Session variables return a NULL value

[KSI]

I'm trying to store my database values in a session so that whenever user logs in I can access those session variables to get their name, id, etc. To achieve this I'm using the following code:

Controller Class(login):

$this->load->view('crm/login/index',$main);
$clientdata=$this->login_model->get_row_cond($cond); 
$newdata = array(
                       'clientsessid'  => $clientdata->clients_id,
                       'clientsessuserid'  => $clientdata->id,
                       'clientsesskey'  => $clientdata->client_key,
                       'clientsesusername' => $clientdata->username, 
                       'clientsessemail' => $clientdata->email,
                       'client_loginid' => $loginid,
                       'client_logged_in' => TRUE
                );
                $this->session->set_userdata($newdata); 
                redirect('dashboard');

Model class:

function get_row_cond($cond)
    {
        $this->db->where($cond);
        $query = $this->db->get($this->table_name);
        return $query->row();
    }

View class(dashboard):

<?php var_dump( $this->session->userdata('clientsesusername')) ?>

But doing so returns a NULL value after the user has logged in. And I've checked the database and the username for the particular person is filled.

[gw1500se]

Where do you issue the session_start()?

[ginerjm]

You do realize that a session only last as long as the current lasts?  That means when the user logs in (again?) he is beginning a new session so whatever was saved is no longer available.  If you are looking to save a small piece of data or two, perhaps a cookie would be more useful, or a simple file that you first write out somewhere and then read back in when the user logs in again.