CURL and $_SESSION problem

[Phil Powell]

What is the most standardized method of utilizing the CURL functions
in PHP (version 4.3.2) to be able to retrieve the contents of a remote
URL that happens to be dependent upon $_SESSION for its content
display?

I've tried the following class methods for display and I have most
everything working until I get to a URL that requires $_SESSION:

[PHP]
class Timer extends View {

function Timer() {}

function &setCookieCurlSetOpt(&$ch) { // STATIC VOID METHOD
if ($this->cookieName) {
$qs = '&' . $this->cookieName . '=';
if (is_array($_COOKIE[$this->cookieName]) ||
is_object($_COOKIE[$this->cookieName])) {
$qs .= urlencode(serialize($_COOKIE[$this->cookieName]));
} else {
$qs .= urlencode($_COOKIE[$this->cookieName]);
}
} elseif (@sizeof(array_values($_COOKIE)) > 0) {
foreach ($_COOKIE as $key => $val) if (is_array($val) ||
is_object($val)) $qs .= "&$key=" . urlencode(serialize($val)); else
$qs .= "&$key=" . urlencode($val);
}
if ($qs) curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_COOKIE, substr($qs, 1,
strlen($qs)));
}

function &displayHTML($url = '') { // STATIC HTML
STRING METHOD
global $projectFolderName, $PHPSESSID;
if (is_object($this) && !$this->getURL() && $url)
$this->setURL($url);
if (is_object($this)) $url = $this->getURL();
if ($url && ini_get('allow_url_fopen')) {
$url = $this->configureURL($url);
// grab URL and pass it to the browser
$ch = curl_init();
$this->setCookieCurlSetOpt($ch);
//$this->setPOSTCurlSetOpt($ch);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HEADER, 0);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, $url);
$this->setTime($this->startTime); // SET START TIME
ob_start();
curl_exec($ch);
$html = ob_get_contents();
ob_end_clean();
$timer = $this->setTime($timer);
// close curl resource, and free up system resources
curl_close($ch);
$html = preg_replace('/(.*<body[^>]*>)/i', '$1<p><b>' .
($timer - $this->startTime) . " seconds to run URL: \"$url\"</b>",
$html);
}
return $html;
}

}
[/PHP]

utilizing this class in a script: timer.php:

<?php

session_cache_limiter();
session_start();
echo '<P>My session from timer.php is: '; print_r($_SESSION);
....

?>

I see my $_SESSION variable.

Now, if timer.php instantiates a Timer object that uses the URL
parameter of "http://www.myphpwebsite.com/index.php" it will scrape
that site. The site's script: index.php, also has the following:

<?php

session_cache_limiter();
session_start();
echo '<P>My session from index.php is: '; print_r($_SESSION);
....
?>

Now here's the kicker: If I call index.php directly, everything's
fine, $_SESSION exists, all is fine. If I call index.php as a scrape
via timer.php, then timer.php displays $_SESSION but index.php's
scrape shows nothing, just an empty array instead of $_SESSION with
its contents:

[timer.php]
My session from timer.php is: Array([lots of stuff])

My session from index.php is: Array()
[/timer.php]

Is there something about autoglobals and CURL in general, or is there
something specific about $_SESSION and CURL, or perhaps
session_start() and CURL? I am not sure what I can do about this
dilemma as it means my Timer object will not accurately show how long
it took for index.php to evaluate and download since the returned
content is wrong due to the seeming nonexistence of $_SESSION all of a
sudden ($_SESSION is not changed at any time during the run of
timer.php)

I hope this is detailed enough to provide a clear picture of exactly
what is going on and will allow for someone to give me further insight
into the workings of CURL with $_SESSION or autoglobals in general.

Thanx
Phil