Get cookie expiry time

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  • mymatebob@googlemail.com
    #1

    Get cookie expiry time

    Hi,

    I am using cookies to keep track if a user is logged into my system,
    and would like to display the time that the user has left logged in.
    One solution is to display the time left until the cookie expires.

    Does anyone know how to retrieve the expiry time of a particular
    cookie?

    TIA

    Jeff

    Tags: None
    • mymatebob@googlemail.com
      #2
      Re: Get cookie expiry time

      If the above is not possible, then I suppose one solution is to store
      the expiry time in an additional cookie.

        Comment

        • Andy Jeffries
          #3
          Re: Get cookie expiry time

          On Tue, 02 May 2006 03:05:15 -0700, mymatebob wrote:[color=blue]
          > If the above is not possible, then I suppose one solution is to store the
          > expiry time in an additional cookie.[/color]

          Or re-set the cookie for a known expiry time on every page view (say ten
          minutes and 20 seconds) then countdown in Javascript for ten minutes (the
          extra 20 seconds is grace period and to allow for the page to
          download/Javascript to start).

          Cheers,


          Andy

          --
          Andy Jeffries MBCS CITP ZCE | gPHPEdit Lead Developer
          http://www.gphpedit.org | PHP editor for Gnome 2
          http://www.andyjeffries.co.uk | Personal site and photos

            Comment

            • mymatebob@googlemail.com
              #4
              Re: Get cookie expiry time

              Sounds a bit overly complicated! But an interesting solution.

              It seems strange that there's no method in PHP for obtaining the cookie
              expiry time. Ah well. In the mean time I have stuck with the "storing
              expiry time in another cookie" method. Suppose I could add a Java
              Script function to check the values every second to produce a real time
              "time left until log out" counter.

              Many thanks for the response!

              Jeff

                Comment

                • Andy Jeffries
                  #5
                  Re: Get cookie expiry time

                  On Wed, 03 May 2006 02:32:36 -0700, mymatebob@googl email.com wrote:[color=blue]
                  > Sounds a bit overly complicated! But an interesting solution.[/color]

                  Not that complex though, it's only a matter of iterating through $_COOKIE
                  and resetting each one with a known expiry time (strtotime("+10 minutes
                  and 20 seconds")). You could do this in a single file and automatically
                  use it on every page using php_value auto_prepend_fi le in the Apache
                  virtualhost.
                  [color=blue]
                  > It seems strange that there's no method in PHP for obtaining the cookie
                  > expiry time.[/color]

                  It's not really strange, if you examine the HTTP spec (or watch HTTP
                  headers using Firefox's Live HTTP Headers) you'll find the browser doesn't
                  send back the expiry date to the server, only the name and value.
                  Therefore it's not strange that PHP can't obtain the information, it's
                  never told (and it can't just remember what it set because it could have
                  been changed with Javascript or by editing the cookies.txt file).
                  [color=blue]
                  > Ah well. In the mean time I have stuck with the "storing
                  > expiry time in another cookie" method. Suppose I could add a Java Script
                  > function to check the values every second to produce a real time "time
                  > left until log out" counter.
                  >
                  > Many thanks for the response![/color]

                  You're welcome.

                  Cheers,


                  Andy

                  --
                  Andy Jeffries MBCS CITP ZCE | gPHPEdit Lead Developer
                  http://www.gphpedit.org | PHP editor for Gnome 2
                  http://www.andyjeffries.co.uk | Personal site and photos

                    Comment

                    • mymatebob@googlemail.com
                      #6
                      Re: Get cookie expiry time

                      Ah! That IS a good solution. I was thinking of setting a default expiry
                      of 4 hours, but with your solution, the cookies keep in date as long as
                      the user is actively using the website - much more user friendly.

                      Thanks for explaining the missing functions I was looking for in PHP. I
                      saw the cookie expiry date in the "View Cookies" Firefox extension and
                      just assumed the value would be readily available somehow.

                      Cheers

                      Jeff

                        Comment

                        • Andy Jeffries
                          #7
                          Re: Get cookie expiry time

                          On Thu, 04 May 2006 00:12:32 -0700, mymatebob@googl email.com wrote:[color=blue]
                          > Ah! That IS a good solution. I was thinking of setting a default expiry of
                          > 4 hours, but with your solution, the cookies keep in date as long as the
                          > user is actively using the website - much more user friendly.
                          >
                          > Thanks for explaining the missing functions I was looking for in PHP. I
                          > saw the cookie expiry date in the "View Cookies" Firefox extension and
                          > just assumed the value would be readily available somehow.[/color]

                          You're more than welcome mate, best of luck with your project.

                          Cheers,


                          Andy


                          --
                          Andy Jeffries MBCS CITP ZCE | gPHPEdit Lead Developer
                          http://www.gphpedit.org | PHP editor for Gnome 2
                          http://www.andyjeffries.co.uk | Personal site and photos

                            Comment

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