Pass the login details to another page using session PHP

Question

I need the login details in another page for retrieving the data from the database. Basically, I need to display the editable form with the details of the user logged in. I tried session_register() for storing the username in login.php page. But for some reason I am not able to display the username using $_SESSION[] in my edit.php page. I am doing this after the function session_start() as well.

I am new to php, so don't know whether I misunderstood session! Or is there any other way to pass the login details?

Thanks in advance

My code:

**Login.php**
      <?php
       $userName = $_POST['username'];
      $password = $_POST['password'];
      //Connect to the database
      //query the database
        if($rows==1)
       {
      session_start();
       $_SESSION['user']=$userName;
     header("location:edit_user.php");
     }
      else
      {
     echo 'Data Does Not Match <br /> Re-Enter UserName and Password';
     }
     ?>

**In edit.php**
    <?php
    session_start();
    if(!isset($_SESSION['user']))
   {
    header("location:login_form.php");
   }
   else
   {
    echo $_SESSION['user'];
    }
    ?>

Solution 1

First of all make sure that you place session_start() at the very beginning of any script you use it in. There can be no output to the browser before you call session_start() and that includes spaces or new-lines before the opening <?php tag.

So:

<?php
session_start();
...

Second, make sure you terminate your script after a redirect, for example:

header("location:edit_user.php");
exit();

That makes sure that no code after the redirect gets executed, so sessions won't get unset or session variables changed by accident.

Solution 2

session_register() is a deprecated function. Just use $_SESSION["bar"] = "foo" to store something.

Solution 3

for future references, please post parts of your code when you are asking questions. It helps everyone to give you an answer in more specific cases.

<?php
session_start();

if(!isset($_SESSION['Foo']))
{
    $_SESSION['Foo'] = "Bar";
}
?>

---

Source : http://php.net/manual/en/features.sessions.php

Comments

[Maggi]

I need to store $_SESSION['xyz']=$userName where $userName=$_POST['username']. Am I wrong with the syntax?

[Pramodh]

You can directly assign $_SESSION['xyz']=$_POST['username'] but for that you need the username data field from a form. You can take that data while user is logging in after verifying his login.