header() fails then works then fails then..

ppowell

<?
		header('Pragma: no-cache');						// ENSURE CLIENT-SIDE CACHE FLUSHING
		$url = "$projectURLPath/index.php";
		if ($_REQUEST['logoutMsg']) $url .= '?logoutMsg='. urlencode($_REQUEST['logoutMsg']);
		if ($willAuthenticate && $willUseSSL) {
		 $dest = 'https://' . $_SERVER['SERVER_NAME'] . $url;
		} elseif ($willBasicAuthenticate && $willUseSSL) {
		 $dest = 'https://EnterYourUserName:EnterPassword@' . $_SERVER['SERVER_NAME'] . $url;
		} elseif ($willAuthenticate) {
		 $dest = 'http://' . $_SERVER['SERVER_NAME'] . $url;
		} elseif ($willBasicAuthenticate) {
		 $dest = 'http://EnterYourUserName:EnterPassword@' . $_SERVER['SERVER_NAME'] . $url;
		}
		header("Location: $dest");							// DEFAULT REDIRECT TO MAIN PAGE
		exit();

?>

This code scriptlet will allow for redirection to dynamically relocate to another URL. However, for some bizarre reason, it will not redirect anywhere; it just dies (no warnings, no errors, no notices, no nothing!), however, if you refresh your browser, the redirected page appears, sometimes after 1, 2, 3 tries. Then sometimes it redirects with no problems at all.

I tried closing my browser, logging out, refreshing everything, deleting cache/history.. to no avail.

This only started occurring the moment I used my SessionHandler class to relocate session files elsewhere due to a business requirement - the moment I removed SessionHandler, this redirection weirdness occurred and no amount of debugging seems to be able to solve the problem.

Ideas? Help?

Phil

Neumy

This may not be a solution - just some ideas. But it might help.

All my header issues are because of something being passed to the browser before the header().

1) I'm wondering if you'd use error_reporting(E_ALL); to make sure there is nothing wrong with your code.

2) if $_REQUEST['logoutMsg']) is not defined, it will throw a warning. you might want to change your:
if ($REQUEST['logoutMsg']) to if (isset($REQUEST['logoutMsg']))

Perhaps something here can help.

ppowell

Yeah thanx, I implemented error_reporting(E_ALL) and I even took out '@' and everything else, to no avail.

I was able to, by crude debug techniques (i.e., lots of echo statements) narrow down the problem to

session_start();

For some reason, it'll break on that line, but if you refresh your browser it'll then be just fine and $SESSION exists. Sometimes $SESSION exists anyway, sometimes it doesn't, literally on the same page.

Like you'll go to index.php and it breaks on session_start(), refresh your browser and it's fine.

Then you'll click somewhere else, then close your browser, re-open it, go to index.php and it's fine, refresh 2 or 3 times it's fine and then one other random time it breaks again, on session_start();

My conclusion is that session_start() is randomly breaking.

Phil