Why will count() work on a $_REQUEST and not $_SESSION ?

[TegSkywalker]

I have an array of numbers that when sent to a page via a $_REQUEST, it is a bunch of numbers separated by commas like 102, 123, 324 and so forth. If I do a count() function for the $_REQUEST, it will give me a # of the values but if I do count() for $_SESSION, it will give me a value of 1.

Am I doing something wrong here or is it not possible? Probably an easy answer but its annoying.

[Mal Curtis]

Does a print_r() of $_SESSION definitely show more than 1 value stored?

[Mittineague]

AFAIK, SESSION variable values are serialized. So if you give one a value of
$_SESSION['whatever'] = array('1', '2', '3');
the value becomes
array([0]=>array([0]=>'1',[1]=>'2',[2]=>'3'))
i.e. count() == 1

As Mal Curtis suggested, using print_r (or var_dump) will show you exactly what you're dealing with.

[TegSkywalker]

If i do the print_r() it will of course list out the numbers in my array which is nice since you said it converts it into a more readable format. Is there a way to have it convert from being serialized and immediately take that list of numbers, count them, and store in a $_SESSION value? The reason I ask is because I want it to be registered before I move to the next page in a 5 page signup form.

[Mal Curtis]

Can you post the code assigning the request value to the session?

[TegSkywalker]

On Page 1, I have a list of states and here is a sample of about 5:

<label for="1"><input id="1" name="area[]" value="1" type="checkbox">Auburn</label><br>
<label for="2"><input id="2" name="area[]" value="2" type="checkbox">Birmingham</label><br>
<label for="3"><input id="3" name="area[]" value="3" type="checkbox">Dothan</label><br>
<label for="4"><input id="4" name="area[]" value="4" type="checkbox">Florence-Muscle Shoals</label><br>
<label for="5"><input id="5" name="area[]" value="5" type="checkbox">Gadsden-Anniston</label><br> 

Then on Page 2 I have

<?
    $area = $_REQUEST["area"];
    while (list ($key_check,$area_check) = @each ($area))
        {
            $areas_check .= $area_check.",";
        }
    $all_areas_check = substr($areas_check, 0, -1);

if(($_SESSION["area"] =="")) {
    $_SESSION["area"] = $all_areas_check;
}

$count = count($_SESSION["area"]);

?>

And then later on in the HTML/PHP I was testing to see if it counted the number of items in the newly created "area" session and of course got a value of 1. The $planamount and $region variables were static to begin with so no need to focus on that.

<?
  if(($count > 3)) {
      $regions = round($count * 9.95 + $planamount, 2);
      $subtotal = ($regions - 29.85);
  } elseif (($count < 3)) {
      $regions = round($planamount, 2);
      $subtotal = ($regions);
  }
?>

And when I simply couldn't that to work I just dropped a simple echo command that gave me a value of 1

<p>Number of items in session: <?=$_SESSION["count"]?></p>

[Mal Curtis]

Cool.

First off, you don't need to actually remove them from the array, why not just do this?

$_SESSION['area'] = $_REQUEST['area'];

$count = count($_SESSION['area']); 

That way you're actually storing the array in the session (you can do that!)

Secondly, there's an easier way to do your comma list

// array to string
$all_area_check = implode(',',$_REQUEST['area']);

// string to array
$areas = explode(',',$all_area_check); 

[TegSkywalker]

It actually worked pretty well! Thanks again! The most helpful was the implode command since it did about the same as what I had but more efficient.

[Mal Curtis]

No problem, glad I could help.