[SOLVED] Logging out after a certain time.

[HappyPandaFace]

I am using a mySQL database to log in people to my website. I want to make it so if they stop using the site after a while it logs them out.  How would I do this?

[trq]

Sessions timeout automatically. Look in your php.ini if you like to change the time.

[Hysteresis]

Depends on what you mean by log out (you just want them not to appear in a "currently online" list after X minutes, or do you want them to actually have to type their user/pass in again) and depends on how you keep people logged in (sessions or cookies).  You need to phrase the question better.

[HappyPandaFace]

Ok, I'm actually running php as a side script with flash. Sorry I forgot to mention that. I need it to have the mySQL database log out the person on its own, so if they close the program it will not continue to say they are logged in. I don't think you need to know much about flash to solve this problem.

[PC Nerd]

um, still use the timeout, and just put ina catch when using the data, if ( !_COOKIE) {die("LOGGED OUT!");}

 

that should work

[jitesh]

Dynamically vary this "session.cookie_lifetime = 0" at php.ini

 

Or set it using .htaccess.

[rpadilla]

Hi,

 

  use cookie, like what other web apps do, when you check  the box,  remember me, this will save some

cookie values on the client computer, so when you open your the site again you don't need to re login.

 

basically the md5 hash of the password and username is saved in the cookie, and when the user goes to

the site again, it will read the cookie, and used the values to log you in.

 

Good luck.

[HappyPandaFace]

I rellay don't thank that's going to work for my situation. I'm trying to make it so if they close the program or something it still counts down for a time limit to log out. Even when no php script are running, then when it gets to zero it changes a variable in my mySQL server and other people read this and it says he's not logged in.

[rpadilla]

set the cookie expiration to what you need, say ... every refresh the cookie will be set to 1 hour,

if they close the apps and open again after 30 mins they are still logged in, if it is more than an hour,

the cookie has already expired.

 

In that way it still makes a count down

[Glyde]

I rellay don't thank that's going to work for my situation. I'm trying to make it so if they close the program or something it still counts down for a time limit to log out. Even when no php script are running, then when it gets to zero it changes a variable in my mySQL server and other people read this and it says he's not logged in.

This requires the use of a database.

Here's a simple breakdown so you can get the gist of what needs to be done:

 

You have a database table, let's call it tbl_sessions for now.  In tbl_sessions, there is a column called last_time.  Every time the user opens a new page on your site, last_time is set to the time() that that page was opened.  If a user doesn't open a page for say...30 minutes, last_time will obviously be set to a time 30 minutes ago.  So, when a user goes to the page to see who is online, your query basically says:

Select everything from tbl_sessions where the column last_time is GREATER THAN time() - 30 minutes.  I'm too lazy to write the SQL for that, although it's extremely simple...oh well, here it is:

$timeFrom = time() - (30 * 60);
$sql = "SELECT * FROM tbl_sessions WHERE last_time > $timeFrom";

That will return only the users who have opened a page in the last 30 seconds.  Now, as for assigning a user to a specific row in a table, that's where the cookies come in.  You have a column in tbl_sessions that is session_id.  In that session_id column, for each user that visits the site, a random 32 character code is generated.  That code is stored in session_id, and is also written to a cookie on the client's computer.  When the client returns to the site, your PHP scripts read the cookie, find that session_id, pull the information from tbl_sessions, and updates the last_time.

[btherl]

To add to Glyde's good suggestion, if you have a high volume of users you may want to make it so that the check is only done some of the time, not all of the time.  For example, if you have 10 hits per second, you might set it so the check is done every 100 hits (every 10 seconds).  A simple way to do this is

 

if (rand(1,100) == 1) {
  # do the check
}

[HappyPandaFace]

I rellay don't thank that's going to work for my situation. I'm trying to make it so if they close the program or something it still counts down for a time limit to log out. Even when no php script are running, then when it gets to zero it changes a variable in my mySQL server and other people read this and it says he's not logged in.

This requires the use of a database.

Here's a simple breakdown so you can get the gist of what needs to be done:

 

You have a database table, let's call it tbl_sessions for now.  In tbl_sessions, there is a column called last_time.  Every time the user opens a new page on your site, last_time is set to the time() that that page was opened.  If a user doesn't open a page for say...30 minutes, last_time will obviously be set to a time 30 minutes ago.  So, when a user goes to the page to see who is online, your query basically says:

Select everything from tbl_sessions where the column last_time is GREATER THAN time() - 30 minutes.  I'm too lazy to write the SQL for that, although it's extremely simple...oh well, here it is:

$timeFrom = time() - (30 * 60);
$sql = "SELECT * FROM tbl_sessions WHERE last_time > $timeFrom";

That will return only the users who have opened a page in the last 30 seconds.  Now, as for assigning a user to a specific row in a table, that's where the cookies come in.  You have a column in tbl_sessions that is session_id.  In that session_id column, for each user that visits the site, a random 32 character code is generated.  That code is stored in session_id, and is also written to a cookie on the client's computer.  When the client returns to the site, your PHP scripts read the cookie, find that session_id, pull the information from tbl_sessions, and updates the last_time.

So what happens if two people playing are in different time zones, does it save the time to the database locally or globally?

[HappyPandaFace]

Nevermind I got it. Thx.

[boo_lolly]

Nevermind I got it. thanks.

 

mind telling us how you did it... you know... for other people who may have this problem in the future. for people like you who come to people like us for help. right?

[HappyPandaFace]

Nevermind I got it. thanks.

 

mind telling us how you did it... you know... for other people who may have this problem in the future. for people like you who come to people like us for help. right?

Its the time is relative to your server.