header() redirects but sometimes it wont do it

marcellusmar

Hello Folks,

I cannot see anymore. header() will not redirect.

Can some one take a look at this and tell me why is it that header() is not redirecting please?

If variable $good is false then the section of code where the creation of the object "admin" is avoided and header redirects successfully at the end of the script. However, if everything is good and this section is executed then header at the end will not redirect. The rest of the script seems to be working fine because when $good is True and the updates takes place all the session vars are set including $update_msg. If I hit the back button everything is there but header wont take me there.

Any hint would be appreciated.

<?php
session_start();

require_once('verify_user.php');
require_once('classes/admin.cls');
require_once('includes/utilities.inc');

$good = true;
$update_msg = "";

$oldPwd  = (isset($HTTP_POST_VARS['oldPwd'])?$HTTP_POST_VARS['oldPwd']:"");
$newPwd1 = (isset($HTTP_POST_VARS['newPwd1'])?$HTTP_POST_VARS['newPwd1']:"");
$newPwd2 = (isset($HTTP_POST_VARS['newPwd2'])?$HTTP_POST_VARS['newPwd2']:"");
$adEmail = (isset($HTTP_POST_VARS['adEmail'])?$HTTP_POST_VARS['adEmail']:"");
$adPhone   = (isset($HTTP_POST_VARS['adPhone'])?$HTTP_POST_VARS['adPhone']:"");

if ( empty($oldPwd) )
{
    $update_msg = '<b class="required">Your current password is required</b><br>';
    $good = false;
}

if ( !empty($newPwd1) && empty($newPwd2))
{
    $update_msg.= '<b class="required">You need to re-type to confirm the new password</b><br>';
    $good = false;
}
elseif ( empty($newPwd1) && !empty($newPwd2))
{
    $update_msg.= '<b class="required">Your new password is required</b><br>';
    $good = false;
}
elseif ( !empty($newPwd1) && !empty($newPwd2) )
{
    if ( strcmp($newPwd1,$newPwd2)!=0 )
    {
        $update_msg.= '<b class="required">The new password cannot be confirmed.<br>  The re-typed password was not equal.  Please try again.</b><br>';
        $good = false;
    }
    elseif ( (strcmp($newPwd1,$newPwd2)==0) && strlen($newPwd1) < 7)
    {
        $update_msg.= '<b class="required">The new password must be at least 7 characters long.<br> Please try again.</b><br>';
        $good = false;
    }
}

if ( empty($adEmail) )
{
    $update_msg.= '<b class="required">Your email is required</b>';
    $good = false;
}
elseif ( !empty($adEmail) &&  !verifyEmail($adEmail) )
{
    $update_msg.= '<b class="required">The provided email address is not valid. <br> Please entered a valid email address.</b>';
    $good = false;
}

if ( (!empty($adPhone) && strlen($adPhone)< 12) || (!empty($adPhone) && !verifyPhone($adPhone)) )
{
    $update_msg.= '<b class="required">The Phone Number must be at least 10 characters long.  <br>Use the format "604-555-1234"</b>';
    $good = false;
}

// If NOT good then this section of code is avoided and header
// redirects successfully.  However, if everything is good and 
// this section is executed then header at the end will not 
// redirect.  This script works fine because when $good is True
// and the updates takes place all the session vars are set 
// including $update_msg.  If I hit the back button everything is
// there but header wont take me there

if ($good)
{
    $id=$HTTP_SESSION_VARS['userID'];
    $admin=new Admin();

    if ($admin->update ($id,$oldPwd,$newPwd1,$adPhone,$adEmail))
    {
        $HTTP_SESSION_VARS['user'] = $admin->getAdminName();
        $HTTP_SESSION_VARS['userID'] = $admin->getAdminId();
        $HTTP_SESSION_VARS['loginID']= $admin->getAdminUId();
        $HTTP_SESSION_VARS['email']  = $admin->getAdminEmail();
        $HTTP_SESSION_VARS['phone']  = $admin->getAdminPhone();
        $update_msg = '<b class="required"><br>SUCCESS</b>';
    }
    else
    {
        $update_msg = '<b class="required">The Update failed.  <br>Verify you password and try again</b>';
    }
}

$HTTP_SESSION_VARS['update_msg'] = $update_msg;
header("Location: my_settings.php");

HalfaBee

You are supposed to put the whole http://addr for the Location: header.

Frm the manual

Note: HTTP/1.1 requires an absolute URI as argument to Location: including the scheme, hostname and absolute path, but some clients accept relative URIs. You can usually use $SERVER['HTTP_HOST'], $SERVER['PHP_SELF'] and dirname() to make an absolute URI from a relative one yourself:

<?php
header("Location: [url]http://[/url]".$SERVER['HTTP_HOST']
.dirname($SERVER['PHP_SELF'])
."/".$relative_url);
?>

Also try doing a session_write_close() before the header().

HalfaBee

marcellusmar

It does not work.

I also tried "session_write_close()" before calling header() but it wont do the job.

Thank you for taking the time.

Is this some sort of bug, or I made a mistake somewhere?

Regards,
Mar

sabien

Is it returning a blank page? I may have this same issue.

marcellusmar

Yes, the browser displays a blank page because is not redirecting and the above processor script does not display anything.

My problem takes place when the "if($good)" block is executed. If $good is false then the block is not executed and header() works fine.

I wonder if this is a bug... or if I made a mistake. One thing that I am going to do is comment one by one the lines of the "if($good==true)" and see which one is the line that first fails. This is going to be done later in the day... I am at work now!

Shuriken1

header() does not work if data has already been outputted to the browser, could that be your problem, if it is, try using ob_start and ob_end_flush() to get round it. It worked for me 😉

Shuriken1.

dmesser

Blank lines are considered output. Any blank lines you have in your code should be removed or commented, including any include files. Any output before the header function will cause the redirect to fail.

HalfaBee

These are only blank lines and characters before the <? , not in the script.

marcellusmar

One of the include files had a blank space before the <? I found this problem based on your sujestions... the bad thing is that I found this bug in my code after commenting and trying my script many, many, many times.

I might have done a copy and paste an as typing error the blank line was intoduced.... I have spent two days working furiously trying to find my error and it was a blank line…

Thank you all for your comments.

From the West Coast of Canada: This is a very cool site!

Mar