Welcome to the Treehouse Community

Want to collaborate on code errors? Have bugs you need feedback on? Looking for an extra set of eyes on your latest project? Get support with fellow developers, designers, and programmers of all backgrounds and skill levels here with the Treehouse Community!

Looking to learn something new?

Treehouse offers a seven day free trial for new students. Get access to thousands of hours of content and join thousands of Treehouse students and alumni in the community today.

Start your free trial

PHP Browser Persistent Data with PHP Data Persistence on the Web Checking for Sessions

Thomas Morling
Thomas Morling
12,754 Points
Posted by Thomas Morling
Thomas Morling
12,754 Points

Stumped Where do I begin? Setting Session Variables Challenge

Stumped Where do I begin? Setting Session Variables Challenge

story.php 
<?php
session_start();
$word1 = htmlspecialchars($_SESSION['word'][1]);
$word2 = htmlspecialchars($_SESSION['word'][2]);
$word3 = htmlspecialchars($_SESSION['word'][3]);
$word4 = htmlspecialchars($_SESSION['word'][4]);
$word5 = htmlspecialchars($_SESSION['word'][5]);

include 'inc/header.php';

echo '<h1>My Treehouse Story</h1>';

echo '<p>There once was a(n) ' . $word1;
echo ' programmer named ' . $word2; 
echo '. </p>';
echo '<p>This ' .  $word3; 
echo ' programmer used Treehouse to learn to ' . $word4;
echo ' the ' . $word5 . '.</p>';

echo ' <a class="btn btn-default btn-lg" href="#" role="button">Save Story</a>';
echo ' <a class="btn btn-default btn-lg" href="play.php" role="button">Play Again</a>';
echo ' <a class="btn btn-default btn-lg" href="index.php" role="button">Other Stories</a>';


include 'inc/footer.php';
Corey Cramer
Corey Cramer
9,453 Points

You're very welcome!

2 Answers

Corey Cramer
Corey Cramer
9,453 Points

The first thing you need to do is see if the session word array has a value for each index (1 through 5)

<?php
session_start();

if ( ! isset($_SESSION['word'][1]))
{
  header("location: play.php?p=1");
}
if ( ! isset($_SESSION['word'][2]))
{
  header("location: play.php?p=2");
}
if ( ! isset($_SESSION['word'][3]))
{
  header("location: play.php?p=3");
}
if ( ! isset($_SESSION['word'][4]))
{
  header("location: play.php?p=4");
}
if ( ! isset($_SESSION['word'][5]))
{
  header("location: play.php?p=5");
}

// ... Challenge code continues below

Or a cleaner way to approach the problem:

<?php
session_start();

for ($i = 1; $i <= 5; $i++)
{
  if ( ! isset($_SESSION['word'][$i]))
  {
    header("location: play.php?p=$i");
  }
}

// ... Challenge code continues below
Scott Landon
PLUS
Scott Landon
Courses Plus Student 5,090 Points
Scott Landon
Scott Landon
Courses Plus Student 5,090 Points

This works well enough and also limits duplicating code!

for ($i = 1; $i <= 5; $i++){ if (!isset($_SESSION['word'][$i])){ header("location:play.php?p=$i"); } }