Session Madness - ID Being Set

Anon

I am very new to php, especially sessions and have been having some trouble with a script.
I am trying to set up an intranet and have installed php and apache(for windows). My MySQL access is coming in remotely, but it definitely works as the scripts I use will run.
I am defining my sessions at the top of my page:
session_start();
session_register('name');
This is housed in a config include file. What the script then does is uses the name and searches the db for that persons info (v simple I know).
The problem is every time I click a link a strange PHP SESSIONID tag with loads of arbitrary charachters appears. I have not set this, and not asked a session account like that to start (i dont think!!) so what is going on?

Thanks in advance

Anon

PHP has to have some way of identifying browsers from one request to another so that it knows which session data goes with which browser.

It would prefer to store the session identifier in a cookie on the browser (set to evaporate when the browser is closed), but if the browser has cookies turned off, the session identifier is instead tacked on the end of each local URL PHP writes out. And that's what you're seeing.

Anon

But in which case, why would that alter my session data being seen when I try to echo out one of my registered variables?

I must be entering the code wrong musn't I?
Plus, when I did this on a hosted version of a site live on the web, I never got this session id tacked onto the end.

Sorry if this is really obvious!!

Anon

Your session data is stored on the server, not the browser - the session ID is fixed for the duration of the session and just does what it sounds like - identifies the session (it wouldn't be very useful if it kept changing). PHP uses that to relate browser requests with its collection of session data.

I don't know what you mean by "entering the wrong code". Remember, I'm not psychic and I only have your descriptions of what's happening to go on.

And as for the live web-hosted version, my guess would be that your browser's security settings are different for the two situations - and when you're on the web your browser is set to store session variables.

promethus

Sorry, think I got you now though. In a nutshell,
I am trying to access the variable $name with this as my session:
session_start();
session_register('name');

then on the next page :

session_start();
session_register('name');

followed by a db query :

SELECT * FROM myusers WHERE name = '$name'

From what you said, I need to access that session id data to get the variable $name that is being stored by that session?

Anon

Er, no, I never discussed that; I was explaining what that PHPSESSID thing in your URLs was.

When you say "I need to access that session id data to get the variable $name that is being stored by that session?" it sounds like you're describing exactly what

session_start();
session_register('name');

does. That's the whole point of the things. PHP uses the supplied PHPSESSID (whether from a cookie or in the URL) and gets the value of $name from the stored data associated with it (which, incidentally, are stored in PHP temporary directory on the server - look in there and you'll see a bunch of files with names that match session IDs).

If you're having some sort of problem other than "why do I have these things in my URLs?" then you seem to have been sidetracked by an irrelevancy and haven't actually figured out your problem.