Appending data to a cookie

mtech

I have written some code which should GET a variable from a referring page, check if a cookie has been written, if no, store the variable value in a new cookie, if yes, append the variable value to the existing cookie.

When I visit the page for the first time the code stores the variable in the cookie okay. But when I visit the page a second time, instead of appending the data to the existing cookie it overwrites the old cookie with the new value.

I have spent two days trying to see where my code is going wrong, posted to several forums where I am told my code should work okay and I have even compared it with similar code (I won't post it at is would take up too much space) that does append data to the end of the cookie but I can't see that my code is really that much different. I've also read the php manual on cookies and other pages and I can't find anything to help.

Now I'd better show you my code:

if (!isset($_COOKIE['basket']))  {  	
	setcookie('basket', $item_code, time()+60*60*24*30, 'shop') ;
	}
else {
	setcookie( 'basket', $_COOKIE['basket'].'-'.$item_code );
}

If you run similar code you should be able to check the cookie and see if it appends or not.

$item_code is a number by the way.

I'd be really grateful and relieved if someone would tell me where I am going wrong.

Thanks
Mark

paulnaj

You could just try ...

if (!isset($_COOKIE['basket']))  {       

    setcookie('basket', $item_code, time()+60*60*24*30, 'shop'); 
} else { 
    $new_code = $_COOKIE['basket'].'-'.$item_code;
    setcookie( 'basket', $new_code); 
}

... or even ...

if (!isset($_COOKIE['basket']))  {       

    setcookie('basket', $item_code, time()+60*60*24*30, 'shop') ; 
} else { 
    $new_code = $_COOKIE['basket'].'-'.$item_code;
    setcookie( 'basket', $new_code, time()+60*60*24*30, 'shop'); 
}

Let us know how you get on.

mtech

Thanks. I tried that method before (and again just now for good measure) but it still replaces the cookie, not append to it.

Okay I know this is long code but I got this code from a website tutorial, read through it and tried it out and it does append new values to an old cookie but I can't really see what he's doing that I'm not:

<?php
error_reporting(1); // suppress warning messages
if ($clear)
   setcookie("ckTrolleyContents","", time()-3600);
elseif ($choice)
   setcookie("ckTrolleyContents","$ckTrolleyContents<li>$choice</li>");
?>

<html><head><title>PHP cookie example</title>
</head><body>
<h2>Shopping trolley (php cookie version) </h2>
<form method="get" action="CookieTrolley.php">
<p>Choose an item: </p>
<p>
<input type="radio" name="choice" value="camera"/> camera<br />
<input type="radio" name="choice" value="snorkel"/> snorkel<br />
<input type="radio" name="choice" value="octopus"/> octopus<br />
<input type="radio" name="choice" value="cuddly toy"/> cuddly toy<br /><br />
<input type="submit" name="submit" value="Add to the trolley"/>
<input type="submit" name="clear" value="Empty the trolley"/>
</p>
</form>

<?php
if ((!$choice && !$ckTrolleyContents) || $clear)
   echo "<p>Trolley currently empty</p>";
elseif (!$choice) {
   echo "<p>Trolley contains:</p>";
   echo "<ul>$ckTrolleyContents</ul>";
} else {
// NB the cookie will not contain what has been added to it
// during the current form execution
   echo "<p>Trolley contains:</p>";
   echo "<ul>$ckTrolleyContents<li>$choice</li></ul>";
}
?>

</body></html>

He follows this code with this explanatory statement:

Here the current choice is appended to the cookie using setcookie()

setcookie("ckTrolleyContents","$ckTrolleyContents<li>$choice</li>");

Why should this append but mine not?

Perhaps my code never gets to the else statement and only executes the if statement each time? Don't see why this should be the case though unless I've misunderstood the isset() function?

I've been trying to work this out for days using every resource I can find but to no avail. Perhaps there is another way of storing multiple values in a single cookie?

If there is I'd really like to know!

Thanks
Mark

mtech

Problem was I did not put the correct full path in the cookie.

DUH! Days wasted on that one! :rolleyes:

Thanks.