PHP: Maintain session data with a class object

Question

I am a PHP OOP newbie and I am currently learning sessions. I have created a session class which is supposed to check if session variable $_SESSION['userID'] is set, and set the login status to true; as well as set the user id.There is also a function, setVars() to set other object properties when called: session.php

<?php 
class Session
{
public  $log_in_status=false;
public  $userID;
public  $fname;
public  $class_id;
public  $email;

public function __construct()
{
session_start();

if ($_SESSION['userID'])
{
    $this->log_in_status = true;
    $this->userID = $_SESSION['userID'];
}
else
{
    $this->log_in_status = false;
    unset($_SESSION['userID']);             
}
}


public function setVars($classID, $email, $fname)
{
$this->class_id = $classID;
$this->email    = $email;
$this->fname    = $fname;
}
}

$session = new Session();

The above class is in a require_once statement in init.php file:

<?php 
 #init.php
 require_once("session.php");

Page1.php sets some properties in the $session instance by calling the setVars method, and after echo them to the screen. However, page2.php is not able to echo these same values from the object properties:

<?php
# page1.php

  require_once("init.php");

  $class_id = 1;
  $email    = "[email protected]";
  $fname    = "Toto The Dog";

  $session->setVars($class_id, $email, $fname);


?>

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
    <head>
        <title>Testing sessions</title>
    </head>
    <body>
    <?php
        echo "Page 1 <br> <br>";
        echo "objectClassID: "   .$session->class_id . "<br>";
        echo "objectEmail  : "   . $session->email . "<br>";
        echo "objectFname  : "   . $session->fname . "<br> <br>";


        echo "<a href='page2.php'>Go to Page 2</a>";
    ?>
    </body>
</html>

//--------------------------------------------

<?php
# page2.php

 require_once("init.php"); 
?>

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
    <head>
        <title>Testing sessions</title>
    </head>
    <body>
        <?php
            echo "Page 2 <br> <br>";
            echo "objectClassID: "   . $session->class_id . "<br>";
            echo "objectEmail  : "   . $session->email . "<br>";
            echo "objectFname  : "   . $session->fname . "<br> <br>";

            echo "<a href='page1.php'>Go to Page 1</a>";
        ?>
    </body>
</html>

How can I get page2.php to be able to display the $session object properties?

I highly recommend removing the closing PHP tag (ie ?>) for any file where it's the last line. See stackoverflow.com/questions/4410704/… — Phil
As for your problem, you're never storing the vars in the session — Phil
There is no sign of OOP in your Session class. It is procedural programming disguised as OOP. Remove the Session class, it is useless, use $_SESSION[] directly and your code will be smaller, faster and easier to read an understand. — axiac

Phil Phil · Accepted Answer · 2017-07-07T00:15:42

If you want to persist the vars across pages, you need to store them in the $_SESSION array. For example

<?php 
class Session {
  public $log_in_status = false;
  public $userID;
  public $fname;
  public $class_id;
  public $email;

  public function __construct() {
    session_start();

    if (isset($_SESSION['userID'])) {
        $this->log_in_status = true;
        $this->userID = $_SESSION['userID'];
    }

    $this->class_id = isset($_SESSION['class_id']) ? $_SESSION['class_id'] : null;
    $this->email = isset($_SESSION['email']) ? $_SESSION['email'] : null;
    $this->fname = isset($_SESSION['fname']) ? $_SESSION['fname'] : null;
  }

  public function setVars($classID, $email, $fname) {
    $this->class_id = $_SESSION['class_id'] = $classID;
    $this->email = $_SESSION['email'] = $email;
    $this->fname = $_SESSION['fname'] = $fname;
  }
}

$session = new Session();

PHP: Maintain session data with a class object

1 Answers