PHP OOP Session Object - Won't Persist Without Serialize Un-Serialize - php

Question

I'm trying to figure out why the code below won't persist my $_SESSION['objSession'] object across pages unless i keep the serialize/unserialize in place below. I get tired of manually serializing/unserializing to make object changes in the session and people keep saying i shouldn't have to do it but i do see other complaints about session objects not persisting without it on the web including here on stack... PHP 5.3 Apache 2.2 Windows 2008.
<?php require_once("/php/php_clsSession.php");?>
<?php session_start(); ?>
<?php
// Session Object Create/Log
$objSession = new clsSession;
if ( !(isset($_SESSION['objSession']) )) {
// This line will populate some properties in the obj
// like Session_ID and Create_dt
$objSession->CreateSession(session_id(),$_SERVER);
}
else {
// this code will only run if the session is already
// set
$objSession = unserialize($_SESSION['objSession']);
$objSession->UpdateSession(session_id(),$_SERVER);
}
// Update Session Object
$_SESSION['objSession'] = serialize($objSession);
unset($objSession);
?>
---- clsSession Below this line... you can ignore the db include as the code has the same problem without using the db functionality and i have the db function temporarily commented anyhow....
<?php
// -----------------------------------------------------------------
// Program Type: Class
// Program Name: clsSession
// Program Date: 01/08/2012 Programmer: Tim Wiley
// Description: Standard class for session creation/update
// -----------------------------------------------------------------
class clsSession {
// Properties
public $Session_Id = null;
public $Creation_Dt = null;
public $Action_Dt = null;
public $Session_IP_Address = null;
public $Browser_Type = null;
public $Display_Resolution = null;
public $Is_Https_Ind = null;
public $Is_Logged_In_Ind = 0;
public $User_Key = null;
public $User_Id = null;
public $Email_Address = null;
public $Request_Method = null;
public $Page_Requested = null;
public $Page_Request_Params = null;
public $Page_Action = null;
public $Login_Attempts = 0;
public $Max_Login_Attempts = 3;
private function UpdateSessionClassData (&$xSessionId = null, &$xSessionObj = null, &$xPageAction = "N/A" ) {
$this->Session_Id = &$xSessionId;
$this->Action_Dt = date( 'Y-m-d H:i:s', time( ));
$this->Session_IP_Address = substr(trim(&$xSessionObj['REMOTE_ADDR']),0,24);
$this->Browser_Type = substr(trim(&$xSessionObj['HTTP_USER_AGENT']),0,140);
$this->Request_Method = substr(trim(&$xSessionObj['REQUEST_METHOD']),0,24);
$this->Page_Requested = substr(trim(&$xSessionObj['SCRIPT_NAME']),0,140);
$this->Page_Request_Params = substr(trim(&$xSessionObj['QUERY_STRING']),0,140);
$this->Is_Https_Ind = &$xSessionObj['SERVER_PORT'] == 443 ? 1 : 0;
if (is_null($this->Display_Resolution)) {
require_once('/javascript/js_SaveScreenResolutionInCookie.js');
$this->Display_Resolution = !( IS_NULL( $_COOKIE['users_resolution'] )) ? substr(trim($_COOKIE['users_resolution']),0,16) : "N/A";
}
$this->Page_Action = substr(trim(&$xPageAction),0,32);
}
// Initialize Session objSession for $_SESSION
public function CreateSession($xSessionId = null, &$xSessionObj = null ) {
$this->Creation_Dt = date( 'Y-m-d H:i:s', time( ));
$this->UpdateSessionClassData(&$xSessionId, &$xSessionObj);
// $this->WriteSessionToDb();
}
// Update Session objSession for $_SESSION
public function UpdateSession($xSessionId = null, &$xSessionObj = null, $xPageAction = "N/A" ) {
$this->UpdateSessionClassData(&$xSessionId, &$xSessionObj, &$xPageAction);
// $this->WriteSessionActivityToDb();
}
// Writes the session data to database
public function WriteSessionToDb($xUserType = "Web") {
$objConnect = new clsDb;
$objDb = $objConnect->GetDbConnection($xUserType);
//$objDb = $this->GetDbConnection($xUserType);
$_InsertSQL = new PDOStatement;
$_InsertSQL = $objDb->prepare("INSERT INTO T_SESSION_STATS(" .
"F_ACTION_DT, F_SESSION_ID, F_SESSION_IP_ADDRESS, F_BROWSER_TYPE," .
"F_DISPLAY_RESOLUTION, F_PAGE_REQUESTED, F_PAGE_REQUEST_PARAMS," .
"F_REQUEST_METHOD, F_IS_HTTPS_IND, F_IS_LOGGED_IN_IND, F_USER_KEY)" .
"Values (?,?,?,?,?,?,?,?,?,?,?)");
$_InsertSQL->bindParam(1, $this->Action_Dt );
$_InsertSQL->bindParam(2, $this->Session_Id );
$_InsertSQL->bindParam(3, $this->Session_IP_Address );
$_InsertSQL->bindParam(4, $this->Browser_Type );
$_InsertSQL->bindParam(5, $this->Display_Resolution );
$_InsertSQL->bindParam(6, $this->Page_Requested );
$_InsertSQL->bindParam(7, $this->Page_Request_Params );
$_InsertSQL->bindParam(8, $this->Request_Method );
$_InsertSQL->bindParam(9, $this->Is_Https_Ind );
$_InsertSQL->bindParam(10, $this->Is_Logged_In_Ind );
$_InsertSQL->bindParam(11, $this->User_Key );
try {
$objDb->setAttribute(PDO::ATTR_ERRMODE, PDO::ERRMODE_EXCEPTION);
$objDb->beginTransaction();
$_InsertSQL->execute();
$objDb->commit();
unset($objDb);
} catch (Exception $e) {
$objDb->rollBack();
echo "Failed: " . $e->getMessage();
unset($objDb);
unset($objConnect);
}
}
// Writes the session data to database
public function WriteSessionActivityToDb($xUserType = "Web",$xPageAction = "N/A") {
$objConnect = new clsDb;
$objDb = $objConnect->GetDbConnection($xUserType);
//$objDb = $this->GetDbConnection($xUserType);
$_InsertSQL = new PDOStatement;
$_InsertSQL = $objDb->prepare("INSERT INTO T_SESSION_ACTIVITIES(" .
"F_ACTION_DT, F_SESSION_ID, F_SESSION_IP_ADDRESS, " .
"F_PAGE_REQUESTED, F_PAGE_REQUEST_PARAMS," .
"F_REQUEST_METHOD, F_PAGE_ACTION, F_IS_HTTPS_IND, F_IS_LOGGED_IN_IND, F_USER_KEY)" .
"Values (?,?,?,?,?,?,?,?,?,?)");
$_InsertSQL->bindParam(1, $this->Action_Dt );
$_InsertSQL->bindParam(2, $this->Session_Id );
$_InsertSQL->bindParam(3, $this->Session_IP_Address );
$_InsertSQL->bindParam(4, $this->Page_Requested );
$_InsertSQL->bindParam(5, $this->Page_Request_Params );
$_InsertSQL->bindParam(6, $this->Request_Method );
$_InsertSQL->bindParam(7, substr(trim($xPageAction),0,32));
$_InsertSQL->bindParam(8, $this->Is_Https_Ind );
$_InsertSQL->bindParam(9, $this->Is_Logged_In_Ind );
$_InsertSQL->bindParam(10, $this->User_Key );
try {
$objDb->setAttribute(PDO::ATTR_ERRMODE, PDO::ERRMODE_EXCEPTION);
$objDb->beginTransaction();
$_InsertSQL->execute();
$objDb->commit();
unset($objDb);
unset($objConnect);
} catch (Exception $e) {
$objDb->rollBack();
unset($objDb);
echo "Failed: " . $e->getMessage();
}
}
}
?>

Answer 1

The issue seems to be in your clsSession class. This is using &. Since the session object is serialized these references aren't stored correctly. Try removing these (i.e. change UpdateSessionClassData and UpdateSession to remove the & from parameters) and see if this sorts the issue.

Answer 2

to start, put session_start(); before require_once and add var_dump($_SESSION) for debug.