cookies and php - basics

#1 July 17th, 2005, 04:20 AM

This is about the simplest example I could come up with, but for some reason
(not my browser's settings) it's not working...

[top of page]
<?php
setcookie($cookie_name, "cookie_content", time()+3600);
?>
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd">
<html>
<head>
<title>cookie test</title>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
</head>
<body>

<?php
if (isset($cookie_name))
{
print "Welcome! ";
}
else
{
print "Go away.";
}
?>

</body>
</html>

Am I missing something? thx

#2 July 17th, 2005, 04:20 AM

Ah Ha... got it working

<?php
$cookie_name = "the_cookie_name"; <== this is what was missing
$cookie_content = "the_cookie_content";
setcookie($cookie_name, $cookie_content, time()+3600);
?>
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd">
<html>
<head>
<title>cookie test</title>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
</head>
<body>

<?php
if (isset($cookie_name))
{
print "Welcome! ";
}
else
{
print "Go away.";
}
?>

</body>
</html>

As for best practices, should the cookie code always be at the top of the page
like this?

#3 July 17th, 2005, 04:20 AM

umm... on second thought... back to the drawing board
"deko" <dje422@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:0lw7c.41201$OG6.20733@newssvr25.news.prodigy. com...[color=blue]
> Ah Ha... got it working
>
> <?php
> $cookie_name = "the_cookie_name"; <== this is what was missing
> $cookie_content = "the_cookie_content";
> setcookie($cookie_name, $cookie_content, time()+3600);
> ?>
> <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"
> "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd">
> <html>
> <head>
> <title>cookie test</title>
> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
> </head>
> <body>
> 
> <?php
> if (isset($cookie_name))
> {
> print "Welcome! ";
> }
> else
> {
> print "Go away.";
> }
> ?>
> 
> </body>
> </html>
>
> As for best practices, should the cookie code always be at the top of the page
> like this?
>
>[/color]

#4 July 17th, 2005, 04:20 AM

Here's beta 2 - but something is still not right. I still get in without
waiting 2 hours....

<?php
$cookie_name = "www.mysite.com";
setcookie($cookie_name, time(), time()+7200); //say cookie is received at
3:00pm
//question: if the cookie has NOT yet expired, will it be set again?
//if yes, how do I prevent cookie from being set if it has not expired?
?>
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd">
<html>
<head>
<title>cookie test</title>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
</head>
<body>

<?php
$cookie_content = $HTTP_COOKIE_VARS[$cookie_name];
if ($cookie_content > (time()-7200))
//say it's now 4:00pm - if your cookie timestamp (3:00pm) is greater than
//(i.e. after) 2:00pm (now minus 2 hours) then you can't come in
{
print "Go away! You are allowed in here only once every 2 hours.";
}
else
{
print "Welcome! You have not been here more than once in the past 2 hours.";
}
?>

</body>
</html>

#5 July 17th, 2005, 04:20 AM

*** deko wrote/escribió (Mon, 22 Mar 2004 07:02:23 GMT):[color=blue]
> This is about the simplest example I could come up with, but for some reason
> (not my browser's settings) it's not working...
>
>
> [top of page]
> <?php
> setcookie($cookie_name, "cookie_content", time()+3600);
> ?>[/color]

Please note you never give any value to $cookie_name variable so cookie is
created without any name, just a value.

Set-Cookie: =cookie_content; expires=Mon, 22-Mar-04 10:30:51 GMT

--
--
-- Álvaro G. Vicario - Burgos, Spain
--

#6 July 17th, 2005, 04:20 AM

Sorry, I hadn't read your followups.

*** deko wrote/escribió (Mon, 22 Mar 2004 09:07:13 GMT):[color=blue]
> //question: if the cookie has NOT yet expired, will it be set again?[/color]

Sure. Why shouldn't?
[color=blue]
> //if yes, how do I prevent cookie from being set if it has not expired?[/color]

if()

Check first whether cookie exists.

[color=blue]
> if ($cookie_content > (time()-7200))[/color]

Try this:

echo $cookie_content

You'll notice what fails. In general, printing the value of variables helps
a lot. You'll also make good use of print_r():

echo "<pre>";
print_r($HTTP_COOKIE_VARS);
echo "</pre>";

It's not a good idea to use dots in cookie names.

--
--
-- Álvaro G. Vicario - Burgos, Spain
--

#7 July 17th, 2005, 04:20 AM

Hi and thanks for the reply. What I am trying to do is very basic, I'm sure.

Again, here is my code - see comments for questions.

<?php
$cookie_name = "wwwmydomaincom";
setcookie($cookie_name, time(), time()+7200); //say cookie is received at
3:00pm
//here you say that the cookie will be set again, even if it has expired.
//the problem is, when I try to check to see if the cookie exists -
// using $HTTP_COOKIE_VARS - I get some error about the header...
//so what souldd teh code look like?
?>
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd">
<html>
<head>
<title>cookie test</title>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
</head>
<body>

<?php
$cookie_content = $HTTP_COOKIE_VARS[$cookie_name];
if ($cookie_content > (time()-7200))
//say it's now 4:00pm - if your cookie timestamp (3:00pm) is greater than
//(i.e. after) 2:00pm (now minus 2 hours) then you can't come in
{
print "Go away! You are allowed in here only once every 2 hours.";
}
else
{
print "Welcome! You have not been here more than once in the past 2 hours.";
}
?>

</body>
</html>

#8 July 17th, 2005, 04:20 AM

*** deko wrote/escribió (Mon, 22 Mar 2004 10:49:34 GMT):[color=blue]
> //here you say that the cookie will be set again, even if it has expired.
> //the problem is, when I try to check to see if the cookie exists -
> // using $HTTP_COOKIE_VARS - I get some error about the header...
> //so what souldd teh code look like?[/color]

Something like this should work:

if($_COOKIE['wwwmydomaincom']!=''){
}

--
--
-- Álvaro G. Vicario - Burgos, Spain
--

#9 July 17th, 2005, 04:21 AM

Okay, I think I've got it:

<?php
setcookie("cookie_name",time(),0,"/");
$cookie_check = $HTTP_COOKIE_VARS["cookie_name"];
if ($cookie_check > (time()-7200))
{
print "Try again in 2 hours.";
exit;
}
else
{
echo "the code";
}
?>

This seems to be working as desired. The problem is how to accommodate visitors
from different time zones? For example, if your time zone is 3 hours behind me,
"the code" will never run for you. Is there a way to determine the time zone
offset of my visitors?

#10 July 17th, 2005, 04:21 AM

*** deko wrote/escribió (Mon, 22 Mar 2004 21:55:10 GMT):[color=blue]
> This seems to be working as desired. The problem is how to accommodate visitors
> from different time zones?[/color]

There's no need to. You are setting the time in the server.

--
--
-- Álvaro G. Vicario - Burgos, Spain
--

#11 July 17th, 2005, 04:21 AM

10-4

thanks for the help. I think I'm read for cookies 102...

cheers,

deko

"Alvaro G Vicario" <alvaro_QUITAR_REMOVE@telecomputeronline.com> wrote in
message news:iitzqset7r70.oujlgbpjxznw$.dlg@40tude.net...[color=blue]
> *** deko wrote/escribió (Mon, 22 Mar 2004 21:55:10 GMT):[color=green]
> > This seems to be working as desired. The problem is how to accommodate[/color][/color]
visitors[color=blue][color=green]
> > from different time zones?[/color]
>
> There's no need to. You are setting the time in the server.
>
>
> --
> --
> -- Álvaro G. Vicario - Burgos, Spain
> --[/color]

cookies and php - basics

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