RE: unserialize() unexpectedly returns a boolean

My original e-mail, unanswered, is referenced below. I am in serious need of HELP. To prevent the $SESSION variable from getting set to a boolean, I wrote the following loop with the idea that if the error happened in unserializing the data in the database, I would simply query the database again, and unserialize the data anew: while(gettype($SESSION)<>"array") { $sessionError++; $select=new dbLOCAL; $query="SELECT data FROM sessions WHERE id='".$sessid."'"; $select->query($query); $select->next_record(); $SESSION=unserialize($select->Record["data"]); echo $select->Record["data"]; echo "<br>"; echo gettype($SESSION); echo "<br>"; } $select is obviously an object. The next_record() method uses the mysql_fetch_array() function to get put the data into the Record property. I added the echo statements to see what was happening if and when the loop executed. Well, it eventually did and I had to physically terminate the script in my browser as the conditional for the loop never evaluated TRUE. Echoed out to my browser was the following: a:2:{s:4:\"USER\";a:15:{s:8:\"loggedIn\";i:1;s:7:\"user_id\";s:1:\"1\";s:5:\ "admin\";s:3:\"Yes\";s:10:\"contact_id\";s:1:\"1\";s:5:\"first\";s:2:\"AA\"; s:4:\"last\";s:8:\"Aaaaaaaa\";s:7:\"company\";s:3:\"ABC\";s:6:\"street\";s:1 8:\"8158 AAAAAA Avenue\";s:4:\"city\";s:11:\"Los Angeles\";s:5:\"state\";s:1:\"5\";s:7:\"zipcode\";s:5:\"00000\";s:7:\"countr y\";s:13:\"United States\";s:5:\"phone\";s:14:\"(000) 000-0000\";s:3:\"fax\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"email\";s:13:\"ted@3bits.com\";}s:7:\" CONTACT\";a:1:{i:1;a:11:{s:5:\"first\";s:2:\"AA\";s:4:\"last\";s:8:\"Aaaaaaa a\";s:7:\"company\";s:3:\"ABC\";s:6:\"street\";s:18:\"8158 AAAAAA Avenue\";s:4:\"city\";s:11:\"Los Angeles\";s:5:\"state\";s:1:\"5\";s:7:\"zipcode\";s:5:\"00000\";s:7:\"countr y\";s:13:\"United States\";s:5:\"phone\";s:14:\"(000) 000-0000\";s:3:\"fax\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"email\";s:13:\"ted@3bits.com\";}}} boolean a:2:{s:4:\"USER\";a:15:{s:8:\"loggedIn\";i:1;s:7:\"user_id\";s:1:\"1\";s:5:\ "admin\";s:3:\"Yes\";s:10:\"contact_id\";s:1:\"1\";s:5:\"first\";s:2:\"AA\"; s:4:\"last\";s:8:\"Aaaaaaaa\";s:7:\"company\";s:3:\"ABC\";s:6:\"street\";s:1 8:\"8158 AAAAAA Avenue\";s:4:\"city\";s:11:\"Los Angeles\";s:5:\"state\";s:1:\"5\";s:7:\"zipcode\";s:5:\"00000\";s:7:\"countr y\";s:13:\"United States\";s:5:\"phone\";s:14:\"(000) 000-0000\";s:3:\"fax\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"email\";s:13:\"ted@3bits.com\";}s:7:\" CONTACT\";a:1:{i:1;a:11:{s:5:\"first\";s:2:\"AA\";s:4:\"last\";s:8:\"Aaaaaaa a\";s:7:\"company\";s:3:\"ABC\";s:6:\"street\";s:18:\"8158 AAAAAA Avenue\";s:4:\"city\";s:11:\"Los Angeles\";s:5:\"state\";s:1:\"5\";s:7:\"zipcode\";s:5:\"00000\";s:7:\"countr y\";s:13:\"United States\";s:5:\"phone\";s:14:\"(000) 000-0000\";s:3:\"fax\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"email\";s:13:\"ted@3bits.com\";}}} boolean AND SO ON... Can anyone please tell me why this is happening and what I can do to correct it??? Thank you, Ted > -----Original Message----- > From: TR Henigson [mailto:ted@3bits.com] > Sent: Friday, January 19, 2001 9:13 AM > To: T. R. Henigson > Subject: FW: unserialize() unexpectedly returns a boolean > > > I built an e-commerce application using PHP4 session management. > I store all data in an array, $SESSION, which I register with the > session. Most of the time, $SESSION is restored as expected on > the loading of a new page. Every now and then, however, $SESSION > is restored as a boolean variable with value 0. All of the > contents of the original array are, of course, lost. Have I > encountered a known problem? I attempted to circumvent the issue > by writing my own session management logic the implementation of > which follows: > > I store a serialized representation of the array $SESSION with > serialize() in a MySQL database indexed by the session id. On a > page load, I query the database and unserialize the data with > unserialize() and thus, $SESSION is restored. At the end of the > page, I serialize $SESSION again and write it to the database. > I ultimately experienced the same problem with my code where > $SESSION was indiscriminately set to a boolean of value 0. This > error is not reproducible in any predictable way. In my custom > session management, I was however able to implement debugging > logic that provides the following information: > > PHP is faithfully retrieving the serialized session data from the > MySQL database. The unserialize() function seems to be the > problem. Every so often, it results in the boolean variable > despite the fact that the serialized data it operates on > represents an array. For example, I determined from my debugging > log (physical data has been altered for privacy): > > 1. raw data extracted from database and stored into $rawData: > > a:2:{s:4:"USER";a:15:{s:8:"loggedIn";i:1;s:7:"user_id";s:1:"1"; > s:5 :"admin";s > :3:"Yes";s:10:"contact_id";s:1:"1";s:5:"first";s: > 4:"John";s:4:"las t";s:3:"Do > e";s:7:"company";s:3:"ABC";s:6: > "street";s:18:"#### XXXXXX Avenue";s:4:"city";s:11:"Los > Angeles" > > ;s:5:"state";s:1:"5";s:7:"zipcode";s:5:"######";s:7:"country";s: > 13:"United States";s:5:"phone";s:14:"(323) > 555-5555";s:3:"fax"; > s:0:"";s:5:"email";s:13:"ted@3bits.com";}s:7:" > CONTACT";a :1:{i > > :1;a:11:{s:5:"first";s:4:"John";s:4:"last";s:3:"Doe";s:7:"company" > ;s:3: "ABC";s:6:"street";s:18:"#### XXXXXXX > Avenue";s:4:"city" > ;s:11:"Los > Angeles";s:5:"state";s:1:"5";s:7:"zipcode";s:5:"#####" > ;s:7:"country";s:13:"United States";s:5:"phone";s:14:"(323) > > 555-5555";s:3:"fax";s:0:"";s:5:"email";s:13:"ted@3bits.com";}}} > > 2. then raw data is unserialized into session variable $SESSION= > unserialize($rawData) > > 3. session variable is immediately typed with gettype($SESSION) > and it's a boolean As I said before, this happens only irregularly. > Most of the time, gettype() properly determines $SESSION is an > array which, when examined, contains the unserialized data from > the database. Every now and then, though, it's a boolean with a > value of 0. So I guess my first question is does anyone know what > is going on here? Second, does native PHP4 session management use > the unserialize() function. And third, is unserialize() broken? > > Ted Henigson