PHP session and ajax

[pwee167]

Hi guys,

Once again i have come to halt in my coding with a problem. I am making a php/ajax website. After generating the initial html and javascript code with php, i have a link which communicates with another php script using xmlhttprequest.

This works great. I am using post by the way, not get. Once i call the php script, i want it to be able to have access to the session variables. So, i run, session_start at the very top. Php has a problem with this saying i have already sent headers (i am assuming this is in reference to the headers that must be sent in order for post to work?). Is there a way around this or should i change to get? I would like to use post as it is more secure and also there is no limit to the character length im able to pass.

Heres the function calling the php script using post.

function toggle_week(element_id)
{
  clear_slate();
  document.getElementById("statusbar").innerHTML = "Loading...";

  var myscript = "toggle_week.php";
  var params = "direction="+element_id;
  http.open("POST", myscript, true);

  http.setRequestHeader("Content-type", "application/x-www-form-urlencoded");
  http.setRequestHeader("Content-length", params.length);
  http.setRequestHeader("Connection", "close");

  http.onreadystatechange = function(){
    if(http.readyState == 4 && http.status == 200) {
      
      document.getElementById("statusbar").innerHTML = "done"; //Remove this later
      var info = (http.responseText).split("|");
      change_dates(info[0]);     

	}
  }
  http.send(params);
}

Any help or pointing out of flaws in my logic would be greatly appreciated!!!

[bokehman]

What you posted is javascript and has nothing to do with that php error which is being caused by sending output or whitespace before calling session start.

[Apfelbutzen]

check your php file containing the session_start, there must not be an empty line before <?php (this is a common error) if there's an empty line it will be sent first which won't work with session ...

btw why don't you use some javascript frameworks like jquery which is quiet easy to handle?

[pwee167]

I realise that i posted javascript, but i *think* my php code cannot be the issue (as i have sucessfully got sessions going before). But here is the php script if i missed something:

<?
  session_start();

  require('../lib/defs');
  include_once('../home/helper.php');
  include_once('../home/timesheetfx.php');

  $direction = $_POST['direction'];
  $start_date = $_SESSION['startdate'];
  $end_date = $_SESSION['enddate'];

  $points = $middle_point($start_date, $end_date, false);

  if($direction == "right")
  {
    $start_date = $points[0];
  }
  else
  {
    $end_date = date(strtotime("-1 day", $points[0]));
  }

  $output  = $start_date."|";
  $output .= appointment_retrieve($_SESSION['timesheet']);

  echo $output;
?>

There is no line between the <?php line and the first line. Let me just quickly say all the included files are just helper functions, that do not have calls to start sessions.

As for the jQuery stuff, well i really should, but i am just learning this stuff. So i think its probably in my best interest to learn it from first princples. Would'nt you agree?

[Jake Arkinstall]

It must be the PHP - Javascript doesn't output errors.

Can you copy/paste the error, so we know the line, file, etc.

[bokehman]

What is before the opening <? tag?

[pwee167]

The error:

Warning: session_start(): Cannot send session cache limiter - headers already sent (output started at /export/grieg/1/pwee167/apache1333/htdocs/webtms/home/toggle_week.php:1) in /export/grieg/1/pwee167/apache1333/htdocs/webtms/home/toggle_week.php
on line 2.

Line 2 is the call to session_start(). There is nothing before it. So how can it be the php?

[bokehman]

Is the file you posted above called toggle_week.php?

[pwee167]

There is nothing before the <? tag. Have any of you guys used post with the xmlhttprequest to a php script and tried to retain session variables?

[bokehman]

There is nothing before the <? tag. Have any of you guys used post with the xmlhttprequest to a php script and tried to retain session variables?

Yes!

[pwee167]

Yeh the php code above is toggle_week.php

[Jake Arkinstall]

have you tried removing the session_start() and seeing what happens?

[pwee167]

Found an error i accidently put a $ before the middle_point function! Maybe this is it!

[bokehman]

Well there is nothing wrong in that code so my guess is it is a BOM mark. Can you post a URL to the page?

[pwee167]

http://pwee167.srvr.cse.unsw.edu.au/

goto the webtms folder.
login: prabu
pwd: prabu

[pwee167]

Btw: the the link is the "<<" arrows to toggle weeks.

and what is a BOM mark?

[RDFrame]

Make sure you don't have a blank line before the first "<?php" line. For example, do NOT have:

     
<?php

But instead, have:

<?php

If you have an empty line at the top before "<?php", it gets outputted to the browser. Hope that helps!

PS. And yeah, I don't understand the "$middle_point($start_date, $end_date, false);" thing either. I would imagine you're getting a parse error from that as well.

[Jake Arkinstall]

BOM: Byte Order Mark

[pwee167]

Make sure you don't have a blank line before the first "<?php" line. For example, do NOT have:

     
<?php

But instead, have:

<?php

If you have an empty line at the top before "<?php", it gets outputted to the browser. Hope that helps!

PS. And yeah, I don't understand the "$middle_point($start_date, $end_date, false);" thing either. I would imagine you're getting a parse error from that as well.

Yep i checked that already, does not seem to be the culprit. I have resolved the $middle_point error, and the issue seems to still be there.

[Jake Arkinstall]

What file encrytion are you using? UTF-8 has 3 invisible characters on the front of the file, which PHP counts as outputted text.

Try using ANSI encryption.

[bokehman]

Post a proper Link that links to toggle_week.php

[RDFrame]

Invisible characters maybe? You using a MAC, or a weird text editor by chance? If you're on a LINUX box, upload the file, login via SSH, and at the prompt type:

dos2unix toggle_week.php

Should clear up anything needed.

[pwee167]

Problem solved! There was a mistake with converting a timestamp to a date! Thanks for all the help guys!