#43980 [Opn->]: Difficult to unserialize session data in user session save function

ID: 43980 Updated by: jani@php.net Reported By: rhm31 at cam dot ac dot uk -Status: Open +Status: Wont Fix Bug Type: Session related Operating System: Linux PHP Version: 4.4.8 New Comment: We are sorry, but we can not support PHP 4 related problems anymore. Momentum is gathering for PHP 6, and we think supporting PHP 4 will lead to a waste of resources which we want to put into getting PHP 6 ready. Previous Comments: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2008-01-30 02:49:47] rhm31 at cam dot ac dot uk Description: ------------ A custom session handler has a save function, which is given an opaque piece of session data. No functions are provided to modify this data, even though this can be useful in some cases. As a workaround, session_decode and session_encode can be used. However, there are some problems: 1. BUG:session_start() must be called in the save function; presumably because in the save handler the session is already closed. 2. HARD TO USE:The functions do not simply take a string and return an array or vise-versa; instead they work directly on the $_SESSION array. This means you cannot easily use them for generic purposes. A function that implements decode_session below could be added to the standard library, and the existing functions deprecated, since this function subsumes them. Also, a similar function for encode_session. Reproduce code: --------------- function decode_session($session_string) { $current_session=session_encode(); foreach($_SESSION as $key => $value) { unset($_SESSION[$key]); } session_decode($session_string); $restored_session = $_SESSION; foreach ($_SESSION as $key => $value){ unset($_SESSION[$key]); } session_decode($current_session); return $restored_session; } Expected result: ---------------- The session_string to be decoded and returned as an array. Actual result: -------------- An empty array is returned with no error message when above function is called from a session save handler. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ -- Edit this bug report at http://bugs.php.net/?id=43980&edit=1