Question

I am trying to find a way to keep connected with the Twitter API once authorised using OAuth but am having problems.

I get "Invalid / expired Token" when trying to connect to Twitter API using a saved Oauth token in a session or database.

Is there a way to do this? I dont want the users of my App to have to login via Twitter every time. Surely once they have authorised my App once, that should be enough?

$consumer_key = 'consumerkey';
$consumer_secret = 'consumersecret';

$twitterObj = new EpiTwitter($consumer_key, $consumer_secret);

if (isset($_GET['oauth_token'])){
    $oauth_token = $_GET['oauth_token'];
} else if ($_SESSION['oauth_token']){
    $oauth_token = $_SESSION['oauth_token'];

    echo $_SESSION['oauth_token'];
} else {
    //see if authorisation already set up in DB
    $query = mysql_query("SELECT oauth_token FROM PingSocialMediaUsers WHERE oauth_provider = 'twitter' AND clientID = '$clientID'");  
    $result = mysql_fetch_row($query); 
    $oauth_token = $result[0];
}

if($oauth_token == ''){ 
    $url = $twitterObj->getAuthorizationUrl();
    $twitter_login = $url;
 } else {
    $twitterObj->setToken($oauth_token);
    $token = $twitterObj->getAccessToken();
    $twitterObj->setToken($token->oauth_token, $token->oauth_token_secret);     
    $_SESSION['oauth_token'] = $token->oauth_token;
    $_SESSION['oauth_secret'] = $token->oauth_token_secret;
    $twitterInfo= $twitterObj->get_accountVerify_credentials();
    $twitterInfo->response;

    echo $twitterInfo->response['error'];
    //echo '<pre>';
    //print_r($twitterInfo);
    $id = $twitterInfo->id;
    $username = $twitterInfo->screen_name;

    //add to details database
    //find the user by ID  
    if ($id != ''){
        $query = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM PingSocialMediaUsers WHERE oauth_provider = 'twitter' AND oauth_uid = '$id'");  
        $result = mysql_fetch_array($query);  

        // If does not exist add to database  
        if(empty($result)){  
            $query = mysql_query("INSERT INTO PingSocialMediaUsers (oauth_provider, oauth_uid, username, oauth_token, oauth_secret) VALUES ('twitter', {$id}, '{$username}', '{$_SESSION['oauth_token']}', '{$_SESSION['oauth_secret']}')"); 
            $query = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM PingSocialMediaUsers WHERE id = " . mysql_insert_id());  
            $result = mysql_fetch_array($query);  
        } else {  
            //update the tokens  
            $query = mysql_query("UPDATE PingSocialMediaUsers SET oauth_token = '{$_SESSION['oauth_token']}', oauth_secret = '{$_SESSION['oauth_secret']}' WHERE oauth_provider = 'twitter' AND oauth_uid = {$id}");  
        }   

        $_SESSION['id'] = $result['id']; 
        $_SESSION['username'] = $result['username']; 
        $_SESSION['oauth_uid'] = $result['oauth_uid']; 
        $_SESSION['oauth_provider'] = $result['oauth_provider']; 
        $_SESSION['oauth_token'] = $result['oauth_token']; 
        $_SESSION['oauth_secret'] = $result['oauth_secret'];    
    }

    $twitterAuth = TRUE;    
} 

Answer 1

I believe you are talking about access_token which you will get from the twitter as last part of OAuth handshaking after which you can go to access there services on user behalf.

Here is what they are saying in there official developer page

We do not currently expire access tokens. 
Your access token will be invalid if a user explicitly 
rejects your application from their settings or if a Twitter admin suspends 
your application. If your application is suspended there will be
a note on your application page saying that it has been suspended.

So you can very well store that token in your database and can always use at later stage.

here is the reference to there API page
Twitter OAuth FAQ

So i suggest you to make sure that you are not changing any application setting and you are getting a valid access_token from session/database