Session variables - getting started

[SeenGee]

i'm trying to set up sessions on a website i've got online but from the start i have not been able to get sessions to work. i thought just to get started i would attempt a simple counter but even this wont work.

this is the php i have tried in a file called index.php:

<?php
// initialize a session
session_start();

// register a session variable
session_register('counter');

// increment and display the value of the counter
$counter++;
echo("You have visited this page $counter times!");
?>

when i open the page in my browser at:
http://www.habitrecordings.co.uk/index.php

i get the following message:

Notice: Undefined variable: counter in d:\websites\habi322219\www\index.php on line 9
You have visited this page 1 times!

each time i reload the page this message stays the same.

the permissions on my server are set to run php, i know this because i have a php guestbook that runs perfectly well. could someone please tell me what the problem is, i've tried a number of other simple scripts and nothing works at all. HELP !!!

Thankyou.

By the way my site is hosted on a Dell Windows 2000 server

[ir4z0r]

don't use session_register() with newer versions of PHP

session_start();
$_SESSION['counter'] = 0;

$_SESSION['counter'] += 1;

this should work

[SeenGee]

cheers for the reply but its still givin up the same error

[ir4z0r]

uhh, I searched my own stuff, and I used BOTH 😃

session_start();
if (!$_SESSION['counter'])
{
  $counter = 0;
  session_register("counter");
}
$_SESSION['counter'] += 1;
echo $_SESSION['counter'];

this works for me,
(the notice isn't important, can be ignored)

[SeenGee]

cheers that works now, out of interest could u tell me why it has to be like this. i have seen a number of php tutorials and none of them mention that this method has to be used

[ir4z0r]

session management has undergone some changes in the past, some tutorials
are based on older versions

because of these reasons it's always a good idea to follow the examples
of the official documentation (php.net)

anyway, you'll notice that there are multiple threads per day refering to this topic