[SOLVED] Session ending when browser closed

[Distant_storm]

I have a problem with my sessions, it is for storing very simple data.

 

a) name

b) ip

c) time

 

 

my set up of the session ini goes as so...

 

 

ini_set('session.gc_maxlifetime', time() + 300);

ini_set('session.cookie_lifetime', time() + 300);

session_start();

 

$_SESSION['name'] = "name";

$_SESSION['ip'] = $_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR'];

$_SESSION['time'] = time();

 

Now when checking these i use this

 

if (!isset($_SESSION['name'])) {

 

set session balh blah with the above ini settings

 

} else {

 

retrive the values

 

}

 

 

 

ok so is their any reason why that should everytime i close my browser start a new session?

 

Its nothing to do with my cookie settings on my computer because all other sites are fine.

 

Much apreciated for your help

 

Matt

 

[revraz]

Sessions are supposed to reset when you close your browser.

[Distant_storm]

How can I get it to stop ending the session when the browser closes. If this code is somewhere and presented simply in another post feel free to redirect me to it. Thanks.

 

 

[alecks]

I don't think that is possible; as said above sessions are only open as long as the user's browser is. 'Remember me' features generally use cookies to start a user's session again.

[rarebit]

Yep, that's the difference between cookies and session cookies!

[Distant_storm]

Ahh well in that case Id prefer to use cookies. Does anyone know how to stop cookies from expiring after the browser is closed ?

so forgetting sessions all together and just cookies instead. Sorry if this topic is already covered elswhere

[rarebit]

They don't, that's why their not session cookies...

[toplay]

PHP sessions can last after the browser is closed but it's not recommended.

 

You are setting the right variable names but you're setting them wrong with using time(). Also, 300 is just 5 minutes.

 

Set session.cookie_lifetime to the number of seconds you want the session cookie to last (i.e. 2592000 seconds = 30 days). The default is 0 which means the session cookie will last until the browser is closed. Set the number of cookie seconds a little longer than the session.gc_maxlifetime. See manual:

http://us2.php.net/manual/en/ref.session.php#ini.session.cookie-lifetime

http://us2.php.net/manual/en/ref.session.php#ini.session.gc-maxlifetime

 

Make sure session.use_cookies is enabled (which it is by default):

http://us2.php.net/manual/en/ref.session.php#ini.session.use-cookies

 

[PFMaBiSmAd]

If you have tried to use both sessions and cookies and they both don't work, it is highly likely that your code is outputting content to the browser prior to the session_start() or the setcookie(). Either check your web server log for errors and/or turn on full php error reporting. Also, posting your actual code would help in allowing someone to see what you are actually doing in it.

[toplay]

Ahh well in that case Id prefer to use cookies. Does anyone know how to stop cookies from expiring after the browser is closed ?

so forgetting sessions all together and just cookies instead. Sorry if this topic is already covered elswhere

 

There's example code on how to set cookie expiration on this manual page:

http://us2.php.net/manual/en/function.setcookie.php

 

setcookie() is where you can use the time()+3600 type of notation.

 

 

[Distant_storm]

Thanks for all your help people massive amount of responses. I have used some cookie settings. The data isnt that at risk so its not so important to use sessions although I am always looking to improve on php so sessions cookies is something i must read up on. I think in the code i posted up above I forgot to increase the cookie max lifetime more than the gc maxlifetime.

 

Thanks alot for people who put in alot of detail really cleared things up for me

 

Great support from you lot !