Member Avatar for 68thorby68

I believe there may be something wrong with my PHP.ini as I can create cookies using the setcookie function but cannot access the cookie using the COOKIE function.

Please note: I have enabled cookies in my browser

I then have 2 very simple scripts in separate files

file 1

session_start();
$username="thorby68@live.co.uk";
setcookie('sb_cookie', $username,  time()+10000;

file 2

session_start();
echo $_COOKIE['sb_cookie'];

I can see the cookie is created in my local folder, however I am getting an error
Notice: Undefined index: sb_cookie in C:\Program Files\Apache Software Foundation\Apache2.2\htdocs\sandbbookingsystem\test\test.php on line 4

I have attached a copy of the created cookie, and the session section of my php.ini and would very much appreciate any help.

[Session]
; Handler used to store/retrieve data.
session.save_handler = files

; Argument passed to save_handler.  In the case of files, this is the path
; where data files are stored. Note: Windows users have to change this
; variable in order to use PHP's session functions.
;
; As of PHP 4.0.1, you can define the path as:
;
;     session.save_path = "N;/path"
;
; where N is an integer.  Instead of storing all the session files in
; /path, what this will do is use subdirectories N-levels deep, and
; store the session data in those directories.  This is useful if you
; or your OS have problems with lots of files in one directory, and is
; a more efficient layout for servers that handle lots of sessions.
;
; NOTE 1: PHP will not create this directory structure automatically.
;         You can use the script in the ext/session dir for that purpose.
; NOTE 2: See the section on garbage collection below if you choose to
;         use subdirectories for session storage
;
; The file storage module creates files using mode 600 by default.
; You can change that by using
;
;     session.save_path = "N;MODE;/path"
;
; where MODE is the octal representation of the mode. Note that this
; does not overwrite the process's umask.
session.save_path = "C:\Program Files\Apache Software Foundation\Apache2.2\htdocs\sandbbookingsystem\session"

; Whether to use cookies.
session.use_cookies = 1

;session.cookie_secure =

; This option enables administrators to make their users invulnerable to
; attacks which involve passing session ids in URLs; defaults to 0.
; session.use_only_cookies = 1

; Name of the session (used as cookie name).
session.name = PHPSESSID

; Initialize session on request startup.
session.auto_start = 0

; Lifetime in seconds of cookie or, if 0, until browser is restarted.
session.cookie_lifetime = 

; The path for which the cookie is valid.
session.cookie_path = 

; The domain for which the cookie is valid.
session.cookie_domain = 

; Whether or not to add the httpOnly flag to the cookie, which makes it inaccessible to browser scripting languages such as JavaScript.
session.cookie_httponly = 

; Handler used to serialize data.  php is the standard serializer of PHP.
session.serialize_handler = php

; Define the probability that the 'garbage collection' process is started
; on every session initialization.
; The probability is calculated by using gc_probability/gc_divisor,
; e.g. 1/100 means there is a 1% chance that the GC process starts
; on each request.

session.gc_probability = 1
session.gc_divisor     = 1000

; After this number of seconds, stored data will be seen as 'garbage' and
; cleaned up by the garbage collection process.
session.gc_maxlifetime = 1440

; NOTE: If you are using the subdirectory option for storing session files
;       (see session.save_path above), then garbage collection does *not*
;       happen automatically.  You will need to do your own garbage
;       collection through a shell script, cron entry, or some other method.
;       For example, the following script would is the equivalent of
;       setting session.gc_maxlifetime to 1440 (1440 seconds = 24 minutes):
;          cd /path/to/sessions; find -cmin +24 | xargs rm

; PHP 4.2 and less have an undocumented feature/bug that allows you to
; to initialize a session variable in the global scope, albeit register_globals
; is disabled.  PHP 4.3 and later will warn you, if this feature is used.
; You can disable the feature and the warning separately. At this time,
; the warning is only displayed, if bug_compat_42 is enabled.

session.bug_compat_42 = 0
session.bug_compat_warn = 1

; Check HTTP Referer to invalidate externally stored URLs containing ids.
; HTTP_REFERER has to contain this substring for the session to be
; considered as valid.
session.referer_check =

; How many bytes to read from the file.
session.entropy_length = 0

; Specified here to create the session id.
session.entropy_file =

;session.entropy_length = 16

;session.entropy_file = /dev/urandom

; Set to {nocache,private,public,} to determine HTTP caching aspects
; or leave this empty to avoid sending anti-caching headers.
session.cache_limiter = nocache

; Document expires after n minutes.
session.cache_expire = 180

; trans sid support is disabled by default.
; Use of trans sid may risk your users security.
; Use this option with caution.
; - User may send URL contains active session ID
;   to other person via. email/irc/etc.
; - URL that contains active session ID may be stored
;   in publically accessible computer.
; - User may access your site with the same session ID
;   always using URL stored in browser's history or bookmarks.
session.use_trans_sid = 0

; Select a hash function
; 0: MD5   (128 bits)
; 1: SHA-1 (160 bits)
session.hash_function = 0

; Define how many bits are stored in each character when converting
; the binary hash data to something readable.
;
; 4 bits: 0-9, a-f
; 5 bits: 0-9, a-v
; 6 bits: 0-9, a-z, A-Z, "-", ","
session.hash_bits_per_character = 5

; The URL rewriter will look for URLs in a defined set of HTML tags.
; form/fieldset are special; if you include them here, the rewriter will
; add a hidden <input> field with the info which is otherwise appended
; to URLs.  If you want XHTML conformity, remove the form entry.
; Note that all valid entries require a "=", even if no value follows.
url_rewriter.tags = "a=href,area=href,frame=src,input=src,form=fakeentry"
sb_cookie
martin.thorburn%40tiscali.co.uk
localhost/workfolder/scripts/
1024
2211120896
30102774
3076782032
30095733
*
  • 3 Contributors
  • 8 Replies
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  • 23 Hours Discussion Span
  • Latest Post Latest Post by 68thorby68

Recommended Answers

All 8 Replies

Member Avatar for ApocDen

on file one there is a missing ")" on this line

setcookie('sb_cookie', $username,  time()+10000;

it should be like this

setcookie('sb_cookie', $username,  time()+10000);
Member Avatar for 68thorby68

Apologies,

bad typing on my part.

I have the correct syntax in my script, and the cookie gets written to my local default folder. However when I want to access the cookie from the server it is not being read. Is there a path that should be set in the php.ini ?

Member Avatar for cwarn23

Well there are a few factors that could cause this problem. First correct your code as ApocDen mentioned. Then when viewing the pages, make sure it is in the same browser window (eg. different tabs) and be sure that cookies are enabled. If cookies are disabled then the script will not work. Also cookies do not transfer between different browsers. So if for example you opened file1 in Internet Explorer and file 2 in Firefox there is no way for the data to transfer since they are different browsers.

Member Avatar for 68thorby68

Many thanks for your help.

I'm using IE 8 for this purpose and I've enabled cookies (in fact I have set IE to accept all cookies and override default settings). All code opens up with IE 8 and in a single same browser tab.

Further, I have tried the code with Google Chrome and Firefox. Eeach time I use a different browser the browser is used in isolation of the others and everything is executed in the same tab.

I can also see the session being created, and the cookie being created.....it's very strange. Attached is the session settings of php.ini and my cookie. Your help would be very much appreciated.

[Session]
; Handler used to store/retrieve data.
session.save_handler = files

; Argument passed to save_handler.  In the case of files, this is the path
; where data files are stored. Note: Windows users have to change this
; variable in order to use PHP's session functions.
;
; As of PHP 4.0.1, you can define the path as:
;
;     session.save_path = "N;/path"
;
; where N is an integer.  Instead of storing all the session files in
; /path, what this will do is use subdirectories N-levels deep, and
; store the session data in those directories.  This is useful if you
; or your OS have problems with lots of files in one directory, and is
; a more efficient layout for servers that handle lots of sessions.
;
; NOTE 1: PHP will not create this directory structure automatically.
;         You can use the script in the ext/session dir for that purpose.
; NOTE 2: See the section on garbage collection below if you choose to
;         use subdirectories for session storage
;
; The file storage module creates files using mode 600 by default.
; You can change that by using
;
;     session.save_path = "N;MODE;/path"
;
; where MODE is the octal representation of the mode. Note that this
; does not overwrite the process's umask.
session.save_path = "C:\Program Files\Apache Software Foundation\Apache2.2\htdocs\sandbbookingsystem\session"

; Whether to use cookies.
session.use_cookies = 1

;session.cookie_secure =

; This option enables administrators to make their users invulnerable to
; attacks which involve passing session ids in URLs; defaults to 0.
; session.use_only_cookies = 1

; Name of the session (used as cookie name).
session.name = PHPSESSID

; Initialize session on request startup.
session.auto_start = 0

; Lifetime in seconds of cookie or, if 0, until browser is restarted.
session.cookie_lifetime = 

; The path for which the cookie is valid.
session.cookie_path = 

; The domain for which the cookie is valid.
session.cookie_domain = 

; Whether or not to add the httpOnly flag to the cookie, which makes it inaccessible to browser scripting languages such as JavaScript.
session.cookie_httponly = 

; Handler used to serialize data.  php is the standard serializer of PHP.
session.serialize_handler = php

; Define the probability that the 'garbage collection' process is started
; on every session initialization.
; The probability is calculated by using gc_probability/gc_divisor,
; e.g. 1/100 means there is a 1% chance that the GC process starts
; on each request.

session.gc_probability = 1
session.gc_divisor     = 1000

; After this number of seconds, stored data will be seen as 'garbage' and
; cleaned up by the garbage collection process.
session.gc_maxlifetime = 1440

; NOTE: If you are using the subdirectory option for storing session files
;       (see session.save_path above), then garbage collection does *not*
;       happen automatically.  You will need to do your own garbage
;       collection through a shell script, cron entry, or some other method.
;       For example, the following script would is the equivalent of
;       setting session.gc_maxlifetime to 1440 (1440 seconds = 24 minutes):
;          cd /path/to/sessions; find -cmin +24 | xargs rm

; PHP 4.2 and less have an undocumented feature/bug that allows you to
; to initialize a session variable in the global scope, albeit register_globals
; is disabled.  PHP 4.3 and later will warn you, if this feature is used.
; You can disable the feature and the warning separately. At this time,
; the warning is only displayed, if bug_compat_42 is enabled.

session.bug_compat_42 = 0
session.bug_compat_warn = 1

; Check HTTP Referer to invalidate externally stored URLs containing ids.
; HTTP_REFERER has to contain this substring for the session to be
; considered as valid.
session.referer_check =

; How many bytes to read from the file.
session.entropy_length = 0

; Specified here to create the session id.
session.entropy_file =

;session.entropy_length = 16

;session.entropy_file = /dev/urandom

; Set to {nocache,private,public,} to determine HTTP caching aspects
; or leave this empty to avoid sending anti-caching headers.
session.cache_limiter = nocache

; Document expires after n minutes.
session.cache_expire = 180

; trans sid support is disabled by default.
; Use of trans sid may risk your users security.
; Use this option with caution.
; - User may send URL contains active session ID
;   to other person via. email/irc/etc.
; - URL that contains active session ID may be stored
;   in publically accessible computer.
; - User may access your site with the same session ID
;   always using URL stored in browser's history or bookmarks.
session.use_trans_sid = 0

; Select a hash function
; 0: MD5   (128 bits)
; 1: SHA-1 (160 bits)
session.hash_function = 0

; Define how many bits are stored in each character when converting
; the binary hash data to something readable.
;
; 4 bits: 0-9, a-f
; 5 bits: 0-9, a-v
; 6 bits: 0-9, a-z, A-Z, "-", ","
session.hash_bits_per_character = 5

; The URL rewriter will look for URLs in a defined set of HTML tags.
; form/fieldset are special; if you include them here, the rewriter will
; add a hidden <input> field with the info which is otherwise appended
; to URLs.  If you want XHTML conformity, remove the form entry.
; Note that all valid entries require a "=", even if no value follows.
url_rewriter.tags = "a=href,area=href,frame=src,input=src,form=fakeentry"
sb_cookie
martin.thorburn%40tiscali.co.uk
localhost/workfolder/scripts/
1024
2211120896
30102774
3076782032
30095733
*
Member Avatar for cwarn23

Perhaps try renaming the cookie so that it only contains letters and numbers. I have created a debugger script so try the following:

file 1

session_start();
$username="thorby68@live.co.uk";
setcookie('sbcookie', $username,  time()+10000);

file 2

session_start();
if (isset($_COOKIE['sbcookie'])) {
if (!empty($_COOKIE['sbcookie'])) {
echo $_COOKIE['sbcookie'];
} else {
echo '<i>This cookie has been emptied or not transfered properly</i>';
}
} else {
echo '<i>This cookie does not exist as far as php can see</i>';
}
Member Avatar for 68thorby68

once again,

many thanks for your help.

Something very strange is happening here. If I now run file 1 and file 2 in the same folder, the whole process of creating the cookie and reading the cookie works fine and dandy.

However, if I move file 2 from folder root/test to root/pages/admin, the cookie is still created on my local system but I get the error "This cookie does not exist as far as php can see".

Also, I have run a repair on both Apache and PHP to ensure there is not an application/installation problem there.

Edited by 68thorby68 because: added text
Member Avatar for cwarn23

Was reading the documentation and found your bug. Try the following as I have fully corrected your original problem.

session_start();
$username="thorby68@live.co.uk";
setcookie('sb_cookie', $username,  time()+10000, '/');
Member Avatar for 68thorby68

Thats excellent. Many thanks.

Also, reading the manual this makes absolute sense. I believe my problem is that I had performed a similar task in another domain and did not include the path at all (as in my original post).

I will be sure to include the path and or subfolders in future.

Many thanks again.

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