Sessions ... The killer ... The bane of PHP

**Spatz21** · 03-20-2008

Lets face it the hardest thing with PHP is ... Sessions. No one can ever get these to work first time, if they do they suddenly stop working. So, I am going to simplify to idiots level.

Introduction

A Session is a SUPER GLOBAL VARIABLE. This means that you can enter some data and call it after F5ing the page or after loading 1000 differen't pages. Aslong as you don't overwrite it ofc

This is good for when you want to collect multiple pages of data, good for making someone an account with your site (It can store the users ID, this then gets passed from page to page, which can be used to call data from the database for that ID) etc ...

The Actual Code

to use/create/pass along sessions the code

session_start()

MUST BE AT THE START OF EVERY PAGE. Before any HTML. If not it will just error.

At the top of every page I just put <?php session_start() ?> at the top of every page before everything else, on line 1.

Putting data into session
Pretty easy but alot of people get stuck on it!

If you got your form ...
<html>
<form method=post action=blah.com>
<input type=text name=UserID>
<input type=submit>
</form>
</html>

And your next page is just going to be where you stick your data into the session

<?php session_start()
//Now to create the session which you want to store data in. You can call ID what ever.
$_SESSION['ID'] = $_POST['UserID'];
?>

And finally the test to see if it worked(A third page)

<?php session_start()
print("$_SESSION['ID']");
?>

Easy as ...

You can use the $_SESSION['ID'] in mysql querys and all over your page if you wish. If you are making a site which requires a login you can make sure there is something in the session, otherwise back to home page.

Deleting a session

Usually the server that your hosting on will delete sessions created after a certain amount of time. Lets say if you dont need to use that session anymore and you don't want it interfering with users reusing your site you can use the command

Session_destroy ()

This will delete any sessions. Use for a log out script or if the values of data that were stored in the session are no longer needed ...

I really, really, hope I explained this well and if you have any questions to ask go for it.

I wish I had a stupidly simple guide like this when starting sessions but all I could find was a 10 page + guide ... pfft why read all that when it could be cut down so simply?

**warsheep** · 03-20-2008

True, sessions can really create allot of trouble when reading hard guides. Mostly because they make everything more difficult!

Good guide, I guess.
+Rep

**Spatz21** · 03-20-2008

I tried to simplify it as heavily as posible while explaining it at the same time

**warsheep** · 03-20-2008

I would rep, but I repped ya to recently :/

**~~tttommeke~~** · 03-21-2008

Sessions are easy xD cookies are weird :s

**Spatz21** · 03-21-2008

Guess I could do cookies next when I have the time

**Sirupsen** · 03-21-2008

I miss information about the lasting of a session, and more examples of what you can use it for. (For "Who's online list" etc etc. So the new coders know why they are good.) And information about how long how much time in minutes it takes before it get's automaticly deleted? And that it get's deleted when you close your browser.

**Spatz21** · 03-22-2008

Session lasts untill its destroyed, times out by the server or edited.

How long it times out is set by the server. If your hosting on someone elses server you will need to contact them about it, if its your server you will just have to have alook around. It is not destroyed when you close your browser, its destroyed when you reopen your browser and your browser sends out a ping saying "Are you there", something like that but I am not too sure on that one.

When I made a whose online list ... I am yet to learn how to access hosts sessions. I have only been using paid hosting servers. I just made it so everytime someone makes a click it records the time you made the click. If your last click on the site was less than 15 mins ago ... show as active

My guide was generally a begginers guide that wasn't going to be too complex.

**Pragma** · 03-22-2008

I really needed a guide like this +Rep

**Sirupsen** · 03-22-2008

Originally Posted by Gizzer

Session lasts untill its destroyed, times out by the server or edited.

How long it times out is set by the server. If your hosting on someone elses server you will need to contact them about it, if its your server you will just have to have alook around. It is not destroyed when you close your browser, its destroyed when you reopen your browser and your browser sends out a ping saying "Are you there", something like that but I am not too sure on that one.

When I made a whose online list ... I am yet to learn how to access hosts sessions. I have only been using paid hosting servers. I just made it so everytime someone makes a click it records the time you made the click. If your last click on the site was less than 15 mins ago ... show as active

My guide was generally a begginers guide that wasn't going to be too complex.

Well, okay. I knew about that stuff. But just I'm quite sure some people might be intrested in it?

**Runez** · 03-28-2008

Definetly worth mentioning session expiration and the likes.

If theres anyone who want a "cookies guide" and you dont have time to do it anytime soon post it here and ill write one.

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