session_id() problem with tabbed browsing

[pee_aych_pee]

To many of the seasoned PHP professionals who frequent this forum, this is probably a no-brainer.

 

I have visited many forums, and combed through the phpfreaks.com pages to find an answer, and haven't found one.

 

My application has multiple "views", each of which can be set by a simple login. If a user logs in and selects a view, and then subsequently opens a new tab in his browser, and logs in to the same application with a different view, the last login hijacks the first.

 

The unfortunate result is session information bleeding through into both browser tab instances, since they apparently are sharing the same session.

 

I have read that tabbed browsers, such as MSIE7, Firefox, Opera, etc. clone the page, rather instantiating a new one. The application works fine if a new browser window is opened before attempting to log in a second time.

 

<?php
session_start();
$view = $_SESSION['view'];
// DATABASE STUFF BELOW
?>

 

I attempted creating separate session_id's:

 

<?php
$unique_view_name = $_GET['unique_view_name'];
session_id($unique_view_name);
session_start();
$view = $_SESSION['view'];
// DATABASE STUFF BELOW
?>

 

...which works fine, but the application is enormous and full of legacy code which would need to be reworked to send a $_GET variable to inidicate which view is being used.

 

Is there a way to pull out this view name once, and use it to load the session_id() for all pages during the session?

 

Setting a session variable won't work before session_start(), and this is precisely where it needs to be set - and handed off to session_id().

 

I know using the $_GET superglobal is the defacto method for doing this, but it's inefficient to append every link and form action in my app with it. Besides, doing this would require finding a method of preserving the unique_view_name on concurrent pages without using a session variable.

 

I'm sure there is no easy answer.

 

Suggestions are appreciated.