Session Variable Error Messages not Displaying

Junior Poster

116 posts since Feb 2011

Reputation Points: 10

Solved Threads: 6

On last file try to move session_start(); at very top of the file. Bye.

cereal

Master Poster

709 posts since Aug 2007

Reputation Points: 214

Solved Threads: 120

On last file try to move session_start(); at very top of the file. Bye.

Tryed it. Still no change.

Junior Poster

116 posts since Feb 2011

Reputation Points: 10

Solved Threads: 6

Firstly, there is no need to re-assign your session variables to normal variables, just use them as they are. Secondly, and more importantly, I cannot see anywhere on the page that actually echos the error messages which is why you won't see them.

Posting Pro in Training

447 posts since Oct 2010

Reputation Points: 116

Solved Threads: 82

Firstly, there is no need to re-assign your session variables to normal variables, just use them as they are. Secondly, and more importantly, I cannot see anywhere on the page that actually echos the error messages which is why you won't see them.

The echos are on lines 91, 102, 113, 148, 167 and 178.

I did originally just try to echo the session variables but it said something about type or whitespace which is why i assigned them to variables.

Junior Poster

116 posts since Feb 2011

Reputation Points: 10

Solved Threads: 6

Sorry, I can see them now. Have you tried using var_dump($_SESSION) at the top of the page (after session_start()) to ensure that your session data is there?

Posting Pro in Training

447 posts since Oct 2010

Reputation Points: 116

Solved Threads: 82

Sorry, I can see them now. Have you tried using var_dump($_SESSION) at the top of the page (after session_start()) to ensure that your session data is there?

I added var_dump($_SESSION) and attempted to register an already existing username.

The result was this:

array
'ERR_MSG1' => string '' (length=0)
'ERR_MSG2' => string '' (length=0)
'ERR_MSG3' => string '' (length=0)
'ERR_MSG4' => string '' (length=0)
'ERR_MSG5' => string '' (length=0)
'OVR_ERR_MSG' => string 'Username already exists. Please enter a different username.' (length=59)

It shows the session variables are working and passing so is it a problem with the echos?

Junior Poster

116 posts since Feb 2011

Reputation Points: 10

Solved Threads: 6

So it seems, I've tried this and hello is not printed:

<?php
echo <<<HTML
test 1
<?php echo 'hello'; ?>
test 2
HTML;
?>

cereal

Master Poster

709 posts since Aug 2007

Reputation Points: 214

Solved Threads: 120

So it seems, I've tried this and hello is not printed:
<?php
echo <<<HTML
test 1
<?php echo 'hello'; ?>
test 2
HTML;
?>

Yeah, i've just took the OVR_ERR_MSG out of it's own php echo tags and the message is now displayed so it seems that was the problem.

However i now have a new problem. As stated earlier, i've changed my file to try and print the session variables without assigning them to variables e.g.

from this:

<?php
    session_start();
    var_dump($_SESSION);
    require_once('InitDB.php');
    
    <strong>$errmsg1 = $_SESSION['ERR_MSG1'];
    $errmsg2 = $_SESSION['ERR_MSG2'];
    $errmsg3 = $_SESSION['ERR_MSG3'];
    $errmsg4 = $_SESSION['ERR_MSG4'];
    $errmsg5 = $_SESSION['ERR_MSG5'];
    $ovrerrmsg = $_SESSION['OVR_ERR_MSG'];</strong>
    
    echo <<< HTML
    <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
    <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
    <head>
    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" />
    <title>Member Login</title>
    <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="screen" href="registration.css" />
    </head>
    <body>
        <div id = "whole">
            <div id = "mainHeading">
                <h1>Taxi Service</h1>
            </div>
            <div id = "mainLinks">
                    <a class="BookTaxiLink" href="">Book a Taxi Journey</a>
            </div>
                <div id = "contentLinks">
                        <a class="indContentLinks" href="">Link 1</a>
                        <a class="indContentLinks" href="">Link 2</a>
                        <a class="indContentLinks" href="">Link 3</a>
                </div>
                <div id = "content">
                    <p class = "instructions">
                        Please enter your details in the fields below to register...
                    </p>
                    <strong><p class = "instructions">
                        $ovrerrmsg
                    </p></strong>

To this:

<?php
    session_start();
    var_dump($_SESSION);
    require_once('InitDB.php');
    
    echo <<< HTML
    <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
    <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
    <head>
    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" />
    <title>Member Login</title>
    <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="screen" href="registration.css" />
    </head>
    <body>
        <div id = "whole">
            <div id = "mainHeading">
                <h1>Taxi Service</h1>
            </div>
            <div id = "mainLinks">
                    <a class="BookTaxiLink" href="">Book a Taxi Journey</a>
            </div>
                <div id = "contentLinks">
                        <a class="indContentLinks" href="">Link 1</a>
                        <a class="indContentLinks" href="">Link 2</a>
                        <a class="indContentLinks" href="">Link 3</a>
                </div>
                <div id = "content">
                    <p class = "instructions">
                        Please enter your details in the fields below to register...
                    </p>
                    <strong><p class = "instructions">
                        $_SESSION['OVR_ERR_MSG']
                    </p></strong>

Since i have tried to print the session variable string directly (highlighted in bold just above) i receive the following error:

Parse error: syntax error, unexpected T_ENCAPSED_AND_WHITESPACE, expecting T_STRING or T_VARIABLE or T_NUM_STRING in C:\Program Files\EasyPHP-5.3.8.1\www\Final Year Project\member_registration_failed.php on line 39

Anyone know how i can change this?

Junior Poster

116 posts since Feb 2011

Reputation Points: 10

Solved Threads: 6

You shouldn't just be echoing out the errors without checking if they have any data first. For example, change this

<?php echo $errmsg1; ?>

To this:

<?php if (isset($_SESSION['ERR_MSG1']) && !empty($_SESSION['ERR_MSG1'])) {
echo $_SESSION['ERR_MSG1'];
}

And see what happens (you will obviously need to change them all or the one that you know will have data to test.

Posting Pro in Training

447 posts since Oct 2010

Reputation Points: 116

Solved Threads: 82

Sorry posted my first reply at the same time as you posted again so may not be relevant now.

This won't work though

<p class = "instructions">
                        $_SESSION['OVR_ERR_MSG']
                    </p>

You have no PHP tags, should be

<p class = "instructions">
                        <?php echo $_SESSION['OVR_ERR_MSG']; ?>
                    </p>

Posting Pro in Training

447 posts since Oct 2010

Reputation Points: 116

Solved Threads: 82

The messages weren't even displaying though before when i had <?php ?> tags within the overall <?php ?> tags. Is this valid?

Junior Poster

116 posts since Feb 2011

Reputation Points: 10

Solved Threads: 6

Sorry posted my first reply at the same time as you posted again so may not be relevant now.

This won't work though
<p class = "instructions">
                        $_SESSION['OVR_ERR_MSG']
                    </p>
You have no PHP tags, should be
<p class = "instructions">
                        <?php echo $_SESSION['OVR_ERR_MSG']; ?>
                    </p>

I've just tried this and i still get the following error relating to echoing $_SESSION['OVR_ERR_MSG']:

Parse error: syntax error, unexpected T_ENCAPSED_AND_WHITESPACE, expecting T_STRING or T_VARIABLE or T_NUM_STRING in C:\Program Files\EasyPHP-5.3.8.1\www\Final Year Project\member_registration_failed.php on line 39

Junior Poster

116 posts since Feb 2011

Reputation Points: 10

Solved Threads: 6

Show Comments

I see what you are doing now and there is no reason or need to have a whole html page echoed in php so change (plus you are correct you can't use <?php ?> within other php tags but the way you are doing things you also need to end and restart <<< HTML each time you want to echo php.
Change both your registration and registration failed pages.
Registration:

<?php

    require_once('InitDB.php');
?>    
    <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
    <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
    <head>
    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" />
    <title>Member Login</title>
    <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="screen" href="registration.css" />
    </head>
    <body>
.
.
.
.
.
.
 </body>
    </html>

Fail page:

<?php

    require_once('InitDB.php');
    session_start();
    
    $errmsg1 = $_SESSION['ERR_MSG1'];
    $errmsg2 = $_SESSION['ERR_MSG2'];
    $errmsg3 = $_SESSION['ERR_MSG3'];
    $errmsg4 = $_SESSION['ERR_MSG4'];
    $errmsg5 = $_SESSION['ERR_MSG5'];
    $ovrerrmsg = $_SESSION['OVR_ERR_MSG'];
 ?>   
    <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
    <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
    <head>
    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" />
    <title>Member Login</title>
    <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="screen" href="registration.css" />
    </head>
    <body>
.
.
.
.
.
    </body>
    </html>

Posting Pro in Training

447 posts since Oct 2010

Reputation Points: 116

Solved Threads: 82

Thanks for all of the help! That works.

I'll add in the checks to see if the session variables are empty too.

Regarding the principle of echoing all of the html, i didn't know whether it was good practice or not.