[FX.php List] Extending Session Expiration

[Gary Sprung]

Hi everyone,

I'm trying to increase the session expiration time for my solution  
and I'm finding this is a complex issue without clear cut solutions.

The context is a Filemaker/PHP site with complex forms that rely on  
about several session variables (ID of the organization, name of the  
organization, name of person entering data, etc.). Many of the forms  
take more time to fill than the 24 minutes that PHP defaults to  
before it may end your session through garbage collection. I don't  
have access to the server's php.ini file, as this is a shared hosting  
service. How do I extend the session life?

I first tried session_set_cookie_params () with a time of 10800  
seconds -- three hours.
That did not work. I guess it's not just about the length of time of  
the session cookie.

On the php.net site, there are a number of discussions about this and  
they do not all point the same way. About the best I've seen came in  
comments general session handling posted last August. The commenter  
mentions three commands:

ini_set("session.cache_expire","180");
ini_set("session.gc_maxlifetime","3600");
session_save_path("/my/own/path/without/url/sessions");

I guess all three must be be invoked before session_start(). Do I  
make a new directory and save sessions there using the  
session_save_path command? I have to invoke all three commands on  
every page?

Thanks for any insights....

Gary Sprung

--------
Gary Sprung
GNURPS Consulting

gary at gnurps.com
www.gnurps.com

Landline: 720-565-9933
Cell: 303-859-9331



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