setcookie not working

dknight3

Hi im making an AJAX login script and the ajax part makes a post to this php file after the login form is submitted. The problem is the cookies are not created and it always says your session has expired...

<?php
include 'config.php';
mysql_connect(localhost,$cs_sqluser,$cs_sqlpassword);
mysql_select_db($cs_sqldb);


if ($_POST['action'] == 'login'){
	if (!empty($_POST['username']) && !empty($_POST['password'])){
		$username = $_POST['username'];
		$password = $_POST['password'];
		login($username, $password);
	}else{
		echo 'Please fill in all fields!<br><a href="#" onclick="includescript(\'loginform.js\');">Go Back</a>';
	}
}


function login($username, $password){
	$query = "SELECT * FROM users WHERE username='$username'";
	$result = mysql_query($query);
	$rows = mysql_num_rows($result);
	if($rows>0){
		$db_password = mysql_result($result,0,"password");
		if ($db_password == $password){
			setcookie('username', $username, time() + $cs_cookielength);
			setcookie('password', $password, time() + $cs_cookielength);
			userinfo();
		}else{
			echo 'Incorrect password!<br><a href="#" onclick="includescript(\'loginform.js\');">Go Back</a>';
		}
	}else{
		echo 'Username not found!<br><a href="#" onclick="includescript(\'loginform.js\');">Go Back</a>';
	}
}


function userinfo(){
	if (empty($_COOKIE['username']) || empty($_COOKIE['password'])){
		echo 'Your session has expired!<br><a href="#" onclick="includescript(\'loginform.js\');">Login</a>';
	}else{
		$username = $_COOKIE['username'];
		$password = $_COOKIE['password'];
		$query = "SELECT * FROM users WHERE username='$username'";
		$result = mysql_query($query);
		$rows = mysql_num_rows($result);
		if($rows>0){
			$db_password = mysql_result($result,0,"password");
			$access_level = mysql_result($result,0,"admin");
			if ($db_password == $password){
				echo '$access_level|$username';
			}else{
				echo 'Incorrect password!<br><a href="#" onclick="includescript(\'loginform.js\');">Go Back</a>';
			}
		}else{
			echo 'Username not found!<br><a href="#" onclick="includescript(\'loginform.js\');">Go Back</a>';
		}		
	}
}

if this will not work with cookies, can sombody please explain how i can get sessions to work and stay, like not expire in minutes?

sneakyimp

when you call setcookie(), you have to load another PHP page for the values to show up in $_COOKIE. that said, you can

redirect from this page to another where $COOKIE should contain your values
OR
set $COOKIE['username'] and $_COOKIE['password'] explicitly when you call setcookie()
OR
call userinfo() with the $username and $cookie args

dknight3

sneakyimp wrote:
when you call setcookie(), you have to load another PHP page for the values to show up in $_COOKIE. that said, you can

redirect from this page to another where $COOKIE should contain your values
OR
set $COOKIE['username'] and $_COOKIE['password'] explicitly when you call setcookie()
OR
call userinfo() with the $username and $cookie args

well the goal og my project is to make the whole website viewable without a single refresh.. so with that said, i cant do number one, unless i have a popup and i dont want to do that.

i have no idea what you mean with number 2 and 3 can you explain better please?

like i know i can go $_COOKIE['password'] = password and that would work, but how do i set the time that the cookie lasts? like expire time? I want the cookies to be able to last so they dont have to login everytime they visit.

thanks for the help man.

dknight3

well i made it like this:

$_COOKIE['username'] = $username;
$_COOKIE['password'] = $password;
setcookie('username', $username, time() + $cs_cookielength);
setcookie('password', $password, time() + $cs_cookielength);

but it still doesnt seem to be working.....

and:
$cs_cookielength = '31536000';

dknight3

i still need help..

sneakyimp

what error do you get?

dknight3

no error, just doesnt create the cookies, when i put it on a seperate php page and just run that php page in the browser it will create them but when its in the function above, it doesnt create them...

sneakyimp

like i said, when you call setcookie(), that doesn't immediately put the cookie values into the $_COOKIES var.

Also, it's $COOKIES with an 's' on the end and not just $COOKIE.

EDIT:
try adding this to every function that references $_COOKIES

global $_COOKIES;

dknight3

sneakyimp wrote:
like i said, when you call setcookie(), that doesn't immediately put the cookie values into the $_COOKIES var.

Also, it's $COOKIES with an 's' on the end and not just $COOKIE.

EDIT:
try adding this to every function that references $_COOKIES
global $_COOKIES;

well when i put the same code in a different file and then run it in the browser it works, but it wont work when it is in that function.

bradgrafelman

There is no need to use [man]global[/man] on the $_COOKIES array - it's a superglobal.

Are you possibly outputting something (ANYTHING) before the setcookie() call? Have you turned on display_errors and set error_reporting to E_ALL ?

dknight3

no i dont know how to do that, and its not my server im hosted from a company.

bradgrafelman

You can change those settings by using [man]ini_set/man at the top of your script.

dknight3

okay thanks ill give that a go really quick..

sneakyimp

this code:

<?
function foo() {
  setcookie('cookie_name', 'cookie value', time()+3600, '/', '.myplan.com');
echo 'running<br>';
  $_COOKIES['cookie_name'] = 'cookie value';
  bar();
} // foo()


function bar() {
  if (empty($_COOKIES['cookie_name'])) {
          die('cookie_name is empty');
        }
        echo 'bar here....cookie_name=' . $_COOKIES['cookie_name'];
} // bar()

foo();

?>

results in this:

running
cookie_name is empty

if i add global declarations, then this code:

<?
function foo() {
  global $_COOKIES;
  setcookie('cookie_name', 'cookie value', time()+3600, '/', '.myplan.com');
echo 'running<br>';
  $_COOKIES['cookie_name'] = 'cookie value';
  bar();
} // foo()


function bar() {
  global $_COOKIES;
  if (empty($_COOKIES['cookie_name'])) {
          die('cookie_name is empty');
        }
        echo 'bar here....cookie_name=' . $_COOKIES['cookie_name'];
} // bar()

foo();

?>

outputs this:

running
bar here....cookie_name=cookie value

bradgrafelman

Ah, that would be because you're not using the $COOKIE array (and it's partly my fault - I get mixed up all the time). You're using a custom-initialized array $COOKIES. Notice the difference? :p

For more information about the actual supergloba, see the [man]variables.predefined[/man] man page and look for $_COOKIE.

sneakyimp

yeah i'm a dope. that one always gets me.

dknight3

hmmm it still doesnt want to create them, when i manually set them it will work but only until you refresh the page then they go away. here is my new code:

function login($username, $password, $remember){
	$query = "SELECT * FROM users WHERE username='$username' AND password='$password'";
	$result = mysql_query($query);
	$rows = mysql_num_rows($result);
	if($rows>0){
		if($remember == '1'){
			setcookie('username', $username, time() + $cs_cookielength);
			setcookie('password', $password, time() + $cs_cookielength);
			$_COOKIE['username'] = $username;
			$_COOKIE['password'] = $password;
			userinfo();
		}else{
			$_COOKIE['username'] = $username;
			$_COOKIE['password'] = $password;
			userinfo();
		}
	}else{
		echo 'Incorrect username and/or password<br><a href="#" onclick="includescript(\'loginform.js\');">Go Back</a>';
	}
}

sneakyimp

i'm not at all certain, but you haven't defined $cs_cookielength in your script so it's probably empty. you either need to declare it global or define it in this function.

dknight3

i defined it.

its a huge script so far i didnt want to post the whole thing.

sneakyimp

what i meant was that it was not defined in the scope of this function. if it is defined outside the function, you have to declare it as a global INSIDE the function.

try ECHOing the value and i think you'll see what i mean.