session_set_save_handler

After spend so many time to understand how PHP session works with database and unsuccessful attempts to get it right, I decided to rewrite the version from our friend stalker.

//Database
CREATE TABLE `Session` (
  `Session_Id` varchar(255) COLLATE utf8_unicode_ci NOT NULL,
  `Session_Expires` datetime NOT NULL,
  `Session_Data` text COLLATE utf8_unicode_ci,
  PRIMARY KEY (`Session_Id`)
) ENGINE=InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8 COLLATE=utf8_unicode_ci;
SELECT * FROM mydatabase.Session;

<?php
//inc.session.php

class SysSession implements SessionHandlerInterface
{
    private $link;
    
    public function open($savePath, $sessionName)
    {
        $link = mysqli_connect("server","user","pwd","mydatabase");
        if($link){
            $this->link = $link;
            return true;
        }else{
            return false;
        }
    }
    public function close()
    {
        mysqli_close($this->link);
        return true;
    }
    public function read($id)
    {
        $result = mysqli_query($this->link,"SELECT Session_Data FROM Session WHERE Session_Id = '".$id."' AND Session_Expires > '".date('Y-m-d H:i:s')."'");
        if($row = mysqli_fetch_assoc($result)){
            return $row['Session_Data'];
        }else{
            return "";
        }
    }
    public function write($id, $data)
    {
        $DateTime = date('Y-m-d H:i:s');
        $NewDateTime = date('Y-m-d H:i:s',strtotime($DateTime.' + 1 hour'));
        $result = mysqli_query($this->link,"REPLACE INTO Session SET Session_Id = '".$id."', Session_Expires = '".$NewDateTime."', Session_Data = '".$data."'");
        if($result){
            return true;
        }else{
            return false;
        }
    }
    public function destroy($id)
    {
        $result = mysqli_query($this->link,"DELETE FROM Session WHERE Session_Id ='".$id."'");
        if($result){
            return true;
        }else{
            return false;
        }
    }
    public function gc($maxlifetime)
    {
        $result = mysqli_query($this->link,"DELETE FROM Session WHERE ((UNIX_TIMESTAMP(Session_Expires) + ".$maxlifetime.") < ".$maxlifetime.")");
        if($result){
            return true;
        }else{
            return false;
        }
    }
}
$handler = new SysSession();
session_set_save_handler($handler, true);
?>

<?php
//page 1
require_once('inc.session.php');

session_start();

$_SESSION['var1'] = "My Portuguese text: SOU Gaucho!";
?>

<?php
//page 2
require_once('inc.session.php');

session_start();

if(isset($_SESSION['var1']){
echo $_SESSION['var1']; 
}
//OUTPUT: My Portuguese text: SOU Gaucho!
?>

As of PHP 7.0, you can implement SessionUpdateTimestampHandlerInterface to 
define your own session id validating method like validate_sid and the timestamp updating method like update_timestamp in the non-OOP prototype of session_set_save_handler().

SessionUpdateTimestampHandlerInterface is a new interface introduced in PHP 7.0, which has not been documented yet. It has two abstract methods: SessionUpdateTimestampHandlerInterface :: validateId($sessionId) and SessionUpdateTimestampHandlerInterface :: updateTimestamp($sessionId, $sessionData).

<?php
    /*
       @author Wu Xiancheng
       Code structure for PHP 7.0+ only because SessionUpdateTimestampHandlerInterface is introduced in PHP 7.0
       With this class you can validate php session id and update the timestamp of php session data
       with the OOP prototype of session_set_save_handler() in PHP 7.0+
    */
    class PHPSessionXHandler implements SessionHandlerInterface, SessionUpdateTimestampHandlerInterface {
        public function close(){
            // return value should be true for success or false for failure
            // ...
        }
        public function destroy($sessionId){
            // return value should be true for success or false for failure
            // ... 
        }
        public function gc($maximumLifetime){
            // return value should be true for success or false for failure
            // ...
        }
        public function open($sessionSavePath, $sessionName){
            // return value should be true for success or false for failure
            // ...
        }
        public function read($sessionId){
            // return value should be the session data or an empty string
            // ...
        }
        public function write($sessionId, $sessionData){
            // return value should be true for success or false for failure
            // ...
        }
        public function create_sid(){
            // available since PHP 5.5.1
            // invoked internally when a new session id is needed
            // no parameter is needed and return value should be the new session id created
            // ...
        }
        public function validateId($sessionId){
            // implements SessionUpdateTimestampHandlerInterface::validateId()
            // available since PHP 7.0
            // return value should be true if the session id is valid otherwise false
            // if false is returned a new session id will be generated by php internally
            // ...
        }
        public function updateTimestamp($sessionId, $sessionData){
            // implements SessionUpdateTimestampHandlerInterface::validateId()
            // available since PHP 7.0
            // return value should be true for success or false for failure
            // ...
        }
    }
?>

Below is a demo to check the order in which session function executes.

<?php

ini_set('session.use_strict_mode',true);

function sess_open($sess_path, $sess_name) {
    echo '<br/>sess_open';
    return true;
}

function sess_close() {
    echo '<br/>sess_close';
    return true;
}

function sess_read($sess_id) {
    echo '<br/>sess_read';
    return '';
}

function sess_write($sess_id, $data) {
    echo '<br/>sess_write';
    return true;
}

function sess_destroy($sess_id) {
    echo '<br/>sess_destroy';
    return true;
}

function sess_gc($sess_maxlifetime) {
    echo '<br/>sess_gc';
    return true;
}

function sess_create_sid() {
    echo '<br/>sess_create_sid';
    return 'RNS'.rand(0,10);
}

function sess_validate_sid($sess_id) {
    echo '<br/>sess_validate_sid';
    return true;
}

function sess_update_timestamp($sess_id,$data) {
    echo '<br/>sess_update_timestamp';
    return true;
}

session_set_save_handler(
    'sess_open',
    'sess_close',
    'sess_read',
    'sess_write',
    'sess_destroy',
    'sess_gc',
    'sess_create_sid',
    'sess_validate_sid',
    'sess_update_timestamp'
);

session_start();

echo '<br/>code here...';

?>

O/P Below when above code executed first time.
sess_open
sess_create_sid
sess_read
code here...
sess_write
sess_close

O/P Below for next execution.
sess_open
sess_validate_sid
sess_read
code here...
sess_write
sess_close

What is not documented is that callables $validate_sid and $update_timestamp are supported since PHP 7.0. for the 
 prototype of "bool session_set_save_handler ( callable $open , callable $close , callable $read , callable $write , callable $destroy , callable $gc [, callable $create_sid [, callable $validate_sid [, callable $update_timestamp ]]] )".

validate_sid($sessionId)
  This callback is to validate $sessionId. Its return value should be true for valid session id $sessionId or false for invalid session id $sessionId. If false is returned, a new session id is generated to replace the invalid session id $sessionId.

update_timestamp($sessionId)
  This call back is to update timestamp, and its return value should be true for success or false for failure.

If you use this prototype, if you provide less than 6 parameters or if you provide more parameters than session_set_save_handler() accepts, you will get a "Wrong parameter count for session_set_save_handler()" warning.

If you use the OOP prototype of session_set_save_handler(SessionHandlerInterface $sessionhandler [, bool $register_shutdown = true ] ), a member method named neither validate_sid nor update_timestamp of the class of $sessionhandler are not invoked even in PHP 7.2, but a member method named create_sid is supported as of PHP 5.5.1.

It's 16th December, 2017 today, the documetation even PHP may get updated sometime afterwards.

Note that as well as destructing objects before calling write() and close(), it seems PHP also destroys classes.  That is, you can't even call a static method of an external class in the write() and close() handlers - PHP will issue a Fatal error stating "Class xxxx not found"

Regarding the SAPIs: The warning mentioned in function's description (that the Current working directory is changed with some SAPIs) is very important.

It means that if your callback 'write' function needs to write to a file in current directory, it will not find it. You have to use absolute path and not rely upon the current working directory.

I thought this warning applies only to some strange environments like Windows, but it happens exactly on Linux + Apache 2.2 + PHP 5.

It seems when you call 'session_name()', php loads the session id automatically from GET ( if the index exists ) and passes it to the 'read' callback method correctly, but the 'write' callback is invoked twice: first the auto-generated session id, then the custom session id

So be aware of what queries you execute inside the callback .. I got crazy because I used a MySQL 'REPLACE' statement to agilize, and I spent a lot of hours trying to understand why 2 rows instead of 1 were being affected ( the first id was inserting, the second updating )

I hope this helps!

If saving to a database, as in the examples on this page, for performance, consider the following.

Build the Sessions table with an index on the SessionExpires column to quickly identify rows to be deleted in the garbage collection phase.

Rather do a garbage collection "delete from sessions where expiresOn < $now" on every session start/open. If you have an index on expiry time, this will not be a big hit, and evens out the load across all users. If it is possible that a large number of sessions will expire at the same time, include a "limit 100" clause, set for whatever number is reasonable, so that each user shares the load.

Use a varchar rather than Text to store the data, as Text will store the column off-page and is retrieved slightly slower. Use Text only if your application really does store large amounts of text in the session.

Adding to the very useful class from: andreipa at gmail dot com

1. You should handle session expiration & data I/O from the SessionHandlerInterface methods,
2. You should NOT handle session regeneration and data modification from these methods but from a static method, e.g. sth like Session::start().
3. PHP gives a lot of examples but does NOT say what's the perspective under which one should work.

A skeleton of such a class:
namespace xyz;
class Session implements \SessionHandlerInterface, Singleton {
   /** @var SessionToken $token The SessionToken of this command; 
          this is part of my programming approach */
   protected $token;
   /** @var PDO $dbh The PDO handler to the database */
   protected $dbh;
   /** @var $savePath Where sessions are stored */
   protected $savePath;
   /** @var $type Type of sessions (['files'|'sqlite']) */
   protected $type;
   /** @var self $instance An instance of this class */
   static private $instance = null;

   private function __construct() { ... }
   static public function getInstance() {
      if (self::$instance === null) {
         self::$instance = new self();
      }
      return self::$instance;
   }
   public function open($savePath, $sessionName) { ... }
   public function close() {
      if ($this->type == static::FILES) {
         return true;
      } elseif ($this->type == static::SQLITE) {
         return true;
      }
   }
   public function read($id) { ... }
   public function write($id, $data) { ... }
   public function destroy($id) { ... }
   public function gc($maxlifetime) { ... }
   static public function get($key) {
      return (isset($_SESSION[$key]))? $_SESSION[$key] : null;
   }
   static public function set($key, $value) {
      return $_SESSION[$key] = $value;
   }
   static public function newId() {...}
   static public function start($call = null, $log = false) {
      //1. start session (send 1st header)
      if (session_status() != PHP_SESSION_ACTIVE) {
         session_start();   //calls: open()->read()
      }

      //2. $_SESSION['session']: array of session control data
      // existed session
      if (is_array(static::get('session'))) {
         $session = static::get('session');
      // new session
      } else {
         $session = array();
      }

      $tmp = $_SESSION;
      //do sth with $session array...
      static::set('session', $session);
      session_write_close();   //calls: write()->read()->close()
      //create a new session inside if...else...
      session_id(static::newId());
      session_start();   //calls: open()->read()
      //if you want previous session data to be copied:
      //$_SESSION = $tmp;
      //do sth else with $session array and save it to new session...
      static::set('session', $session);

      //6. call callback function (only on valid/new sessions)
      if ($call)
         $call();
      session_write_close();   //calls: write()->read()->close()
   }
   /**
    * Defines custom session handler.
    */
   static public function setHandler() {
      // commit automatic session
      if (ini_get('session.auto_start') == 1) {
         session_write_close();
      }
      $handler = static::getInstance();
      session_set_save_handler($handler, true);
   }
}

Let's start a session:
Session::setHandler();
Session::start();

Trying for hours to trace my error where the 3rd Session::read() ended to use a null Session::dbh until I realized that Session::close() should NOT destroy properties of this class!
Also I avoid the use of session_create_id() as it's only for PHP 7 >= 7.1.0 and I use in place a static Session::newId().

Here is a class to handle session using an Oracle table.
https://github.com/shanikawm/PHP_Oracle_Based_Session_Handler_Class

<?php
/**
 * By Shanika Amarasoma
 * Date: 6/24/2016
 * PHP session handler using Oracle database
 * Oracle Create table statement
        CREATE TABLE PHP_SESSIONS
        (
            SESSION_ID  VARCHAR2(256 BYTE) UNIQUE,
            DATA        CLOB,
            TOUCHED     NUMBER(38)
        );
 */
class session_handler implements SessionHandlerInterface
{
    private $con;
    public function __construct() {
        if(!$this->con=oci_pconnect(DBUSER,DBPASS,CONNECTION_STR)){
            die('Database connection failed !');
        }
    }
    public function open($save_path ,$name){
        return true;
    }
    public function close(){
        return true;
    }
    public function read($session_id){
        $query = "SELECT \"DATA\" FROM PHP_SESSIONS WHERE SESSION_ID=Q'{" . $session_id . "}'";
        $stid = oci_parse($this->con, $query);
        oci_execute($stid, OCI_DEFAULT);
        $row = oci_fetch_array($stid, OCI_ASSOC + OCI_RETURN_LOBS);
        oci_free_statement($stid);
        return $row['DATA'];
    }
    public function write($session_id,$session_data){
        $dquery="DELETE FROM PHP_SESSIONS WHERE SESSION_ID=Q'{".$session_id."}'";
        $dstid = oci_parse($this->con,$dquery);
        oci_execute($dstid, OCI_NO_AUTO_COMMIT);
        oci_free_statement($dstid);
        $query="INSERT INTO PHP_SESSIONS(SESSION_ID,TOUCHED,\"DATA\") VALUES(Q'{".$session_id."}',".time().",EMPTY_CLOB()) RETURNING \"DATA\" INTO :clob";
        $stid = oci_parse($this->con,$query);
        $clob=oci_new_descriptor($this->con,OCI_D_LOB);
        oci_bind_by_name($stid, ':clob', $clob, -1, OCI_B_CLOB);
        if(!oci_execute($stid, OCI_NO_AUTO_COMMIT)){
            @oci_free_statement($stid);
            return false;
        }
        if($clob->save($session_data)){
            oci_commit($this->con);
            $return=true;
        } else {