PHP: $_SESSION variables not passing to the next webpage

Question

I am having trouble trying to pass my username variable from a login page to the next 'welcome' page. I am hosting the web pages using my university's server and therefore access my web files within a public_html folder.

When testing on the login.php page I am able to print the username that is held in the session however when I try the same in the member's page it does not print the username held in the session array? I have checked all other posts however no solution seems to work.

Login.php

<?php
session_start();
include ('connect.php');
$userName=$_POST['username']; 
$password=$_POST['password'];  
$result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM users WHERE username='$userName' AND password='$password'") or die ('Query is invalid: ' . mysql_error());;
$count =  mysql_num_rows($result);

if($count==1)
{
$_SESSION['username']=$userName;
header("Location: memberPage.php");
} else {
echo "Incorrect username or password";
}
?>

memberLogin.php

<?php
session_start();
include ('connection.php');

$_SESSION['username'] = $userName;
echo $userName;

//$result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM users");
//while ($row = mysql_fetch_array($result)) {
//    echo $row['username'];
//}
?> 

<html>
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="style.css" />

<div id = main-nav>
<a href="http://www.cs.nott.ac.uk/~rxp00u/logout.php" >Logout</a> 
</div>
</html>

P.S. I realise my code is not very secure and I will be working on this after getting the basic framework of the website working!

EDIT: Error reporting on login.php shows the following error: "Warning: Unknown: open(/var/lib/php5/sess_d760m9ebgose4liptp6jbgbc17nqjgg4, O_RDWR) failed: Permission denied (13) in Unknown on line 0 Warning: Unknown: Failed to write session data (files). Please verify that the current setting of session.save_path is correct (/var/lib/php5) in Unknown on line 0"

Popnoodles · Accepted Answer · 2012-12-08 20:45:32Z

1

<?php
session_start();
include ('connection.php');

$_SESSION['username'] = $userName;
echo $userName;

$userName is not set. If you had errors on you'd have seen that. Did you mean

$userName = $_SESSION['username'];
echo $userName;

?

answered Dec 8, 2012 at 20:45

Popnoodles

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10 Comments

rp7 Over a year ago

thanks, i tried this however still no output of the username that is logged in

Popnoodles Over a year ago

just try replacing header("Location: memberPage.php"); with a meta refresh echo '<meta http-equiv="refresh" content="0;URL=memberPage.php">'; - it's a cookie thing

rp7 Over a year ago

thanks, that redirected me back to memberPage but nothing still shows on the memberPage.php

rp7 Over a year ago

Hi, after turning errors on I have seen that I have errors when writing my sessions to the file. I am on my university's server so have the web files within a public_html folder so am not sure where the php files would be held? Here is the error that was outputted in my login.php file: "Warning: Unknown: open(/var/lib/php5/sess_d760m9ebgose4liptp6jbgbc17nqjgg4, O_RDWR) failed: Permission denied (13) in Unknown on line 0 Warning: Unknown: Failed to write session data (files). Please verify that the current setting of session.save_path is correct (/var/lib/php5) in Unknown on line 0"

Popnoodles Over a year ago

ok for now make your own session dir and use it php.net/manual/en/function.session-save-path.php

|

Samuel Cook · Accepted Answer · 2012-12-08 20:46:21Z

1

on memberLogin.php you are setting:

$_SESSION['username'] = $userName;

where $userName is undefined. it appears that if you can successfully assign $userName to a $_SESSION variable on Login.php, you no longer need to set the variable. It will be accessible once you call session_start();.

answered Dec 8, 2012 at 20:46

Samuel Cook

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2 Comments

rp7 Over a year ago

if i do not need to set the variable again how would i access $userName in memberPage.php?

Samuel Cook Over a year ago

$userName = $_SESSION['username'];

Major Productions · Accepted Answer · 2012-12-08 20:46:32Z

0

In memberLogin, it should be:

$username = $_SESSION['username'];

Assignment is left associative, meaning the value on the right of the = is assigned to the variable on the left of the =. Your current setup has you overwriting your session value with null.

answered Dec 8, 2012 at 20:46

Major Productions

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4 Comments

rp7 Over a year ago

thanks i tried this but no luck with any output of the session's username

Major Productions Over a year ago

Do some basic debugging to narrow the problem: Do you have error reporting turned on? Have you tried running your query in phpMyAdmin? Can you var_dump $username in login.php? Can you var_dump $_SESSION['username'] after the assignment in login.php?

rp7 Over a year ago

I turned on error reporting and found errors when trying to write session data. I am currently on my university's machine and so accessing my web files would be held in my public_html folder. The error was as follows: "Warning: Unknown: open(/var/lib/php5/sess_d760m9ebgose4liptp6jbgbc17nqjgg4, O_RDWR) failed: Permission denied (13) in Unknown on line 0 Warning: Unknown: Failed to write session data (files). Please verify that the current setting of session.save_path is correct (/var/lib/php5) in Unknown on line 0"

Major Productions Over a year ago

Ah, well there's your problem. Edit your question with those details. Be sure to mention you're on a university server. That's pertinent.

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