Question

I want to know if I can make a PHP function like function john(), without having any parameters. Do PHP functions always have to have a parameter like john($action)?

My script below won’t work because of my empty action. Do I have to pass a NULL value as a parameter?

funcs.php

function is_customer_logged_in() {
    if($_COOKIE['HA_CUST_LOGIN'] == 1 && $_SESSION["loggedIn"]=="1"){
        return true;
    }else{
        return false;
    }
}

index.php

include("funcs.php");

if(is_customer_logged_in()) {
    echo 'logged in';
} else {
    echo 'not signed in';   
}

login-form.php

/* pseudo code, if form details
    match mySQL do this */

    $_SESSION["loggedIn"]="1";
    $_SESSION["userEmail"]=$username; //form variable
    $_SESSION["userID"]=$username; //form variable
    setcookie("HA_CUST_LOGIN", 1); // set a cookie and a session from a php salt db check
    echo '<script type="text/javascript">window.location="index.php"</script>';

    /* else go back to login-form.php */

Or do I have to return a string rather than a boolean?

Answer 1

You are trying to access a SESSION variable in the $_SESSION array. This variable will only be available on two conditions:

1. You have previously specified a value for $_SESSION[‘loggedIn’]
2. (If the page/script has been requested again) you have called session_start() before trying to access the $_SESSION array() (and any output has been sent to the browser).

Even though you are using a COOKIE, you still need to call session_start() for your test to return evaluate true, because you have a logical AND in your IF statement:

if($_COOKIE['HA_CUST_LOGIN'] == 1 && $_SESSION["loggedIn"]=="1")

If session_start() has not been called, and the parameter $_SESSION[“loggedIn”] has not been set, this IF statement will evaluate false. You should also be getting notices/warnings in your PHP logs (and in your browser if you are on a development machine) – if not, then you need to reconfigure your error reporting on you development machine.