Firefox cookie oddities

#1 (**permalink**) 07-21-2007

Not sure what's going on here or even if it /is/ a PHP problem but...

Using PHP 5.1.6 on a remote server, accessing the page locally and I have
certain preconditions for setting cookies, not setting cookies, updating
cookies, etc.

When accessed from Konqueror this all behaves as expected, when accessed
from Firefox however it all starts looking a bit weird.

The problem is that when the browser sends a cookie value that isn't stored
in the database (and, so far, when $_SESSION has /a/ cookie_id value),
while the desired result of a new db row and a reset cookie and session
value are achieved, the variables I'm using to trace what's happening
report values as though the cookie was always there.

Now, this _doesn't_ happen when I use Konqueror (I haven't yet tested
anything else) and everything happens as I expect it to. As it goes, if
you don't know how it's works when it's working, you won't know how to fix
it when it's broke so as much as it may all come to the same conclusion
I'd still like to know what's happening.

Output under FireFox with a new session after wiping the db clean is:











Output under Konqueror (hoped for output) is:











As can be seen below, output 4 should occur if !$_SESSION["cookieID"] and
if !$_StoredCookie, 5 and 6 should only happen if the inverse is true.

CODE (not closed because this is a partial):

<?php

$one = 0;
$two = 0;
$three = 0;
$four = 0;
$five = 0;
$six = 0;
$seven = 0;

session_start();

if (!$dbHandle)
{
$connectDB = "host=***** hostaddr=***** dbname=*****
user=***** password=*****";

$dbHandle = pg_connect( $connectDB );
}

$uno = $_COOKIE["ID"]; $duos = $_SESSION["cookieID"];

if (is_numeric($_COOKIE["ID"]))
{ $sCookie = pg_query( $dbHandle, "SELECT cookie_id FROM cookies WHERE
cookie_id = ".$_COOKIE["ID"].";");
$storedCookie = pg_num_rows($sCookie);

$one = $_COOKIE["ID"]; }

if (!$_SESSION["cookieID"])
{
if ($storedCookie)
{
$_SESSION["cookieID"] = $_COOKIE["ID"];

$two = $_SESSION["cookieID"]; $three = $_COOKIE["ID"];

$themeID = pg_query( $dbHandle, "SELECT theme_id FROM cookies WHERE
cookie_id = ".$_COOKIE["ID"].";");
$_SESSION["themeID"] = pg_fetch_result($themeID, 0, 0);
setcookie("ID", $_SESSION["cookieID"], time()+604800, '/',
'.odubtaig.net');
}
else
{
$cookieTime = time(); $cookieRand = rand(0, 100); $_SESSION["cookieID"]
= $cookieTime.$cookieRand; pg_query( $dbHandle, "INSERT INTO cookies
(cookie_id, theme_id) VALUES (".$_SESSION["cookieID"].", 1);");

$four = $_SESSION["cookieID"];

setcookie("ID", $_SESSION["cookieID"], time()+604800, '/', '.odubtaig.net');
$_SESSION["themeID"] = "1";
}
}
else
{
if($storedCookie)
{
if ($_SESSION["cookieID"] != $_COOKIE["ID"])
{ $_SESSION["cookieID"] = $_COOKIE["ID"]; }

$thisTheme = pg_query( $dbHandle, "SELECT theme_id FROM cookies WHERE
cookie_id = ".$_COOKIE["ID"].";");
$_SESSION["themeID"] = pg_fetch_result($thisTheme, 0, 0);

$five = $_SESSION["cookieID"]; $six = $_COOKIE["ID"];
}
else
{
$cookieTime = time(); $cookieRand = rand(0, 100);
$_SESSION["cookieID"] = $cookieTime.$cookieRand;
pg_query( $dbHandle, "INSERT INTO cookies (cookie_id, theme_id) VALUES
(".$_SESSION["cookieID"].", 1);");

$seven = $_SESSION["cookieID"];

setcookie("ID", $_SESSION["cookieID"], time()+604800, '/',
'.odubtaig.net'); $_SESSION["themeID"] = "1";
}
}

$thisAddy = $_SERVER["HTTP_HOST"];

if ($_POST["theme"])
{
$_SESSION["themeID"] = $_POST["theme"];
pg_query( $dbHandle, "UPDATE cookies SET theme_id =
".$_SESSION["themeID"]." WHERE cookie_id = ".$_SESSION["cookieID"].";");
}

echo "
";
echo "
";
echo "
";
echo "
";
echo "
";
echo "
";
echo "
";
echo "
";
echo "
";

#2 (**permalink**) 07-25-2007

On 21 Jul, 17:57, Paul Duffy <odubt...@yahoo.dot.coh.dot.yoo.kay>
wrote:
> Not sure what's going on here or even if it /is/ a PHP problem but...
>
> Using PHP 5.1.6 on a remote server, accessing the page locally and I have
> certain preconditions for setting cookies, not setting cookies, updating
> cookies, etc.
>
> When accessed from Konqueror this all behaves as expected, when accessed
> from Firefox however it all starts looking a bit weird.
>
> The problem is that when the browser sends a cookie value that isn't stored
> in the database (and, so far, when $_SESSION has /a/ cookie_id value),
> while the desired result of a new db row and a reset cookie and session
> value are achieved, the variables I'm using to trace what's happening
> report values as though the cookie was always there.
>
> Now, this _doesn't_ happen when I use Konqueror (I haven't yet tested
> anything else) and everything happens as I expect it to. As it goes, if
> you don't know how it's works when it's working, you won't know how to fix
> it when it's broke so as much as it may all come to the same conclusion
> I'd still like to know what's happening.
>

You're more likely to get a reply if you can reduce your code down to
something which demonstrates the problem *and* *nothing* *else*

I would suggest you look at the paths on the cookies.

C.

#3 (**permalink**) 07-25-2007

>
> You're more likely to get a reply if you can reduce your code down to
> something which demonstrates the problem *and* *nothing* *else*
>
> I would suggest you look at the paths on the cookies.
>
> C.

OK, I've tried to shorten it by stripping out the specifics of the code.

This is a test case for when a browser sends a bad cookie ID. At a new
session outputs should only be for $uno, $one, $four, $cookieTime and
$cookieRand (no session cookieID and not stored). Whether it's a new
session or not, Firefox gets $uno, $duos, $one, $five and $six (has session
cookieID and is stored) but not $four, $cookieTime or $cookieRand.

Also, $storedCookie comes back as 1 instead of 0 which should not happen
if the psql query was done before the cookieID was stored.

What's extra confusing is that, otherwise, it behaves as it should, a new
value is inserted into the database, the cookie value held by FF changes
to this new value and all seems well. The only thing I can think of that
could be causing this would be FF calling the page again when a new cookie
is set and reloading it in which case the values would be valid, but this
seems an unorthodox way for a browser to behave and could make debugging
an issue in future.

> CODE (not closed because this is a partial):
>
> <?php
>
> if (is_numeric($_COOKIE["ID"]))
> { Check cookie exists
> $storedCookie = TRUE/FALSE(1/0);}
>
> if (!$_SESSION["cookieID"])
> {
> if ($storedCookie)
set session cookieID
> else
set cookie and session cookieID
> }
> else
> {
> if($storedCookie)
> {
> if ($_SESSION["cookieID"] != $_COOKIE["ID"])
> { $_SESSION["cookieID"] = $_COOKIE["ID"]; }

> Set theme
> }
> else
> {
set new cookie and reset session ID
> }
> }
>

> echo "
> ";
> echo "
> ";
> echo "
> ";
> echo "
> ";
> echo "
> ";
> echo "
> ";
> echo "
> ";
> echo "
> ";
> echo "
> ";

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