problems with sessions

[digitalgod]

hey guys,

I seem to be having problems with my sessions, for some reason they're not being stored for very long... so here's what i got

[code]
<?php
session_start();
//....
case "editcont":
      $process=$_POST['process'];
        if ($process == "yes") {
        $process_b=$_POST['process_b'];
        $_SESSION['contest']=$_POST['dname'];
          if ($process_b == "yes") {
          $new_name=$_POST['contest'];
  $new_description=$_POST['description'];
  $month=$_POST['month'];
  $day=$_POST['day'];
  $year=$_POST['year'];
  $new_date=$month.'-'.$day.'-'.$year;
  $new_question=$_POST['question'];
  $new_answer=$_POST['answer'];
                 
                  print $_SESSION['contest'];  //outputs nothing
mysql_query("UPDATE ".$prefix."contests SET name='$new_name',description='$new_description',end_date='$new_date',question='$new_question',answer='$new_answer' WHERE name='".$_SESSION['contest']."'") or die(query_error());
$tmpl->add_template("editcont_success");
          }
          else {
          $result=mysql_query("SELECT * FROM ".$prefix."contests WHERE name='".$_SESSION['contest']."'") or die(query_error()); //session works perfectly here
          $row=mysql_fetch_array($result);
            if ($row['id'] != "") {
            $tmpl->add_template("editcont_form2");
            }
            else {
            $tmpl->add_template("username_no");
            }
          }
        }
        else {
        $tmpl->add_template("editcont_form1");
        }     
      break;
?>
[/code]

everything works perfectly until the 2nd form is submitted for some reason the session gets destroyed.... I really don't have a clue why...

here's the 2nd form.

[code]
<?php
$result=mysql_query("SELECT * FROM ".$prefix."contests WHERE name='". $_SESSION['contest'] ."'") or die(query_error());
$row=mysql_fetch_array($result);

$path = "img/contests/" . $_SESSION['contest'] ."/";
$dir = $path . "thumbnails/";
$aNames = array();
if (is_dir($dir)) {
  if ($dh = opendir($dir)) {
      while (($file_names = readdir($dh)) !== false) {
          if ($file_names != "." && $file_names != "..") {
  array_push($aNames,$file_names);
  }
      }
      closedir($dh);
  }
}
$numFiles = count($aNames);
if ($numFiles == 0) {
$file_names = "no_thumb.jpg";
array_push($aNames,$file_names);
}
?>
<script type="text/javascript">
function writeMonthOptions()
{
  var theMonth;
  var monthCounter;
  var numMonth;
  var theDate = new Date();
  var month=new Array(12)
  month[0]="January"
  month[1]="February"
  month[2]="March"
  month[3]="April"
  month[4]="May"
  month[5]="June"
  month[6]="July"
  month[7]="August"
  month[8]="September"
  month[9]="October"
  month[10]="November"
  month[11]="December" 

  for (monthCounter = 0; monthCounter < 12; monthCounter++)
  {
    numMonth = monthCounter + 1;
theMonth = month[monthCounter];
    if (numMonth < 10 )
{
  numMonth = '0' + numMonth;
}
document.write('<OPTION value=' + numMonth + '>' + theMonth);
  }
}

function writeDay()
{
  var dayCounter;
  var numDay;
  //numDay = dayCounter;
  for (dayCounter = 1; dayCounter <= 31; dayCounter++)
  {
    if (dayCounter < 10)
{
  numDay = '0' + dayCounter;
}
else
{ 
  numDay = dayCounter;
}
document.write('<OPTION value=' + numDay + '>' + dayCounter);
  }
}

</script>

<div id="article">
<form action="admin.php?a=editcont" method="post" enctype="multipart/form-data" name="form" id="form">
<input type="hidden" name="process" value="yes" />
<input type="hidden" name="process_b" value="yes" />
<input type="hidden" name="size_limit" value="500" />
    <input name="size_limit" type="hidden" id="size_limit" value="500" />
    <table width="603" border="0">
      <tr>
        <td colspan="2">&nbsp;</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td width="151">Contest:</td>
        <td width="442"><input name="contest" type="text" id="contest" value="<?php echo $row['name']; ?>"/></td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>Description:</td>
        <td><textarea name="description" cols="50" rows="10" id="description"><?php echo $row['description']; ?></textarea></td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>End Date:</td>
        <td><select name="month" id="month">
            <option>Month</option>
            <script type="text/javascript">writeMonthOptions();</script>
          </select> <select name="day" id="day">
            <option>Day</option>
            <script type="text/javascript">writeDay();</script>
          </select>
          <select name="year" id="year">
            <option>Year</option>
            <? $now = date('y');
for ($i=1; $i<=6; $now++) {
if(strlen($now) ==1 ) {
$now = '0'.$now;
}
echo '<option value= "'.$now.'">20'.$now.'</option>';
$i++;
} ?>
          </select></td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>Images:</td>
        <td><? echo '<table border="0">
<table width="1%" border="0">
            <tr>';
for ($i =0; $i <= $numFiles--; $i++) {
  echo '<td> <a href="' . $path . ''. $aNames[$i].'" target="_blank"> <img src="' . $dir . '' . $aNames[$i] . '" alt="' . $aNames[$i] .'" /></a> </td>';
}
echo '</tr>
          </table>';?>
          <table width="1%" border="0">
            <tr>
              <td>&nbsp;</td>
              <td>&nbsp;</td>
            </tr>
          </table></td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>Add  Image  :</td>
        <td><input name="file1" type="file" id="file1" /></td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>Security Question  :</td>
        <td><input name="question" type="text" id="question" value="<?php echo $row['question']; ?>"></td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>Security Answer :</td>
        <td><input name="answer" type="text" id="answer" value="<?php echo $row['answer']; ?>" /></td>
      </tr>
    </table>
<input type="submit" value="Edit <?php echo $row['name']; ?>"/>
<label>
<input type="reset" name="Reset" value="Reset" />
</label>
</form>
</div>[/code]

any help would be greatly appreciated!

[corbin]

you forgot session_start(); in your second file.

[digitalgod]

that didn't change anything.... $_SESSION['contest'] still becomes empty

[corbin]

variables with [''] in mysql queries I always try to avoid... Try something like

$result=mysql_query("SELECT * FROM ".$prefix."contests WHERE name='contest'") or die(query_error());

oh and if all else fails try making it something like

$contest = $_SESSION['contest'];
$q = ("SELECT * FROM ".$prefix."contests WHERE name='contest'");
echo $q;
$result = mysql_query($q);
and see what it says $q is.

[redarrow]

  $_SESSION['contest']=$_POST['dname'];

wheres the second condition set to session comming from.

[corbin]

Oh, ignore my post... Lol i think redarrow is right...

[digitalgod]

the second condition comes from the first form

[code]
<div id="article">
<form action="admin.php?a=editcont" method="post">
<input type="hidden" name="process" value="yes" />
<table border="0">
<tr>
        <td>Contest:</td>
        <td><select name="dname" id="dname">
            <option>Choose one</option>
            <?php
$sql='SELECT * FROM '.$prefix.'contests';
$req=mysql_query($sql) or die(query_error());
while($data = mysql_fetch_assoc($req)) {
echo "<option value='" . stripslashes($data['name']) . "'>" .$data['name'] . "</option>";
}
?>
          </select></td>
</tr>
</table>
<br />
<input type="submit" value="Edit Contest" />
</form>
</div>[/code]

and that works perfectly so let's say you choose Contest 01 if I echo $_SESSION['contest'] it will output Contest 01 but as soon as the second form is submitted that session outputs nothing....

[corbin]

in the second form... or which ever one youre having trouble with, at the very top of the page try putting
session_start();
echo $_SESSION['contest'];

and see if it echos anything

[digitalgod]

yup it works perfectly it outputs 'test3'

but it's when I submit that form that the session gets destroyed.

[quote author=corbin link=topic=99831.msg393342#msg393342 date=1152313384]
in the second form... or which ever one youre having trouble with, at the very top of the page try putting
session_start();
echo $_SESSION['contest'];

and see if it echos anything
[/quote]

[corbin]

In your first form try changing 
$_SESSION['contest']=$_POST['dname'];
to $_SESSION['contest'] = "<name of a table you know exists>";  and see if the scripts after it work then.

[digitalgod]

aha that worked even after the 2nd form got submitted!

so what do I have to do to make it work now? I really need to get the name of the contest from a dropdown and store it in a session

[digitalgod]

nevermind I just added
[code]
if(isset($_SESSION['contest'])) {
}
else {
$_SESSION['contest'] = $_POST['dname'];
}
[/code]

and added an unset after the form gets submitted so it's working perfectly now.
Just out of curiosity is there a better way of doing this?

[corbin]

I wrote my first script that involved sessions 2 days ago, so I'm far from a session expert, but you could just do

if(!$_SESSION['contest']) { $_SESSION['contest'] = $_POST['dname']; }

[digitalgod]

actually my solution isn't good, if a user selects a contest but doesn't submit the 2nd form, when he chooses another contest it will still keep the name of the first contest stored in the session.... Does anyone know a workaround for this?

[corbin]

hmmm try
if(($_POST['dname']) && ($_POST['dname'] != "")) { $_SESSION['contest'] = $_POST['dname']; }
else { //what to do if the post value isnt set. }