Chapter 9 PHP Cookies & Sessions

Chapter 9
Cookies & Sessions in PHP

What is Cookie?
• A cookie is a small file that the web server
stores on the client computer to be used
only by the website setting the cookies.
• Once a cookie has been set, all page
requests that follow return the cookie name
and value.
• It is often used to identify a user.
2
What is Cookie?
• A cookie created by a user can only be
visible to him. Other users cannot see its
value.
3
Why and when to use Cookies?
• Http is a stateless protocol, in other word
the server will forget everything related to
client/browser state.
• Personalizing the user experience – this is
achieved by allowing users to select their
preferences.
• Tracking the pages visited by a user.
4
Advantages of using cookies
• Cookies are simple to use and implement.
• Occupies less memory, do not require any
server resources and are stored on the
user's computer.
• Cookies persist a much longer period of
time than Session state.
5
Disadvantages of using cookies
• Cookies are not secure as they are stored in
clear text and they may pose a possible
security risk.
• Several limitations exist on the size of the
cookie text (4kb in general), number of
cookies (20 per site in general), etc.
6
Disadvantages of using cookies (cont…)
• User has the option of disabling cookies on
his computer from browser’s setting.
• Users can delete a cookies.
• Complex type of data not allowed. It allows
only plain text.
7
Creating Cookies
• A cookie is created with the setcookie ( )
function. Let’s now look at the basic syntax used
to create a cookie.
• Example:
<?php
setcookie (cookie_name, cookie_value,
[expiry_time], [cookie_path], [domain],
[secure], [httponly]);
?> 8
setcookie ( ) Parameters
Only the name and value parameters are required. All
other parameters are optional. Where,
• “setcookie” is the PHP function used to create the
cookie.
• “cookie_name” is the name of the cookie that the
server will use when retrieving its value from the
$_COOKIE array variable.
• “cookie_value” is the value of the cookie.
9
setcookie ( ) Parameters (cont…)
• “[expiry_time]” is optional; it can be used to set the
expiry time for the cookie. The time is set using the
PHP time ( ) function plus a number of seconds
greater than 0. Default is 0 which mean that the
cookie will expire at the end of the session (when the
browser closes).
• “[cookie_path]” is optional; it can be used to set the
cookie path on the server. The forward slash “/”
means that the cookie will be made available on the
entire domain. 10
setcookie ( ) Parameters (cont…)
• “[domain]” is optional, it can be used to define the
cookie access hierarchy.
• “[secure]” is optional, default is false. It is used to
determine whether the cookie is sent via https if it is
set to true or http if it is set to false.
• “[Httponly]” is optional, default is false. If it is set to
true, then only client side scripting languages
i.e. JavaScript can access them.
11
Notice
• The php setcookie function must appear before
the HTML opening tag.
12
Exmple
<?php
$cookie_name = "user";
$cookie_value = "Abdullahi Mohamed Ali";
$cookie_time = 60;
setcookie($cookie_name, $cookie_value, time
() + $cookie_time);
?>
13
Retrieving the Cookie value
• You can retrieve cookie’s values using PHP built-
in super global variable $_COOKIE (passed
cookie name as index). It contains the name and
value of the cookie.
• We also use the isset ( ) function to find out if
the cookie is set.
14
Example
<?php
if(!isset($_COOKIE[$cookie_name]))
echo (" Cookie named $cookie_name is not set");
else {
echo (" The cookie '$cookie_name' has been set
for $cookie_time seconds");
echo (" Value is: " . $_COOKIE[$cookie_name]);
}
?>
15
Delete Cookies
• If you want to destroy a cookie before its expiry
time, then you set the expiry time to a time that
has already passed.
• Example:
setcookie ($cookie_name, $cookie_value, time ( )
- 60);
16
Check if Cookies are Enabled
• Create a cookie then count the $_COOKIE array
variable.
• For example,
<?php
if(count($_COOKIE) > 0)
echo "Cookies are enabled.";
else
echo "Cookies are disabled.";
?> 17
What is a Session?
• A session is a way to store information (in global
variables) on the server to be used across
multiple pages. Unlike a cookie, the information
is not stored on the user’s computer, it’s stored
on the server.
• Each session is assigned a unique id which is
used to retrieve stored values.
18
What is a Session? (cont…)
• Sessions have the capacity to store relatively
large data compared to cookies.
• The session values are automatically deleted
when the browser is closed.
• If you want to store the values permanently,
then you should store them in the database.
19
Advantages of Sessions
• Session provide us the way of maintain user
state/data.
• Session variables are really one of the only ways of
having these variables available for the entire time
that visitor is on the website.
• It is very easy to implement.
• One big advantage of session is that we can store any
kind of data type in it.
20
Disadvantages of Sessions
• Performance overhead in case of large volumes of
data/user, because session data is stored in server
memory.
21
Retrieving Session Variables
• Like the $_COOKIE array variable, session variables
are stored in the $_SESSION array variable.
• Just like cookies, the session must be started
before any HTML tags.
• You can use sessions when developing an
application such as a shopping cart that has to
temporary store information with a capacity larger
than 4KB.
22
Creating a Session
• In order to create a session, you must first call
the PHP session_start ( ) function and then store
your values in the $_SESSION array variable.
• We use the isset ( ) function to find out if the
session is set.
• Next slide example demonstrates how to
retrieve values from sessions and displays
number of times that a page has been loaded.
23
Example
<?php
session_start ( );
if(isset($_SESSION['page_count']))
$_SESSION['page_count'] += 1;
else
$_SESSION['page_count'] = 1;
echo 'You are visitor number ' . $_SESSION['page_count'];
?>
24
Destroying Session Variables
• The session_destroy ( ) function is used to
destroy the whole PHP session variables. If you
want to destroy only a single session item, you
use the unset ( ) function.
25
Example
<?php
session_destroy ( );
unset ($_SESSION['page_count']);
?>
26
Notice
• session_destroy ( ) function removes all the
session data including cookies associated with
the session. Unset function only frees the
individual session variables. Other data remains
intact.
27
Chapter Summary
• Cookies are small files saved on the user’s
computer.
• Cookies can only be read from the issuing
domain.
• Cookies can have an expiry time, if it is not set,
then the cookie expires when the browser is
closed.
28
Chapter Summary (cont…)
• Sessions are like global variables stored on the
server.
• Each session is given a unique identification that
is used to track the variables for a user.
• Both cookies and sessions must be started
before any HTML tags have been sent to the
browser.
29
`
END
30

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Cookies & Sessions in PHP

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