can't register session var in function

[jowatkins]

Hi,

I want to register a session variable from within a function but it's not working. I start the session before anything else is sent. I then go through a set of checks before registering any session variables. I want to do this within a function to make my code more dynamic, but it just won't work. I've read the manual and all the books I can lay my hands on but nowhere is any restriction mentioned about registering sessions from within a function.

this is my code:

function CheckValidUser()
{
  	/* see if somebody is logged in and notify them if not */
	global $valid_user;
  	if (!session_is_registered("valid_user")) /* they are not logged in */
  	{
		ErrorFormat();
     	echo "<br/>You are not logged in.<br/>";
		global $hist;
		$hist = $_SERVER['PHP_SELF'];
		echo $_SERVER['PHP_SELF'];
		if (session_register("hist"))
		{
			redirect(2, "\Index.html");
		}
		else
		{
			echo "not set";
		}
		//DoHtmlUrl("/Login.php", "Login");
     	EndFormat();
     	exit;
  	} 
}

Any ideas?

[drew010]

in your scripts, to comply with register_globals being off, which is now the default setting for php. you should avoid session_register, session_is_registered, and session_unregister. instead set your session variables using the $SESSION array. this is a superglobal, therefore, if you set a session variable inside a function using $SESSION, it will stick for the whole scope of the script, whereas session_register is not global.

so instead of using session_register("varname") use $_SESSION['varname'] = "something";

[devinemke]

instead of:

session_register("hist")

try this:

$_SESSION['hist'] = $_SERVER['PHP_SELF']

[jowatkins]

Thanks for the advice, I changed my code as you suggested, but it still doesn't work.

new code:

function CheckValidUser()
{
  	/* see if somebody is logged in and notify them if not */
	global $valid_user;
  	if (!$_SESSION('valid_user')) /* they are not logged in */
  	{
		ErrorFormat();
     	echo "<br/>You are not logged in.<br/>";
		if ($_SESSION['hist'] = $_SERVER['PHP_SELF'])
		{
			redirect(2, "\Index.html");
		}
		else
		{
			echo "not set";
		}
		//DoHtmlUrl("/Login.php", "Login");
     	EndFormat();
     	exit;
  	} 
}

and check in the login page....

if(isset($_SESSION['hist']))
{
    echo $_SESSION["hist"];
}
else
{
	echo "NO LINK";
}

[jowatkins]

Thanks for the advice, I changed my code as you suggested, but it still doesn't work.

new code:

function CheckValidUser()
{
  	/* see if somebody is logged in and notify them if not */
	global $valid_user;
  	if (!$_SESSION('valid_user')) /* they are not logged in */
  	{
		ErrorFormat();
     	echo "<br/>You are not logged in.<br/>";
		if ($_SESSION['hist'] = $_SERVER['PHP_SELF'])
		{
			redirect(2, "\Index.html");
		}
		else
		{
			echo "not set";
		}
		//DoHtmlUrl("/Login.php", "Login");
     	EndFormat();
     	exit;
  	} 
}

and check in the login page....

if(isset($_SESSION['hist']))
{
    echo $_SESSION["hist"];
}
else
{
	echo "NO LINK";
}

[drew010]

the line
if (!$SESSION('valid_user'))
should be
if (!isset($SESSION['valid_user']))