Req #52982 [Asn]: Expose php_session_active to userland via new function (patch included)

Edit report at https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=52982&edit=1 ID: 52982 Updated by: arpad@php.net Reported by: php dot net at kenman dot net Summary: Expose php_session_active to userland via new function (patch included) Status: Assigned Type: Feature/Change Request Package: Session related PHP Version: 5.3.3 Assigned To: kalle Block user comment: N Private report: N New Comment: If you're trying to establish whether it's safe to start your own session, this patch is deficient because PS(session_status) is not a boolean - it could also be php_session_disabled. I'd imagine robust code to handle this (rather unusual) case where you require a session but don't know if it's present, would be something like: if (session_is_available()) { if (!session_is_active()) { if (headers_sent()) { // bail out } else { session_start(); } } } else { // bail out } We could instead provide a session_status() function which corresponds to the internal enum (returning SESSION_DISABLED, SESSION_NONE or SESSION_ACTIVE.) I assume this is what Kalle was talking about WRT exposing the other values. Both options are trivial patches. The former seems friendlier but more prone to error. Previous Comments: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2011-07-25 17:25:54] php dot net at kenman dot net Any update on this? Simple request; I'm not exactly sure what all Kalle was speaking to WRT "expose the other values", but what I'm requested here is a tiny piece of functionality, and that is *all* that is being requested. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2010-10-05 07:34:11] php dot net at kenman dot net pajoye, I'm not sure if you understand which problem I'm trying to address here; it's not whether or not session_start() was successful, it's whether or not there is a current active session. Many times, in frameworks or other large-scale applications, you have no way of knowing whether session_start() has already been called. You cannot rely on session_id(), SID, session_start(), $_SESSION, or any other session functions or session functionality (that I'm aware of) to tell me "yes, you already have a session open" or "no, you do not have a session open" _before_ I call session_start(). ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2010-10-04 12:15:56] pajoye@php.net The notice is documented and can be disabled using the display error settings. To detect whether or not session_start was successful, you have to test its return value (as of 5.3.0). It is actually a documentation problem as the examples in the manual does not check the return values (maybe add one on top of them using 5.3+). ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2010-10-04 10:31:43] kalle@php.net If we are going to expose php_session_active, we might aswell expose the other values. I will cook up a patch and apply it to trunk shortly ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2010-10-04 04:45:37] php dot net at kenman dot net Description: ------------ Attempting to start a session after a session has already been started raises an E_NOTICE, however, there is no sane way to check if a session has already been started. The only ways that I could devise were using the shut-up op (@) or by creating wrapper functions around all of the session functions. This is extreme because there exists in the PHP source, code which can do this; my patch exposes this code for userland comsumption. More info: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3788369/how-to-tell-if-a-session-is-active Test script: --------------- session_start(); // 1000's of lines of code, which may/may not have closed the session session_start(); // how to tell if a session is active here? Expected result: ---------------- Should be able to ask PHP whether or not it knows of an active session. Actual result: -------------- Notice: A session had already been started - ignoring session_start() ------------------------------------------------------------------------ -- Edit this bug report at https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=52982&edit=1