Question

I created a simple log in system, and i used CI Sessions for holding some values.
But CI sessions did’t work as expected, it does not retrieve any value.
I tried to track the problem, and i figured out something:
Whenever i refresh the page, a new session is created!
And only 1 session hold my custom variables(is_logged, username).
Other sessions just hold default data.
I tried holding the sessions in a database, and still the same problem.
Is it my encryption key?
I just used bunch of random letters, because i can’t keep it empty.
This is the controller I tested my sessions on.
Note:
I’m using some echo‘s here, just for testing.
Note2:
I can retrive session variables only if i call it on the same page.

 <?php

class site extends CI_Controller {

    function index() {
        if (!$this->session->userdata('is_logged')) {
            $data['main_content'] = 'site_view';
            $this->load->view('template/all_templates', $data);
        } else {
            echo 'you\'re logged already';
        }
    }

    function login() {
        if (!$this->session->userdata('is_logged')) {
            $username = $this->input->post('username');
            $password = $this->input->post('password');
            if ($username && $password) {
                if ($this->site_model->validate($username, $password)) {
                    $user_data = array('username' => $username, 'is_logged' => TRUE);
                    $this->session->set_userdata($user_data);
                    echo 'you successfully log in.';
                    redirect('site/index', 'refresh');
                } else {
                    echo 'cannot login';
                }
            } else {
                echo 'username and/or password not set';
            }
        } else {
            echo 'you\'re logged in already!';
        }
    }
}
?>

Note:
This question is related to this one

Edit1:
I logged in few times, sometimes with no errors.
After few refreshes/log ins, see sesssion database:

02d6e3521046ffe7df36b07e88624a60    127.0.0.1   Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux i686) AppleWebKit/535.2 (K  1323803371  
66a9cf3d6b7e0521dcc7e5bd3d5d4ad1    127.0.0.1   Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux i686) AppleWebKit/535.2 (K  1323803380  
923a78db029ee3e3ae4bf9e09873fcae    127.0.0.1   Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux i686) AppleWebKit/535.2 (K  1323803366  a:3:{s:9:"user_data";s:0:"";s:8:"username";s:4:"aziz";s:9:"is_logged";b:1;}
99ac075792b7818aadac60d00ca46947    127.0.0.1   Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux i686) AppleWebKit/535.2 (K  1323803367  
bbe10f3338226c8d83b0ae58d1ca5149    127.0.0.1   Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux i686) AppleWebKit/535.2 (K  1323803343  a:3:{s:9:"user_data";s:0:"";s:8:"username";s:4:"aziz";s:9:"is_logged";b:1;}
ed6a22ae1d2fd21b6ef66668c2078a11    127.0.0.1   Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux i686) AppleWebKit/535.2 (K  1323803375  
feb5806176dc8a4f7ed8f30763f65f8b    127.0.0.1   Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux i686) AppleWebKit/535.2 (K  1323803380  a:3:{s:9:"user_data";s:0:"";s:8:"username";s:4:"aziz";s:9:"is_logged";b:1;}  

As you may notice, some results with user data.

my validate function :

function validate($username, $password) {

    $this->db->where('username', $username);
    $this->db->where('password', $password);
    $query = $this->db->get('users');
    if ($query->num_rows() == 1) {
        return true;
    } else {
        return false;
    }
}  

Note:
I tested in FF & Chrome.

Answer 1

Aziz a couple of months ago I suffered a lot of troubles with the original CI session library (included what you mention). Finally I arrived to this replacement that use native PHP session. It works!
Believe me, in the middle of a project, I did not stop to wonder why. Just works.

Here it is: Codeigniter’s Native session (there is a download link at the bottom)

BUT, due that it is an old library you MUST made some hacks. You can check those simple hacks in the library’s forum

Just drop this file in codeigniter’s library directory. And let’s talk about forward compatibility after, I mean it! 🙂