Shortcut to setting/getting variables in $_SESSION?

Question

I have like a hundred or so form elements in a multiple-page form and I have to check if certain session vars were defined or not.

The main thing is I have sub-namespaces within my sessions by way of a CONSTANT and then a fields key.

Is there some shortcut to doing say,

<input value="<?php echo isset($_SESSION[CONSTANT]['fields']['first_name']) ? $_SESSION[CONSTANT]['fields']['first_name'] : ''; ?>">

I doubt I could loop this because my structure isnt made of sibling input elements but very, very customised markup which cant be controlled within a loop structure.

Perhaps I could use Zend Session or something similar, last resort would be typing a variable to be replaced by my text editor, eg $s['first_name'] and replace all $s instances.

Answer 1

Write a shortcut yourself.

function s($key) {
    return isset($_SESSION[CONSTANT]['fields'][$key]) ? $_SESSION[CONSTANT]['fields'][$key] : '';
}
$foo = s('first_name');

Answer 2

I would chuck those "sub-namespaces" then. I mean, in a proper html form, you'd give every input element a name anyway (and nowadays, an id too) , why not use - that? I mean, why care how these things are stored in the session? As long as you can unambigously set and get, I don't see why you'd have to make it more complicated by adding another level.

Answer 3

Try this:

function sessionOrBlank() {
    $args = func_get_args();
    if (count($args) < 0) {
        return '';
    }
    $argCtr = 0;
    $argPtr =& $_SESSION;
    do {
        if (!isset($argPtr[$args[$argCtr]])) {
            return '';
        }
        $argPtr =& $argPtr[$args[$argCtr++]];
    } while($argCtr < count($args));
    return $argPtr;
}

Then use like:

<input value="<?php echo sessionOrBlank(CONSTANT,'fields','first_name'); ?>">

General Usage:

Pass arguments to this function in the order you wish to search the array. For exmaple, if you wish to search for $_SESSION['foo']['bar'], use sessionOrBlank('foo','bar');.

Edit: You Mentioned Setting

Not entirely sure what you meant, but this function behave similar to the previous one, except it will treat the last argument passed to it as the value to be set to. It will also return the value it sets, so that the result of using this function is the same as the result of an assignment expression (usually). It should not allow the overwriting of the entire session variable, however it will overwrite any keys that are not currently arrays if they do exist, or will supplement existing arrays if they do not. Enjoy.

function setSession() {
    $args = func_get_args();
    if (count($args) < 1) {
        return false; // don't overwrite whole session
    }
    $argCtr = 0;
    $argPtr =& $_SESSION;
    do {
        if (!isset($argPtr[$args[$argCtr]]) || !is_array($argPtr[$args[$argCtr]])) {
            $argPtr[$args[$argCtr]] = array();
        }
        $argPtr =& $argPtr[$args[$argCtr++]];
    } while($argCtr < count($args) - 1);
    $argPtr = $args[$argCtr];
    return $argPtr;
}

Answer 4

ive this class, it can handle namespaces:

class Core_Session extends Singleton{

  /**
   * Core_Session::getVar($varname,$context='global',...mas contextos)
   *
   * @param mixed $varname nombre de la variable
   * @param mixed $context contexto en el que se llama
   * @return valor de la variable (null si no existe o si estan mal los parametros)
   */
    public static function listContextVars($context='global'){
        $contexts = func_get_args();
        if(count($contexts)==1&&is_array($contexts[0]))
            $contexts = $contexts[0];
        $values = &$_SESSION;
        foreach($contexts as $context){
            if(!isset($values[$context]))
                return(null);
            $values = &$values[$context];
        }
        return(array_keys($values));
    }
    public static function listContextValues($modo='array', $context='global'){
        $contexts = func_get_args();
        $contexts = array_slice($contexts, 1);
        if(count($contexts)==1&&is_array($contexts[0]))
            $contexts = $contexts[0];
        $values = &$_SESSION;
        foreach($contexts as $context){
            if(!isset($values[$context])){
                return(null);
            }
            $values = &$values[$context];
        }
        switch($modo){
            case 'array':{
                $ret = array();
                foreach($values as $varname=>$value){
                    $ret[] = array(
                        'varname'=>$varname,
                        'value'=>self::getVarMulticontext($varname, $contexts)
                    );
                }
                break;
            }
            case 'Core_Object':{
                $ret = array();
                foreach($values as $varname=>$value){
                    $oret = new Core_Object();
                    $oret->setVarname($varname);
                    $oret->setValue(self::getVarMulticontext($varname, $contexts));
                    //$oret->setData($varname, self::getVarMulticontext($varname, $contexts));
                    $ret[] = $oret;
                }
            }
        }
        return($ret);
    }
    public static function getVar($varname, $context='global'){
        if(isset($context)&&is_string($context)){
            $args = func_get_args();
            $contexts = array_slice($args, 1);
            return(self::getVarMulticontext($varname, $contexts));
        }
        return(null);
    }
    public static function getVarMulticontext($varname, $contexts=array()){
        if(!is_array($contexts)||!count($contexts))
            return(null);
        if($varname!=null)
            $contexts = array_merge($contexts, array($varname));
        $values = &$_SESSION;
        foreach($contexts as $context){
            if(!isset($values[$context]))
                return(null);
            $values = &$values[$context];
        }
        if($values===null)
            return($values);
        return(unserialize($values));
    }
  /**
   * Core_Session::setVar()
   *
   * @param mixed $varname nombre de la variable
   * @param mixed $value valor a setear
   * @param string $context contexto en el que se llama
   * @return true si esta bien, false si no
   */
    public static function setVar($varname, $value, $context='global'){
        if(isset($context)&&is_string($context)){
            /*if(is_object($value))*/
            $args = func_get_args();
            $contexts = array_slice($args, 2);
            return(self::setVarMulticontext($varname, $value, $contexts));
        }
        return(false);
    }
    public static function setVarMulticontext($varname, $value, $contexts=array()){
        if(!is_array($contexts)||!count($contexts))
            return(null);
        if($varname!=null)
            $contexts = array_merge($contexts, array($varname));
        $parent_context = null;
        $values = &$_SESSION;
        //var_dump($contexts);
        foreach($contexts as $context){
            $parent_context = &$values;
            $values = &$values[$context];
        }
        if($value==null){
            //$values = null;
            $find = array_search($context, array_keys($parent_context));
            if($find!==null && $find!==false){
                array_splice($parent_context, $find, 1 );
            }
        }
        else
            $values = serialize($value);
        return(true);
    }

    public function getInstance(){
        return(self::getInstanceOf(__CLASS__));
    }
}

Answer 5

$var = & $_SESSION[CONSTANT]['fields'];
echo $var['first_name'];