Advice on auto sessions

amax

Hi All, Id love some advice on this, I am really going crazy. In my webfolder, I have stripped down my problem to a simple select box as follows:

<form action="f2.php" method="POST" id="book">
<select name="mybox" id="mybox">
<option value="bob" selected="selected">bob</option>
<option value="peter">Peter</option>
<option value="john">John</option>
<option value="sue">Sue</option>
</select>
<input name="submit" type="submit" value="submit" />

The only other thing is this folder is a blank f2.php file and a .htaccess with php_value session.auto_start set to 1. My problem is that if I select say "john" from the select box, submit to f2.php, then press the back browser button, the select box is reset. If I turn auto_start to 0, the browser remembers the "john" value correctly.

This is a major issue for me as I developed my PHP site with sessions and need it set to 1. Can anyone advise on this as I have never come accross this before, and cant find anyone with the same issue anywhere, which is driving me even more crazy

Ashley_Sheridan

You could save the form data to a session, and when you output the form from PHP, check for the existence of these values as you output the form elements.

I reckon that most people wouldn't expect the values to still be there when they pressed the back button though. It's not usually the way websites work.

amax

Hi Ashley,
Thanks for getting back to me. I still find this strange though , and must be some way related to the autosessions. If I build the form with it turned off, and press back, the selection fromthe dropdown is remembered. This is what people expect, as most sites do seem to rememebr the selection. Furthern more, text fields are remembered, so theissue appears only with the selection box.

Have you any other ideas on this, I have went through severla other sites,a nd all of them remember the seelction when presisng back in the browser

halojoy

.htaccess with php_value session.auto_start set to 1. My problem is that if I select say "john" from the select box, submit to f2.php, then press the back browser button, the select box is reset. If I turn auto_start to 0, the browser remembers the "john" value correctly.

True, as you say,
session.auto_start On ....... will reset select box value
session.auto_start Off ...... will keep the selected value in form

The default setting and what is most used at PHP servers is
session.auto_start Off

Personally, I think this is no big thing, if user must re-enter a few values in a form.
Sometimes I deal with it by let the processing phpscript write chosen posted values into form,
and re-display without any BackButton.

Ashley_Sheridan

also, outputting a checkbox like this will ensure it is checked if required:

<input type="checkbox" checked="checked"/>