Session Timeout fix

Question

I've created a sort of exam site where answers are input, in order to figure out the answers, the open exam page which must be logged into can remain idle for some time.

I tried implementing this line of code to increase session timeout length to an hour:

ini_set('session.gc_maxlifetime', 3600);

though I don't think it has worked for me. Does this have to be done on each page that I have the code:

session_start()

Also what is the convention in ensuring a login session remains open until: - tab close - window close - logout button-press - a new URL is entered in the address bar ?

Answer 1

Does this have to be done on each page

Yes. As the PHP manual for ini_set states:

The configuration option will keep this new value during the script's execution, and will be restored at the script's ending.

---

Alternatively, you could "ping" your server every minute to keep the session alive (such as from an ajax request to a simple PHP script (something as simple as <?php session_start(); ?> will suffice)), or you could control the sessions yourself through a medium such as a database. Chris Shiflett has a good blog post on this.