Set Session Expiration Time Manually-CodeIgniter

Question

How can I set session expiration time dynamically in codeigniter?

For example, if a user logs in and has the role of admin, the expiration time should b

Answer 1

In your login functionality just after user credentials have been verified you can check if user is admin and set different sessions accordingly. Something along these lines

<?php
/*
 *Assuming user is successfully veriefied and you've verified id user is admin*/

if($isAdmin==true){
$this->session->sess_expiration = 14400; // 4 Hours

}else{

// For ordinary users
$this->session->sess_expiration = 1800; // 30 minutes 
   

}
$this->session->sess_expire_on_close = FALSE;

Answer 2

None of these solutions address doing this dynamically or require another variable to be added to the session. The solution I came up with for CI 3.0.4 is to extend Session.php.

1. Create file application/libraries/Session/MY_Session.php

2. Put the following into the file and modify for your logic of setting the $expiration variable. In my case I am pulling the value from a database. NOTE: If you have different expiration values per user type; there is a chance they could get garbage collected and expire unexpectedly due to different expirations with the same session. In this case I do NOT recommend this approach.

   <?php
   class MY_Session extends CI_Session 
   {
       public function __construct(array $params = array())
       {
           parent::__construct($params);
       }
   
       /**
        * Configuration
        *
        * Handle input parameters and configuration defaults
        *
        * @param   array   &$params    Input parameters
        * @return  void
        */
       protected function _configure(&$params)
       {
           $CI =& get_instance();
           $phppos_session_expiration = NULL;
   
           $CI->db->from('app_config');
           $CI->db->where("key", "phppos_session_expiration");
           $row = $CI->db->get()->row_array();
           if (!empty($row))
           {
               if (is_numeric($row['value']))
               {
                   $phppos_session_expiration = (int)$row['value'];
               }
           }
   
           $expiration = $phppos_session_expiration !== NULL ? $phppos_session_expiration : config_item('sess_expiration');
   
           if (isset($params['cookie_lifetime']))
           {
               $params['cookie_lifetime'] = (int) $params['cookie_lifetime'];
           }
           else
           {
               $params['cookie_lifetime'] = ( ! isset($expiration) && config_item('sess_expire_on_close'))
                   ? 0 : (int) $expiration;
           }
   
           isset($params['cookie_name']) OR $params['cookie_name'] = config_item('sess_cookie_name');
           if (empty($params['cookie_name']))
           {
               $params['cookie_name'] = ini_get('session.name');
           }
           else
           {
               ini_set('session.name', $params['cookie_name']);
           }
   
           isset($params['cookie_path']) OR $params['cookie_path'] = config_item('cookie_path');
           isset($params['cookie_domain']) OR $params['cookie_domain'] = config_item('cookie_domain');
           isset($params['cookie_secure']) OR $params['cookie_secure'] = (bool) config_item('cookie_secure');
   
           session_set_cookie_params(
               $params['cookie_lifetime'],
               $params['cookie_path'],
               $params['cookie_domain'],
               $params['cookie_secure'],
               TRUE // HttpOnly; Yes, this is intentional and not configurable for security reasons
           );
   
           if (empty($expiration))
           {
               $params['expiration'] = (int) ini_get('session.gc_maxlifetime');
           }
           else
           {
               $params['expiration'] = (int) $expiration;
               ini_set('session.gc_maxlifetime', $expiration);
           }
   
           $params['match_ip'] = (bool) (isset($params['match_ip']) ? $params['match_ip'] : config_item('sess_match_ip'));
   
           isset($params['save_path']) OR $params['save_path'] = config_item('sess_save_path');
   
           $this->_config = $params;
   
           // Security is king
           ini_set('session.use_trans_sid', 0);
           ini_set('session.use_strict_mode', 1);
           ini_set('session.use_cookies', 1);
           ini_set('session.use_only_cookies', 1);
           ini_set('session.hash_function', 1);
           ini_set('session.hash_bits_per_character', 4);
       }
   
   }
   

Answer 3

At codeigniter go to applications/config.php and find the below configuration.

$config['sess_expiration'] = 14400; //in seconds

Answer 4

use something like this:

$user_type = $this->input->post('user_type');
if ($user_type == 'admin')
{
    //set session to non-expiring
    $this->session->sess_expiration = '32140800'; //~ one year
    $this->session->sess_expire_on_close = 'false';
}
else
{
    //set session expire time, after that user should login again
    $this->session->sess_expiration = '1800'; //30 Minutes
    $this->session->sess_expire_on_close = 'true';
}

//set session and go to Dashboard or Admin Page
$this->session->set_userdata(array(
    'id' => $result[0]['id'],
    'username' => $result[0]['username']
));

Answer 5

You can solve the session issue by replacing this:

$config['sess_use_database'] = TRUE;
$config['sess_encrypt_cookie'] = TRUE;

with this:

$config['sess_use_database'] = FALSE;
$config['sess_encrypt_cookie'] = FALSE;

Answer 6

You can update your session expiration time by increasing this variable in config file:

$config['sess_expiration'] = 'somevalue'.

Set $config['sess_expiration'] = 0, if you want it to never expire.

Here's a good discussion on CI forums:

Dynamically set configuration on session expire doesn’t work