to hold the session in.
So, if you have page1.php and page2.php and session.php You can create session either in page1.php and check it in page two like: echo var_dump($_SESSION) and vise-versa

First of all, check if session-cookies are properly set. Some problems (e.g. Headers already sent) may cause your session cookie to not be set.
If this is working properly, you may have to change the session cookie parameters via session_set_cookie_params
By setting the second parameter (path) to /, the session cookie is valid for the root of your website and all subdirectories.
Example
session_set_cookie_params(0, '/');
The same settings can also be set in your php.ini or via ini_set(). See Session configuration
Note:
I'm not sure if these settings have any effect if session.autostart is enabled, in which case the cookie-header may already be sent before the changes are made.

Related

Session cookie is reset to default at the end of the script

I made a simple registration page, which after validation, adds a unique identifier to the session id to identify the user and also sets a session variable 'UID' to a custom value. Then the script redirects to a new page.
$_SESSION['UID'] = $id;
session_id($sessID);
echo session_id();
session_write_close();
header("Location: https://localhost/AccountWebsite/landing.php");
exit();
?>
The landing page is supposed to be accessible only by members (i.e. those with a special unique session id set by my script), and that functionality wasn't working. So to check why, at the moment I allow anyone to access the page and their session id is echoed, and so is the 'UID' session variable.
<?php
session_start();
echo session_id()."\n";
echo $_SESSION['UID'];
?>
Now, when I echo the id it isn't the one I set myself. It is the generic PHP one, and the variable doesn't exist. During debugging, I commented out the redirect in the registration script, and instead had it echo the session id that it had just set. The echoed id is correct (obviously since it's echoed in the script it's set in), although when I enter the cookie manager on Firefox, it displays the session id as the generic php one, which means the session is reset when the first script ends and not between sessions.
Make sure session_start(); is called before any sessions are being
called. So a safe bet would be to put it at the beginning of your
page, immediately after the opening php tag before anything else.
Also ensure there are no whitespaces/tabs before the opening php
tag.
After the header redirect, end the current script using exit(); (Others have also suggested session_write_close(); and
session_regenerate_id(true), you can try those as well, but I'd use
exit();)
Make sure cookies are enabled in the browser you are using to test it on.
Ensure register_globals is off, you can check this on the php.ini file and also using phpinfo(). Refer to this as to how to turn it off.
Make sure you didn't delete or empty the session
Make sure the key in your $_SESSION superglobal array is not overwritten anywhere
Make sure you redirect to the same domain. So redirecting from a www.yourdomain.com to yourdomain.com doesn't carry the session
forward.
Make sure your file extension is .php (it happens!)
I have done all of the above from dayuloli's answer on this post
and have been debugging all day. Please help, why does the session not keep the id and variable values I set to it by the end of the script and sccross the whole server?
Additional info: I tried another example folder (on htdocs) where one page sets a variable and the other echoes it, and it worked.
You don't need to set a session_id unless you want multiple sessions. If you do specify a session_id, you need to call session_start() afterwards to start using it and submit the cookie into the client's browser.
Beyond that explanation, you need to use session_start() at the top of any script that requires sessions.
From http://php.net/manual/en/function.session-id.php:
session_id() needs to be called before session_start()
session_id() will always send a new cookie when session_start() is
called

php session value losing while moving to one page to another

I have made a simple website in which user can log in.my problem is when a user enter the address http://www.mysite.com/signin.php and after a successful log in he manually enters the address as http://mysite.com but from that page session variable is not getting. How do I make same session to both www.mysite.com,mysite.com Are there any settings in the php ini file or how do I manage to make same session to both addresses?
if(verify($password,$pw['password']))
{
$uid=$pw['user_id'];
$_SESSION['login_status']=true;
$_SESSION['user']=$uid;
}
i have a page checksession.php
<?php
session_start();
var_dump($_SESSION);
?>
when i login from http://www.mysite.com/signin.php and checking http://www.mysite.com/checksession.php its showing session values but from http://mysite.com/checksession.php it showing nothing.(differance is in address one with www,another without www)
I usually force www. or no www. in my .htaccess file using redirects.
Your problem is probably your PHP_SESS_ID cookie domain not beginning with a "."
session_set_cookie_params ( 3600 , '/', '.example.com');
That should set it.
Add this line before your session_start();:
ini_set('session.cookie_domain', '.mysite.com' );
This should tell PHP to include all subdomains of mysite.com in the same session, including 'www'. Note the period before the domain name.
A different Approach is to use session_start(); inside config.php file and include that file on the top of the code of every page where sessions are required otherwise U will not be able to get the value of SESSION variable..!!
use https:// before the page address call..

php session pass with setcookie and unset

i have a strange problem, when i use setcookie in PHP with session, while my browser is open, everything work fine, but when I close it, then I can't pass $_SESSION from page to another page!
in login page I have:
$_SESSION['name'] = $_POST['name'];
$_SESSION['pass'] = $_POST['pass'];
$life=2592000;//1 month
setcookie(session_name(),session_id(),time()+$life);
header("location:administrator/");
die();
I used session_start(); in every page on top of them, also I used this code for logout:
session_start();
unset($_SESSION['name']);
unset($_SESSION['pass']);
session_destroy();
header("location:../");
an important note is when I checked browser cookies, before closing browser there are tow cookie and their contents value is exactly same like each other, one expire at the end of session but another expire one month latter, which I like to be, but then I close browser and return back, there are tow cookie but with different values! which I think case problem and session variables don't pass from page to page.
Apart from the problem mentioned by #Matt (you may need some custom mechanism to restore or reinstantinate session using cookies), keep in mind that using mod_rewrite or actual directories messes with cookies path! To make sure the cookie is available when and where you need it, add additional parameter / (PHP setcookie(), $path parameter)

session does not work with mod-rewrited urls?

I have this page www.exmaple.com/username which is rewritten url, but the sessions does not work there.
That is, when I echo, it does not show the value, but all the other pages that have not been re-written are working!
<?php session_start();
echo $_SESSION['user_id'];
?>
Is there something that I'm missing?
Does this rewrite involve a change of domain or subdomain in the URL? Cookies are, by default, accessible only to the same subdomain they were set on... and session identifiers are maintained by cookies.
Sessions are not affected by mod_rewrite, but you need to prepend every page with session_start().
You must call session_start() to read the session or $_SESSION will not be populated.

PHP Sessions data lost when changing directory?

I've got a simple login system using PHP sessions, but just recently it seems that if you visit pages not in a certain directory (/login/) you will always be flagged as not logged in, even when you are. It seems that my session data is being lost when I change directories (say, to /login/user/).
I don't think I've touched the code myself since the problem appeared, is there something my web host could have done to my PHP installation that would delete the session data, and is there a workaround?
EDIT:
Inside each file that needs authorization, it loads a loginfunctions.php file which calls session_start() and checks the login. Files which work in /login and i copy and paste into /login/user stop working, even though i update all the relevant paths and links.
EDIT2:
Okay, some code.
In the actual pages that are giving me the error, this is the auth. code:
require_once("../../../includes/loginFunctions.php");
$login = new login;
$login->checkLogin(0);
Inside loginFunctions.php is this:
class login{
function checkLogin($requiredAccess){
session_start();
if($_SESSION['accesslevel'] < $requiredAccess || $_SESSION['logged_in'] != TRUE){
die("You don't have access to this area. If you should have access, please log in again. <a href='/login/'>Login</a>");
}
if (isset($_SESSION['HTTP_USER_AGENT'])){
if ($_SESSION['HTTP_USER_AGENT'] != md5($_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'])){
session_destroy();
die("Bad session. Please log in again. <a href='/login/'>Login</a> ");
}
} else {
$_SESSION['HTTP_USER_AGENT'] = md5($_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT']);
}
if (!isset($_SESSION['initiated'])){
session_regenerate_id();
$_SESSION['initiated'] = true;
}
}
}
The $requiredAccess variable is the access level that you need to access this page, so if you have an accesslevel of 3 in the database you can view level 0, 1, 2 and 3 pages. This is specified when the function is called in the main page and is compared to the access level of the current user which is defined in $_SESSIONS when they log in.
I'm getting the error 'You don't have access to this area etc." when i try to access these pages. If i try to print the $_SESSION variables, nothing shows; they appear to be empty. However, if I move the file to the /login/ folder (one level up) and update the links, they work perfectly and all the variables print out fine. This makes me think the code is not the part that's not working, but some setting in my PHP install that has been changed without my notice.
maybe you aren't calling session_start() at the begging of pages not in /login/ ..?
I had a similar problem.
Check you don't have a php.ini file. Removing this sorted the problem out. Still looking ito exactly why. The php.ini file could even be blank and it would stop session data from carrying over to more than one directory...
It's possible that they changed the php.ini setting session.cookie_path.
You should call session-set-cookie-params before you call session_start and make sure you set the cookie path yourself. Set it to the highest level directory you want the session to be valid for. EG if you set it to /login it will be valid for /login and /login/user. If you want your session to be valid for the etire site set the path to be /
i had a similar issue. you may want to use:
<?
setcookie("TestCookie", $value, time()+3600, "/~rasmus/", ".example.com", 1); ?>
or something similar. i know cookie and session variables are a different desired solution, but this was able to clear up my issue.
See here for documentation
Make sure you have the same php.ini file in each directory that you want to access the session variables from.
This is why you shouldn't use directory to make false friendly URLs...
Don't forget to call session_start() every time you need the session.

Categories