I've been using database sessions in a project I'm working on. For anyone who doesn't know how to do this documentation is as follows:
http://us3.php.net/manual/en/functio...ve-handler.php

The session_set_save_handler function allows you to specify how you want to handle sessions, you just have to write your own open, close, read, write, destroy and gc (garbage collection) functions. I've been able to accomplish this with functions but it came off as sloppy to me so I decided to build it all into an object.

The problem is now I'm not able to properly pass the handles of each function to the save_handler function. My code is as follows:

PHP Code:

class Session
{
     //session handlers
    //This code is not relivant to my problem
}

ini_set('session.save_handler', 'user');

$dbSession = new Session();

session_set_save_handler(array(&$dbSession, 'open'),
                         array(&$dbSession, 'close'), 
                         array(&$dbSession, 'read'), 
                         array(&$dbSession, 'write'), 
                         array(&$dbSession, 'destroy'), 
                         array(&$dbSession, 'gc')); //Line 88


session_start(); 


I get this error and warning:

Warning: session_set_save_handler() [function.session-set-save-handler]: Argument 1 is not a valid callback in session.php on line 85

Fatal error: session_start() [<a href='function.session-start'>function.session-start</a>]: Failed to initialize storage module: user (path: ) in session.php on line 88

I've also tried using session_set_save_handler in the following ways:

PHP Code:

//without passing by reference
session_set_save_handler(array(&$dbSession, 'open'),
                         array($dbSession, 'close'), 
                         array($dbSession, 'read'), 
                         array($dbSession, 'write'), 
                         array($dbSession, 'destroy'), 
                         array($dbSession, 'gc'));

//just strings
session_set_save_handler('dbSession->open', 'dbSession->close', 'dbSession-read', 'dbSession->write', 'dbSession->destroy', 'dbSession->gc');

//Using the object name rather than a reference to an instance of that object
session_set_save_handler(array(Session, 'open'),
                         array(Session, 'close'), 
                         array(Session, 'read'), 
                         array(Session, 'write'), 
                         array(Session, 'destroy'), 
                         array(Session, 'gc')); 


I've seen a lot of "working" examples of this that people have posted but none seem to be working for me. Does anyone see a problem in my approach?

Did you try the format of Type 3 in the example on the php site? That would dump the ampersand in your arrays.

yeah I did, no dice.

As a side note, I usually just write a few functions not in a class and then use

PHP Code:

session_set_save_handler('_session_open','_session_close','_session_read','_session_write','_session_destroy','_session_clean'); 


I just took your code and dumped it into a file with session stubs:

PHP Code:

<?php
class Session
{
     //session handlers
    //This code is not relivant to my problem
    public function open() {
    }
    public function close() {
    }
    public function read() {
    }
    public function write() {
    }
    public function destroy() {
    }
    public function gc() {
    }
}

ini_set('session.save_handler', 'user');

$dbSession = new Session();

session_set_save_handler(array($dbSession, 'open'),
                         array($dbSession, 'close'),
                         array($dbSession, 'read'),
                         array($dbSession, 'write'),
                         array($dbSession, 'destroy'),
                         array($dbSession, 'gc'));


session_start();
?>

And, no compile errors. I'm running PHP 5.2.6

I figured it out. Turns out that the code that I thought was irrelivant to my problem, was my problem. Thanks for the suggestions. I would give you some TP but apparently I need to spread it around some more, but next time I get I chance I will.

In case anyone is interested here is my Session class code, it might be a little bugged as I have not tested it much:

PHP Code:

class Session
{
    private $dbh;
    
    public function open()
    {
        $dbuser = 'removed';
        $dbpass = 'removed';
        $persistent = true;
        
        try
        {
            if($persistent)
            {
                $this->dbh = new PDO('mysql:host=removed;dbname=removed', $dbuser, $dbpass,array(
                                PDO::ATTR_PERSISTENT => true
                                ));
            }
            else
            {
                $this->dbh = new PDO('mysql:host=removed;dbname=removed', $dbuser, $dbpass);
            }
        }
        catch (PDOException $e)
        {
            return false;
        }
        
        return true;
    }
    
    public function close()
    {
        return true;
    }
    
    public function read($id)
    {
        $stmt = $this->dbh->prepare('SELECT `data` FROM `session` WHERE `id` = ?');
        $stmt->bindParam(1, $id);
        $stmt->execute();
        
        if($row = $stmt->fetch(PDO::FETCH_NUM))
        {
            return $row[2];
        }
        
        return '';
    }
    
    public function write($id, $data)
    {
        $stmt = $this->dbh->prepare('REPLACE INTO `session` VALUES(?, ?, ?)');
        $stmt->bindParam(1, $id);
        $stmt->bindParam(2, time() + 60 * 60 * 24);
                      $stmt->bindParam(3, $data);
        return $stmt->execute();
    }
    
    public function destroy($id)
    {
        $stmt = $this->dbh->prepare('DELETE FROM `session` WHERE `id` = ?');
        $stmt->bindParam(1, $id);
        return $stmt->execute();
    }
    
    public function gc($max)
    {
        $stmt = $this->dbh->prepare('DELETE FROM `session` WHERE `expire` < ?');
        $stmt->bindParam(1, time());
        return $stmt->execute();
    }
}

ini_set('session.save_handler', 'user');

$dbSession = new Session();

session_set_save_handler(array(&$dbSession, 'open'),
                         array(&$dbSession, 'close'), 
                         array(&$dbSession, 'read'), 
                         array(&$dbSession, 'write'), 
                         array(&$dbSession, 'destroy'), 
                         array(&$dbSession, 'gc'));


session_start(); 


I have a question. I see you inserted the ampersands again in front of $dbSession, but your code is clearly for PHP 5, so shouldn't those entities be passed by reference by default?

That was my latest attempt at solving the problem so it is still in the current build of my code, it works either way so I didn't notice it was still there.