Confusing session behaviour

#1 (**permalink**) 02-25-2006

I am running Apache 2, PHP 5.0.5, and windows XP

I have one php file that populates a SESSION variable and another that
consumes it.

If I call the first one from the URL line of the browser, the form fills
correctly (i.e. the values are passed in the session)

If I call the first program from the second via an <a href> the session
is lost.

So, from the browser URL, the order would be:
[first.php]
session_start();
$_SESSION['foo'] = $foo;
session_write_close();
header("location: second.php");
exit;

[second.php]
session_start();
$foo = $_SESSION['foo'];
print_r($foo);

This works.

If I change second.php to be:
session_start();
$foo = $_SESSION['foo'];
<a href="first.php">first</a>

then the session is empty when the href is selected.

What am I missing?
-david-

#2 (**permalink**) 02-25-2006

David Haynes wrote:
> If I call the first program from the second via an <a href> the
> session is lost.
>
> So, from the browser URL, the order would be:
> [first.php]
> session_start();
> $_SESSION['foo'] = $foo;
>

Where is $foo initially defined?

JW

#3 (**permalink**) 02-25-2006

Janwillem Borleffs wrote:
> David Haynes wrote:
>> If I call the first program from the second via an <a href> the
>> session is lost.
>>
>> So, from the browser URL, the order would be:
>> [first.php]
>> session_start();
>> $_SESSION['foo'] = $foo;
>>
>
> Where is $foo initially defined?
>
>
> JW
>
>
$foo just represents some meaningful data.

I have a real minimal example now:

[file: foo.ctrl.php]

<?php
session_start();
$foo[] = array('this'=>1, 'that'=>2);
$_SESSION['foo'] = $foo;
session_write_close();
header('location: foo.php');
exit;
?>

[file: foo.php]

<?php
session_start();
printf("_SESSION<br>\n");
$foo = $_SESSION['foo'];
print_r($foo);
echo <<<EOF
<html>
<head></head>
<body>
<br/>
<a href="foo.ctrl.php>foo</a>
</body>
EOF;
?>

Calling foo.ctrl.php from the browser URL produces:
_SESSION
Array ( [0] => Array ( [this] => 1 [that] => 2 ) )
foo

clicking on the 'foo' link produces:
_SESSION

foo

-david-

#4 (**permalink**) 02-26-2006

David Haynes wrote:
> Calling foo.ctrl.php from the browser URL produces:
> _SESSION
> Array ( [0] => Array ( [this] => 1 [that] => 2 ) )
> foo
>
> clicking on the 'foo' link produces:
> _SESSION
>

Beside that the assignment $foo[] = ... causes foo to be populated with
another array, this works on my environment as expected.

Make sure that the session.cookie_path directive in your ini file is set to
"/"; also try to set the session.use_trans_sid directive in the same file to
"1", which should cause the session id to be appended to the link when there
are problems setting the cookie.

JW

#5 (**permalink**) 02-26-2006

Janwillem Borleffs wrote:
> David Haynes wrote:
>> Calling foo.ctrl.php from the browser URL produces:
>> _SESSION
>> Array ( [0] => Array ( [this] => 1 [that] => 2 ) )
>> foo
>>
>> clicking on the 'foo' link produces:
>> _SESSION
>>
>
> Beside that the assignment $foo[] = ... causes foo to be populated with
> another array, this works on my environment as expected.
>
> Make sure that the session.cookie_path directive in your ini file is set to
> "/"; also try to set the session.use_trans_sid directive in the same file to
> "1", which should cause the session id to be appended to the link when there
> are problems setting the cookie.
>
>
> JW
>
>
Thanks for the suggestions JW.

Unfortunately, they did not fix my problem. Maybe its a windows or php
5.0.5. thing?

I'll move the example to Linux and see what happens.

-david-

#6 (**permalink**) 02-26-2006

David Haynes wrote:
> Janwillem Borleffs wrote:
>> David Haynes wrote:
>>> Calling foo.ctrl.php from the browser URL produces:
>>> _SESSION
>>> Array ( [0] => Array ( [this] => 1 [that] => 2 ) )
>>> foo
>>>
>>> clicking on the 'foo' link produces:
>>> _SESSION
>>>
>>
>> Beside that the assignment $foo[] = ... causes foo to be populated
>> with another array, this works on my environment as expected.
>>
>> Make sure that the session.cookie_path directive in your ini file is
>> set to "/"; also try to set the session.use_trans_sid directive in the
>> same file to "1", which should cause the session id to be appended to
>> the link when there are problems setting the cookie.
>>
>>
>> JW
>>
> Thanks for the suggestions JW.
>
> Unfortunately, they did not fix my problem. Maybe its a windows or php
> 5.0.5. thing?
>
> I'll move the example to Linux and see what happens.
>
> -david-
>
It turns out to be firewall-related. When I disabled my (local)
firewall, the application worked as I expected.

Thanks for all the suggestions folks.

-david-

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