nesting if statements in html for session

I'm trying to put together a website for which I've already gotten the design figured out and coded up.
I'm using a lot of php includes to call files with content and forms on the various pages. But, I want to add php sessions to some of the pages to restrict privileges to only registered users.
I know this is very basic, but I'm hung up on something. I'm sure that half of my battle is my terrible syntax. But, even with that being said, I don't know how this is done.
Do I need to 'echo' the html tags (numerous tags) individually into the if statement or can i break the if/else statement like

<? php if ($_SESSION['username'])
{ ?>
<div id = "blocks_of_phpIncludes">
<? include '../form/muliple.php'; ?>
<? include '../tables/foo.php'; ?>
</div>
}
<? else{
<div id = "blocks_of_phpIncludes">
<? include '../forms/signIn.php'; ?>
</div>
}
?>


Is there some way of doing something like this? Or, do I just need to start with <?php and echo everything into their respective places throughout each page that will require the session be set?

you can echo out the entire html within php like this


<? php if ($_SESSION['username'])
{
echo '<div id = "blocks_of_phpIncludes">';
include('../form/muliple.php');
include('../tables/foo.php);
echo '</div>';
}
else{
echo '<div id = "blocks_of_phpIncludes">';
include('../forms/signIn.php');
echo '</div>';
}

?>


Edit: Make sure you begin the session on top of the webpage that you're using it in. The function for that is session_start();

Okay, I see what your saying. Thanks.
Now, if I wanted to have the sign-in form nested between various php includes (like some photos, dynamic text from admins, etc); I would then likely have to create like a single "signIn.php" that contains the sign-in form and includes the php includes into that single php file, calling it in the else statement used in the page that is demanding session validation?

It should be noted that there was nothing really wrong with your original code snippet, providing you format it properly:

<?php if ($_SESSION['username']) {
?>
<div id = "blocks_of_phpIncludes">
<?php include '../form/muliple.php';
include '../tables/foo.php'; ?>
</div>
<?php
}
else {
?>
<div id = "blocks_of_phpIncludes">
<?php include '../forms/signIn.php'; ?>
</div>
<?php
}
?>

Notice the use of <?php, not just <?. There's entirely nothing wrong with doing that.

As for your sign in page, if you mean that you include it on the result from a condition that your client isn't signed in, then you're correct.

It should be noted that there was nothing really wrong with your original code snippet, providing you format it properly:

Awesome! Thanks! That means I can keep the layout concept that I had worked so hard for and implement the session at the same time. Now it's just a matter of cleaning up a ton of messy code. Thanks a mil, guys! :thumbsup: