Session array only stores the last element

Question

I am trying to track the pages a user visits and the day of the visits using session variables. In my pages, I assigned the variables as arrays like this:

session_start();
$_SESSION['page']=array();
$_SESSION['page'][]=$_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'];
$_SESSION['time']=array();
$_SESSION['time'][]=date("m/d/y", time());

I used the following script to print the variables out:

<?php
session_start();
print_r($_SESSION['page']);
print_r($_SESSION['time']);
?>

After I visited several pages, the above script only printed the last page I visited instead of showing all the pages. Can anyone help me troubleshoot please? Thank you.

$_SESSION['page']=array(); Every time you load a page, you are replacing 'page' with a blank array. — gen_Eric
– gen_Eric, Commented May 7, 2013 at 20:23

hek2mgl · Accepted Answer · 2013-05-07 20:22:51Z

5

That's because you initialize the arrays again and again on every page visit. Use something like this instead:

// initialize array only if it not already exists:
if(!is_array($_SESSION['page'])) {
    $_SESSION['page']=array();
}
$_SESSION['page'][]=$_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'];

...

answered May 7, 2013 at 20:22

hek2mgl

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Comments

sybear · Accepted Answer · 2013-05-07 20:23:19Z

1

You redeclare array each time, thus cleaning it:

$_SESSION['page']=array();

Solution: Check if array exists, add an element.

if (!isset($_SESSION['page'])){
  $_SESSION['page'] = array();
}
$_SESSION['page'][] = "New data" ;

answered May 7, 2013 at 20:23

sybear

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Comments

user1299518 · Accepted Answer · 2013-05-07 20:23:43Z

1

yes, you must do it this way:

if (!isset($_SESSION['time'])) {
   $_SESSION['time'] = array();
}
if (!isset($_SESSION['page'])) {
   $_SESSION['page'] = array();
}
$_SESSION['time'][] = date("m/d/y", time());

otherwise, you just overwrite again and again the 'time' key..

answered May 7, 2013 at 20:23

user1299518

Comments

Sid · Accepted Answer · 2013-05-07 20:22:48Z

0

Remove below lines from your code.

$_SESSION['page']=array();
$_SESSION['time']=array();

Above lines are resetting your session variables.

answered May 7, 2013 at 20:22

Sid

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Comments

user1646111 · Accepted Answer · 2013-05-07 20:23:44Z

0

You are re-setting them to empty array each time you save new session:

$_SESSION['page']=array(); // the $_SESSION['page'] now is empty
$_SESSION['page'][]=$_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'];

answered May 7, 2013 at 20:23

user1646111

Comments

rami · Accepted Answer · 2013-05-07 20:39:56Z

0

I would store that kind of information in a DB and call it whenever you need it.

But to answer your exact question about doing it in the session variable, just use something like the following:

session_start();

/****Record visit****/
$newvisit=array();
$newvisit['page']=$_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'];
$newvisit['time']=date("m/d/y",time());

/****Store visit in SESSION****/
if(!empty($_SESSION['visits'])){
    array_push($_SESSION['visits'],$newvisit);
}else{
    $_SESSION['visits'][0]=$newvisit;
}

Like others have mentioned, the main problem with your code is that you were writing over the same session variable.

answered May 7, 2013 at 20:39

rami

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