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@NogDogApr 18.2008 — #Just a sanity check here: setcookie() sends the applicable cookie HTTP header to the browser; but it does not set any value in the $_COOKIE array. You therefore will not see anything in $_COOKIE['firstname'] etc. until you access another page (or the same page again) from the same domain while the cookie has not yet expired.
Sorry if this is not the issue and you knew this already, but I've run into a number of occasions where people did not understand this, and thought that setcookie() would immediately set the value in the $_COOKIE array in the currently executing script.@NogDogApr 18.2008 — #Are you setting the cookie before [i]anything[/i] is output to the browser, including any text, spaces, newlines, etc. not within <?php ?> tags as well as echo/print commands? If not, the cookie will not be sent, as headers cannot be sent once any output is generated. Doing so should generate a warning. If you haven't already, you might want to turn on all error reporting while debugging, by adding the following lines to the top of the script:
@NogDogApr 18.2008 — #Sorry if I confused you. I meant that any output prior to the setcookie() would stop it from working, and "output" includes any text not contained within <?php ?> tags (including blank lines/spaces before the opening <?php tag).
I'd still recommend adding the debug code I suggested at the start of your script, as it may tell you things like if you're trying to use unset variables, etc. that might indicate where the problem is.
Another thing you need to look out for is domain confusion, such as accessing one page via "www.example.com" but another via "example.com", as they will not share cookies unless you adjust your PHP settings. You can avoid this by specifying the domain in the setcookie function, using the format ".example.com" (note the leading period).
@NogDogApr 18.2008 — #I can't think of any other "gotchas" at the moment. Here's a simple all-in-one script, if you want to play around with it to see if it provides any revelations for you.
PHP setcookie function
Hi, I’m trying to set a simple cookie using php, but it isn’t working for some reason. Just curious if anyone has an idea.
[code=php]$name = $_POST[‘firstname’].”_”.$_POST[‘lastname’];
setcookie (“name”, “$name”);
When I print the cookie it says the value is simply “_“. However, on the page that I set the cookie, I echo out $
Why isn’t the $_POST part getting written to the cookie?
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@NogDogApr 18.2008 — #Just a sanity check here: setcookie() sends the applicable cookie HTTP header to the browser; but it does not set any value in the $_COOKIE array. You therefore will not see anything in $_COOKIE['firstname'] etc. until you access another page (or the same page again) from the same domain while the cookie has not yet expired.Sorry if this is not the issue and you knew this already, but I've run into a number of occasions where people did not understand this, and thought that setcookie() would immediately set the value in the $_COOKIE array in the currently executing script.
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@NogDogApr 18.2008 — #Are you setting the cookie before [i]anything[/i] is output to the browser, including any text, spaces, newlines, etc. not within <?php ?> tags as well as echo/print commands? If not, the cookie will not be sent, as headers cannot be sent once any output is generated. Doing so should generate a warning. If you haven't already, you might want to turn on all error reporting while debugging, by adding the following lines to the top of the script:[code=php]
<?php
ini_set('display_errors', 1); // later set to 0 for production version
error_reporting(E_ALL);
// . . . rest of script
?>
[/code]0
@NogDogApr 18.2008 — #Sorry if I confused you. I meant that any output prior to the setcookie() would stop it from working, and "output" includes any text not contained within <?php ?> tags (including blank lines/spaces before the opening <?php tag).I'd still recommend adding the debug code I suggested at the start of your script, as it may tell you things like if you're trying to use unset variables, etc. that might indicate where the problem is.
Another thing you need to look out for is domain confusion, such as accessing one page via "www.example.com" but another via "example.com", as they will not share cookies unless you adjust your PHP settings. You can avoid this by specifying the domain in the setcookie function, using the format ".example.com" (note the leading period).
[code=php]
setcookie("name", $name, time() + 3600, '/', '.example.com');
[/code]0
@NogDogApr 18.2008 — #I can't think of any other "gotchas" at the moment. Here's a simple all-in-one script, if you want to play around with it to see if it provides any revelations for you.[code=php]
<?php
ini_set('display_errors', 1);
error_reporting(E_ALL);
// set cookies from post data if received
if(!empty($_POST))
{
foreach($_POST as $key => $val)
{
setcookie($key, $val, time() + 3600);
}
}
// else update exiting cookies if set
elseif(!empty($_COOKIE))
{
foreach($_COOKIE as $key => $val)
{
setcookie($key, $val, time() + 3600);
}
}
?>
<html>
<head>
<title>Test</title>
</head>
<body>
<p><a href="">Reload page</a></p>
<form action="" method="post">
<fieldset>
<legend>Test</legend>
<label>First name:
<input type="text" name="firstname" size="20" maxlength="20">
</label><br>
<label>Last name:
<input type="text" name="lastname" size="20" maxlength="20">
</label><br>
<input type="submit" value="Submit">
</fieldset>
</form>
<pre>
Post Data:
<?php
if(!empty($_POST))
{
print_r($_POST);
}
?>
Cookie Data:
<?php
if(!empty($_COOKIE))
{
print_r($_COOKIE);
}
?>
</pre>
</body>
</html>
[/code]