Session variables missing when redirecting from extension

Thursday 12 October 2006 2:28:26 pm

Here is the situation; I have an extension that uses the PEAR::HTML_Quickform package. When the form submits, it submits to itself and calls functions to perform input validation and process the data. In my data processing function, I attempt to set some session variables and depending on what happens redirect to another extension.

However, when I arrive at the second extension, the session variables I have set have disappeared. I've checked the session ID, and it does not change between the form and the extension you get redirected to. Prior to the redirect, a dump of the $_SESSION variable shows that the information is set. But, you get to the next page and the $_SESSION variable dump shows the information is gone.

I have tried a number of methods to set the variables and redirect to the page. A skeleton of my extension is below; I'll add in the various methods I have tried. No clue as to why this is happening. Using eZ 3.6.3, PHP 4.3.9.

<?php
/**
 * Include Exponential libraries and set necessary module variables 
 */
include_once("kernel/common/template.php");
include_once( "lib/ezutils/classes/ezuri.php" );
include_once( "lib/ezutils/classes/ezhttptool.php" );

$eZURI =& eZURI::instance();
$userParameters = $eZURI->userParameters();

$http =& eZHTTPTool::instance();

$Module =& $Params["Module"];
$Module->setTitle("View");

/**
 * Include libraries and set necessary variables
 */
$directoryLevel = "/path/to/classes/";
require_once($directoryLevel . "class/Foo.php");

/**
 * Form processing functions
 */
function doSomething($formData)
{
    // Method 1:  failure
    $_SESSION["stuff"] =& $stuff;
    header("Location:  /path/to/somewhere\r\n");
    exit();

    // Method 2:  failure
    $http =& eZHTTPTool::instance();
    $http->setSessionVariable("stuff", $stuff);
    $http->redirect("/path/to/somewhere");

    // Method 3:  failure
    $http =& eZHTTPTool::instance();
    $http->setSessionVariable("stuff", $stuff);
    header("Location:  /license/upgrade\r\n");
    exit();

    // Method 4:  failure
    $_SESSION["stuff"] =& $stuff;
    eZSessionStop();
    header("Location:  /path/to/somewhere\r\n");
    exit();

    // Method 5:  failure
    $http =& eZHTTPTool::instance();
    $http->setSessionVariable("stuff", $stuff);
    eZSessionStop();
    $http->redirect("/path/to/somewhere");

    // What will bring success?!
}

/**
 * Build the form
 */
$defaultInfo = array(
    );

// Create the form
$form =& new HTML_QuickForm("form", "post", $_SERVER["REQUEST_URI"], "_self", "", true);

$result = "";
// If the form validates, process the data.
if ($form>validate()) {
    $result = $form->process("doSomething", false);
}

// Create the Exponential template
$tpl =& templateInit();
$tpl->setVariable("module", $Module );
$tpl->setVariable("text", $text);

// Set the Exponential template variables
$Result = array();
$Result["content"] =& $tpl->fetch("design:license/Exponential.tpl");
$Result["path"] = array
    (
    array
        (
        "url"   => "/view",
        "text"  => "View"
        )
    );
?>

Friday 13 October 2006 6:36:42 am

@Kristof

Nope, that didn't work either. The other methods redirected to the second extension, but this one didn't even do that.

Thanks though; I'll look into the code for the module redirect and see if there is something else in or around it that might be useful to try.

Cheers.

Wednesday 01 November 2006 10:20:22 am

Upgrading to the latest version of eZ turned out to not be the solution to my problem (now on 3.6.11). I was misunderstanding how eZ was handling session information; this helped me clear up one issue. However, my primary issue remains. Here is the flow step by step.

1. End up on page /foo. This page contains a form.

2. Plug in values into the form and submit.

3. The form submits to the same page, /foo.

4. /foo detects that the form has been submitted and calls function validate()

5. Based on the form data, validate() sets certain session variables.

6. validate() finally does a header("Location: /bar");

7. Arriving at /bar shows that the session variables have vanished.

I've put debug statements nearly everywhere. In between steps 5 & 6, I dump out the entire $_SESSION variable to a log file. It shows that my variables are set. However, dumping $_SESSION out on step 7 shows that the variables set in the validate() function on /foo have disappeared.

I've also tried placing eZSessionStop() calls in various places (e.g., after setting my variables in validate() ) to flush things out, but that has not brought success either. Very stumped at this point.