Problems accessing same SESSION variables from different files - php

I'm developing a site using Wordpress.
My permalink structure is set to show post/page name. So accessing a page called store will look like this: www.mysite.com/store/?some=arguments
In all my WP templates, I'm able to output all my SESSION variables using print_r($_SESSION);
Doing the same from a file called from jQuery.ajax only outputs some of the SESSION varaibles.
I've used the following code to see if the cookie path is same for both files, and they are:
$sessCookie = ini_get('session.cookie_path');
echo 'session.cookie_path: '.$sessCookie;
I also have this code in my files to make sure session is started:
if (!session_id())
session_start();
Why am I not able to output the same session variables from a WP template and a php file called from jQuery.ajax?
UPDATE
jQuery.ajax calls jquery.php file. At the top of this file, it has the following code:
require_once($_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'].'/wp-blog-header.php');
This code fires functions.php. In this file I have the following code:
function session_manager() {
if (!session_id())
session_start();
// Get variables in query string
$_SESSION['action'] = (isset($_GET['action']) ? $_GET['action'] : '');
$user_geo_data = get_geoip_record();
$_SESSION['user_geo_location'] = get_object_vars($user_geo_data);
}
When functions.php is fired from jquery.php, it seems that session_id() returns false, thus I create a new session.
Is there a way to keep using the same session?
UPDATE 2
It seems that WP config kills all GLOBAL variables when initialized.
http://wordpress.org/support/topic/wp-blog-headerphp-killing-sessions

Wordpress can use its own session handler, and overrides the default session handler to do so. So in essence you've got two different sessions, even though they share the same ID. The cookie path is merely how the client-side cookie operates. What you need to check is session_save_path(), and check if WP is running sessions through the database instead of the default file handler.

The reason two sessions are fired up is because the first one is browser-based (through a cookie) and the second one, with Ajax, is essentially server-side and doesn't have access to the session cookie.
The session cookie is where the session ID is stored and is used to identify an existing session. A server-side Ajax script doesn't have access to the browser's cookies, thus fires up a new session.
It can be worse if the main script uses an alternate session "save handler" than the Ajax script, resulting in two separate sessions, stored in two different places.

Related

Issue with refreshing div with ajax [duplicate]

I have a one page website that uses AJAX to load new php files and update the display.
I start my php session on the main page but when I use ajax to update inner html I need those session variables for the new php file being loaded.
This post is similar to this one: PHP Session Variables Not Preserved . But I checked and my php.ini has session.use_cookies = 1
Main Page PHP:
<?php
session_start();
if(isset($_SESSION['views']))
{$_SESSION['views']=$_SESSION['views']+1;}
else
{$_SESSION['views']=1;}
?>
After User Input I use ajax to call a php file and load a subsection of the page:
<?php
if(isset($_SESSION['views']))
{ echo "Views: " . $_SESSION['views'];}
else
{ echo "Views: NOT SET";}
?>
Can someone please tell me what important step I am missing? Thank you.
Update: After adding session_id() call to both the main and sub pages I see that both pages have the same Session_ID. However it still cannot pull the session variable and if i do assign it a value the two same name session variables stay independent of one another.
Answer to the question that this question created: I found that I had to set a static session_save path in my php.ini file. With most paid webhosting services they just have a default container for sessions but it is affected by load balancing. What a releif.
I think you're missing session_start() on the page that Ajax calls.
You need:
<?php
session_start();
if(isset($_SESSION['views']))
{ echo "Views: " . $_SESSION['views'];}
else
{ echo "Views: NOT SET";}
?>
You need to start session session_start() in the other PHP file also, the one you are calling through AJAX.
I ran into what i thought was the same issue when running PHP 7 on IIS Server 2012 today.
I had added:
if(!isset($_SESSION))
{
session_start();
}
to the start of each AJAX file but kept recieving the following PHP Notice:
PHP Notice: A session had already been started - ignoring session_start()
A bit of searching lead me to this thread which pointed me in the right direction to resolving the issues I encountered. Hopefully the following information will assist others encountering the same issue.
After checking the session.save_path value was set, in my case C:\Windows\Temp, I thought it best to check the folder permissions match those of the user account I was running IIS under.
In my case it turned out that the directory I had nominated for session storage (in php.ini) did not have the same user (security permissions) assigned to it as the one which was running the IIS site.
Interestingly sessions worked fine when not using AJAX requests prior to me adding the new user permissions. However AJAX did not pick up the session until I had corrected the permissions issue. Adding the same user account that IIS is running under immediately resolved this issue.
In the case of using a paid web hosting service the default session save path is automatically set like this:
http://php.net/session.save-path
session.save_path = "/tmp/"
You need to place the static path to your root folder there.
You're trying to use existing session data from your application in an ajax call. To do that, change how you're calling session_start like so:
// With ajax calls
if (session_status()==1) {
session_start();
}
When making ajax calls to php scripts that need existing session data, use session_start after session_status.
http://php.net/session_status
Need to initialize the session before you trying to login through ajax call.
session_start();
Initialize on the top of the page from where you start the login ajax call.
So that the SESSIONID will be created and stored the browser cookie. And sent along with request header during the ajax call, if you do the ajax request to the same domain
For the successive ajax calls browser will use the SESSIONID that created and stored initially in browser cookie, unless we clear the browser cookie or do logout (or set another cookie)

global variables in a loaded page

I have my index page which uses a script to load another page into a div
$('#TransportPlanning').click(function() {
mainpage = $('#FloatMain')
mainpage.load('create_diary.php')
});
The page loads ok into my div, but I want to share php variables from one page to another, I thought the newly loaded page would be able to reference the main index variables but this is not the case , I have tried global but still not working
Any help please ?
To Share Variable Between Two Different PHP Scripts, Make It Super Global :
Use
session_start();
// store session data
$_SESSION['key']=value;
In index.php And read it in crate_diary.php as :
session_start();
$key=$_SESSION['key'];
And Do That ($key) Variable Specific code in create_diary.php.
Using Session or Cookies Prevent Unethical Use of Your Sensitive Data. You Can Also Use Cookies Instead Of Session. But Dont forget to unset session after you've done with it. Specially When you are dealing with cookies because Session will get automatically destroyed when user closes browser but this isn't true with cookie.
Global variables are not shared across scripts.
Pass them as query arguments instead, like:
mainpage.load('create_diary.php?key=value');
The value will be available within your create_diary script in $_GET['key']

PHP session variables not preserved with ajax

I have a one page website that uses AJAX to load new php files and update the display.
I start my php session on the main page but when I use ajax to update inner html I need those session variables for the new php file being loaded.
This post is similar to this one: PHP Session Variables Not Preserved . But I checked and my php.ini has session.use_cookies = 1
Main Page PHP:
<?php
session_start();
if(isset($_SESSION['views']))
{$_SESSION['views']=$_SESSION['views']+1;}
else
{$_SESSION['views']=1;}
?>
After User Input I use ajax to call a php file and load a subsection of the page:
<?php
if(isset($_SESSION['views']))
{ echo "Views: " . $_SESSION['views'];}
else
{ echo "Views: NOT SET";}
?>
Can someone please tell me what important step I am missing? Thank you.
Update: After adding session_id() call to both the main and sub pages I see that both pages have the same Session_ID. However it still cannot pull the session variable and if i do assign it a value the two same name session variables stay independent of one another.
Answer to the question that this question created: I found that I had to set a static session_save path in my php.ini file. With most paid webhosting services they just have a default container for sessions but it is affected by load balancing. What a releif.
I think you're missing session_start() on the page that Ajax calls.
You need:
<?php
session_start();
if(isset($_SESSION['views']))
{ echo "Views: " . $_SESSION['views'];}
else
{ echo "Views: NOT SET";}
?>
You need to start session session_start() in the other PHP file also, the one you are calling through AJAX.
I ran into what i thought was the same issue when running PHP 7 on IIS Server 2012 today.
I had added:
if(!isset($_SESSION))
{
session_start();
}
to the start of each AJAX file but kept recieving the following PHP Notice:
PHP Notice: A session had already been started - ignoring session_start()
A bit of searching lead me to this thread which pointed me in the right direction to resolving the issues I encountered. Hopefully the following information will assist others encountering the same issue.
After checking the session.save_path value was set, in my case C:\Windows\Temp, I thought it best to check the folder permissions match those of the user account I was running IIS under.
In my case it turned out that the directory I had nominated for session storage (in php.ini) did not have the same user (security permissions) assigned to it as the one which was running the IIS site.
Interestingly sessions worked fine when not using AJAX requests prior to me adding the new user permissions. However AJAX did not pick up the session until I had corrected the permissions issue. Adding the same user account that IIS is running under immediately resolved this issue.
In the case of using a paid web hosting service the default session save path is automatically set like this:
http://php.net/session.save-path
session.save_path = "/tmp/"
You need to place the static path to your root folder there.
You're trying to use existing session data from your application in an ajax call. To do that, change how you're calling session_start like so:
// With ajax calls
if (session_status()==1) {
session_start();
}
When making ajax calls to php scripts that need existing session data, use session_start after session_status.
http://php.net/session_status
Need to initialize the session before you trying to login through ajax call.
session_start();
Initialize on the top of the page from where you start the login ajax call.
So that the SESSIONID will be created and stored the browser cookie. And sent along with request header during the ajax call, if you do the ajax request to the same domain
For the successive ajax calls browser will use the SESSIONID that created and stored initially in browser cookie, unless we clear the browser cookie or do logout (or set another cookie)

Writing to a PHP Session Variable from Ajax

Ok, this is starting to annoy me, as it's quite simply and works elsewhere, but on this current task it doesn't, so here I go!
There is a main page which relies on either a session variable being set or not to display certain information.
Let's say this page is located here: http://dev.example.com/some_page.php
e.g.
if (isset($_SESSION["some_var"])) { /* it's set so do whatever */ }
else { /* not set so do whatever else.. */ }
There is an ajax page triggered by jQuery $.ajax() to call and set this session variable to null to change the action of the main page, let's say it's located here: http://dev.example.com/ajax/some_ajax_page.php
It's code looks like so:
<?php
if (!isset($_SESSION)) session_start();
$_SESSION["some_var"] = null;
When the main page is reloaded after the ajax is triggered, the session var "some_var" is still intact, but if it's echoed after the "null" in the ajax page then it is set to "null".
Basically it doesn't seem to write to the global session, only to the local path.
Does this make sense?
Any help please? Also if you want more clarification with anything let me know!
The session_start() function will handle the attempt to create and persist a session for you, as defined by PHP's configuration, or optionally at runtime if you set your own save handler. Make sure you read the documentation here:
http://us2.php.net/manual/en/function.session-start.php
For your code, you want to make sure to call session_start() at the beginning of any page in which you'd like to save or access session variables. So your page above may look like:
<?php
session_start();
$_SESSION['myvar'] = 'some value';
Then in a different page you can try to access that value:
<?php
session_start();
if ($_SESSION['myvar'] == 'some value') {
// do something
}
That should work fine.
Get rid of the check for session. If this is the only file your calling just do this:
<?php
session_start();
$_SESSION["some_var"] = null;
Also, are you using framework that auto-regenerates session ID on each request? If so, you'll might have problems.
If you have a dev machine to play with and permissions to do so, you can manually delete all sessions in the /var/lib/php/session/ directory. As you use your site, only one session file should be created. You can also inspect that file to see what is getting written and when.
Seems that you are using different sessions vars. One for the AJAX call and another for the normal pages calls. This may occur when you do not init both call in the same way (or using the same starting code that initializes the sessions)
Be sure to session_start() both calls using the same session_id.
// try in both calls
session_start();
echo session_id(); // must return the same id in both calls
Why don't you use unset? It is the proper way to do it.
Turns out the application I was working on had it's own session_handler and if it was not included before requesting the session data, it was always invalid, eventhough it was the same session_id.

Why can't I access session variables from my AJAX-called PHP script?

I have one PHP script with a session variable, set like so:
$_SESSION['VAR1'] = "test"
Now, I am using AJAX via a jQuery-initiated POST request, and so I have a script named ajax.php which has all the required functions.
And when I try access my session variable (echo $_SESSION['VAR1']) in ajax.php, it produces nothing.
Does session does not work from AJAX requests?
You need do this on every page that accesses the session before you access it:
session_start();
That means on both the page that sets the session variable and the AJAX page that tries to retrieve it. Both need to call session_start().
As long as the AJAX request calls a script in the same domain (and thus gets access to the session cookie) there is no reason why it couldn't get access to the session variables. An AJAX request after all is just another HTTP request.
Make sure that the domain names for both pages (i.e. the AJAX container and the AJAX script are same). Here is an example:
http://mydomain.com/login.php (set session variables here)
http://mydomain.com/ajax-container.php (session variables are visible here)
http://mydomain.com/ajax-script.php (session variables are visible here)
http://www.mydomain.com/ajax-script.php (session variables are NOT visible here)
Another one:
http://www.mydomain.com/login.php (set session variables here)
http://www.mydomain.com/ajax-container.php (session variables are visible here)
http://www.mydomain.com/ajax-script.php (session variables are visible here)
http://mydomain.com/ajax-script.php (session variables are NOT visible here)
I also caught myself on having one little, tiny, hard to see, space just before "< ? php " This ended up sending information back and disallowing the session to start because header information was already sent. May not be the case for anyone else, but it tripped me up and brought me to this page in search of an answer.
Make sure no content has been echoed (not even a whitespace) before calling session_start().
To be safe, put the code as the first code of whatever template you used for the page. The function will not work if content has been sent to the browser.
To test and see where the problem is, call the page as a stand-alone, instead of through AJAX and ensure that it works before AJAXing it.
An addendum to what Salman A wrote:
If you set a session variable in an https:// file and try to access it with a http:// file you will not be able to...
https://www.example.com/index.php - call session_start() and set session variable
http://ww.example.com/index_tmp.php - unable to access session variable
and vice versa...
http://www.example.com/index.php - call session_start() and set session variable
https://ww.example.com/index_tmp.php - unable to access session variable
Rather:
https://www.example.com/index.php - call session_start() and set session variable
https://ww.example.com/index_tmp.php - Able to access session variable
And:
http://www.example.com/index.php - call session_start() and set session variable
http://ww.example.com/index_tmp.php - Able to access session variable
My own error was BOM character in my ajax file.I was need to use session variable in a ajax called php file.I tried to start session by session_start() but "cannot modify header information" occurs.I removed BOM character and code works very well.
In jQuery or JavaScript, you can get the session value like this:
var StepIndexval = '<%= Session["StepIndex"].ToString() %>';
alert(StepIndexval);

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