Resolved Checking for a cookie?

[Oatley]

Hello, I'm stuck on something with a cookie and must be missing something obvious, but I can't see what.

In my script I want to load a page and

1 - Check if a cookie exists
2- If it does not launch a JavaScript function called myFunction and set a cookie

Now, the first time I launch the page the function shows (as there is no cookie in my browser) which is great but on subsequent loads when I refresh the page it should not show as a cookie should be created

PHP Code:

<?php
function check_cookie() {
If($_COOKIE['test'] != TRUE) {
?>
<script type="text/javascript">
myFunction();
</script> 
<?php
setcookie("test", TRUE, time()+3600);
}
}
?>
<?php check_cookie(); ?>

Can anyone see where I am going wrong here?

Thank you

[firepages]

as it happens the code works for me on firefox, but any issues are possibly down to the fact that setcookie expects a string value as the value, not a boolean (true/false) so if you used !== then you check might fail

so really you should

PHP Code:

function check_cookie() {
    if($_COOKIE['test'] != "someval"){
        echo 'setting cookie';
        setcookie("test", "someval", time()+3600);
    }
} 


though you could just as easily test if the cookie is set .. if(isset($_COOKIE['test'])){etc

[Fou-Lu]

That looks like you can never set a cookie. Since you don't check the existence of the cookie before reading from it, and you have output before the setcookie header, it will result in no cookie ever being set.
This is probably what you want:

PHP Code:

<?php
function check_cookie()
{
    if (!isset($_COOKIE['test']) || isset($_COOKIE['test']) && $_COOKIE['test'] != true)
    {
        setcookie('test', true, time() + 3600);
    ?>
<script type="text/javascript">
myFunction();
</script> 

    <?php
    }
}
check_cookie(); ?>

Edit:
Sounds like firepages has output buffering set and error reporting shut down on notice.

[firepages]

Originally Posted by Fou-Lu

Edit:
Sounds like firepages has output buffering set and error reporting shut down on notice.

DOH, indeedy I do have output buffering on sorry

[Oatley]

Thanks I'll have a look at that

[Oatley]

Thanks. However the JavaScript function I call is still showing all the time and not one time only. It seems the cookie is never created.

My JavaScript is simply a "hello" alert, which I have placed in a function called myFunction().. I've even tried it on a different server and I still have the same problem.

Any further ideas please?

Thank you

[Fou-Lu]

Make sure you haven't sent any output prior to this point or you will toss a headers already sent error. You can even verify prior by simply checking the headers_sent function. Verify the cookie path and domain are valid too. If you are on a subdomain, you'll need to modify the domain, but this particular example shouldn't cause any issues when it comes to the cookie path.

[Oatley]

Ignore me thanks. Worked it out myself totally forgot about output buffering, but thanks for your help.

[AndrewGSW]

As mentioned by firepages the cookie value is a string so should be set and compared as "true", not true (a boolean).

[Oatley]

Thanks Fou-Lu and Andrew just worked it out at the same time as you kindly posted.