session recall

[decleater]

WinNT, Apache, PHP4

i have a page that creates session values as follows:

...
session_start();
session_register("nickname");
$HTTP_SESSION_VARS["nickname"] = "jimmy crack corn";

// displays "jimmy crack corn"
echo $HTTP_SESSION_VARS["nickname"];
...

then i navigate to another page that should recognize the session history and does the following:

session_start();

// try to do something with "nickname"
$local = $HTTP_SESSION_VARS["nickname"]

when i try to reference the nickname variable i always get an "Undefined index: nickname" error, even though session_is_registered("nickname") always returns true!

am i missing something obvious?

-matt

[decleater]

here is some more information:

under RedHat 7.1 the variables appear to be registered but the values are empty. session_is_registered("xxx") returns true but $HTTP_SESSION_VARS["xxx"] is the empty string (no error messages).

dumping out the session IDs shows that they are the same between the first page and the second. peeking at the session file shows this:

!xxx|

but i'm not sure what should be in there. no values anywhere, though. every example i've seen has the same steps so i can only imagine that there is something very simple that i'm missing.

[freddydoesphp]

I think your main problem is when you assign the value to nickname, it hsould work like this

session_start(); 
session_register("nickname"); 
$nickname = "jimmy crack corn"; 

[decleater]

it is my understanding that all session variables are available via the global $HTTP_SESSION_VARS variable. if the register_globals flag is set in the php.ini file then you are right and $nickname should be available.

incidentally, $nickname gave me the same results.

-matt

[freddydoesphp]

Yes I think the problem was trying to assign a value straight into the $HTTP_SESSION_VARS; With my method after assigning the value it was available to me both through straight $nickname and through $HTTP_SESSION_VARS['nickname']. So here is the code I tried.

test1.php

<?php
session_start(); 
session_register("nickname"); 

//Incidentally this did not work for me
$HTTP_SESSION_VARS['nickname'] = "jimmy crack corn"; 


//This did
$nickname = "jimmy crack corn"; 

// displays "jimmy crack corn" 
echo $HTTP_SESSION_VARS['nickname']; 
echo $nickname; 

?>
<br>
<a href="test2.php">test2</a>

test2.php

<?php
session_start(); 

// try to do something with "nickname" 
$local = $HTTP_SESSION_VARS['nickname']; 

print $HTTP_SESSION_VARS['nickname']; //prints jimmy crack corn
print $local; //prints jimmy crack corn
?>
<br>
<a href="test1.php">test1</a>

[decleater]

very interesting, it is the assignment that was screwing it up. the sample code in the "sessions" section of the documentation is not correct then. it says you can do this:

session_register("count");
$HTTP_SESSION_VARS["count"]++;

i did just that and the value was always empty. it also states that "...if track_vars and register_globals are enabled then the globals variables and the $HTTP_SESSION_VARS entries will reference the same variables".

anyway - thanks much for the insight!

-matt

[freddydoesphp]

I'll do some more digging, cause it does seem very odd.

[decleater]

for those that are interested, here is a follow-up.

i discovered that with 'register_globals = On' (see php.ini) i was unable to set a new session variable using the $HTTP_SESSION_VARS entry. it appeared to work on the initial page but the values never made it to the session history. in other words, with register_globals on you MUST set variables via the globals, at least initially. i have not confirmed that this is true on subsequent pages.

with 'register_globals = Off' everything i was trying to do worked as i expected - meaning i could call session_register('myvar') and then do something like $HTTP_SESSION_VARS['myvar'] = "myvar is cool" and the variable would get into the session history.

-matt

[djrob]

Hey Guys,
This is EXACTLY what is happening to me!!! (I'm not an idiot - )
register_globals is set "On" and PHP is version 4.0.3, so track_vars on On by default.
I can register a squillion bloody variables, but not one will follow through to the next page - I keep getting my "not logged on" page, and if I do a variable dump, HTTP_SESSION_VARS is empty, no matter what.
Question is, what can I do about it other than ask my server admin to reconfigure the .ini file? If I declare $niickname to be global at the top of the file, only then will test2.php print out "jimmy crack corn". Why is it like this?