ZF2 get global session container - session

Question

I found how to get a session container like this:
$session = new \Zend\Session\Container('base');
But what if I need to access the session in many places during processing a HTTP request.
Let's say in the Application module's indexAction in the IndexController, then I redirect it to the User\Controller\IndexController and need to access the session again, and then in a view helper or two, and who knows how often more.
When constructing the session container every time anew, that is a waste of processing time. Yes, I debugged it to see what's going on in the constructor, and yes, there is some code executed behind the scenes. It is not as if the constructor would just return a global variable or something else which would be immutable and doesn't need a construction process.
So what to do?
Should I create a service for it?
a controller plugin?
a view helper?
a service and a controller plugin and a view helper, with the latter calling the service?
I'm sure it is something that many people must have come across and have dealt with, but I can't find any information on this.
Any hint is dearly appreciated.
Many thanks in advance! :-)

Answer 1

Here's a more refined and improved version.
It consists of the service "SessionService", a ViewHelper (which calls the SessionService), a ControllerPlugin (which also calls the SessionService), and shows how to set them up in the configuration file "module.config.php".
Make sure you set "use" paths or use absolute class paths in config.
SessionService.php:
class SessionService
{
protected $sessionContainer;
public function setSessionContainer(
$sessionContainer
) {
$this->sessionContainer = $sessionContainer;
}
public function __invoke() {
return $this->sessionContainer;
}
}
SessionHelper.php:
class SessionHelper extends \Zend\View\Helper\AbstractHelper
{
protected $sessionService;
public function setSessionService(
$sessionService
) {
$this->sessionService = $sessionService;
}
public function __invoke() {
return $this->sessionService;
}
}
SessionPlugin.php:
class SessionPlugin extends AbstractPlugin
{
protected $sessionService;
public function setSessionService(
$sessionService
) {
$this->sessionService = $sessionService;
}
public function __invoke() {
return $this->sessionService;
}
}
module.config.php:
'service_manager' => array(
'factories' => array(
'sessionService' => function(
ServiceLocatorInterface $serviceLocator
) {
$sessionContainer = new \Zend\Session\Container('base');
$sessionService = new SessionService();
$sessionService->setSessionContainer($sessionContainer);
return $sessionService;
},
),
),
'controller_plugins' => array(
'factories' => array(
'sessionPlugin' => function(
AbstractPluginManager $pluginManager
) {
$sessionService = $pluginManager->getServiceLocator()->get('sessionService');
$sessionPlugin = new SessionPlugin();
$sessionPlugin->setSessionService($sessionService);
return $sessionPlugin;
},
),
),
'view_helpers' => array(
'factories' => array(
'sessionHelper' => function (
AbstractPluginManager $helperPluginManager
) {
$sessionService = $helperPluginManager->getServiceLocator()->get('sessionService');
$sessionHelper = new SessionHelper();
$sessionHelper->setSessionService($sessionService);
return $sessionHelper;
},
),
),

Answer 2

In your Controller write:-
use Zend\Session\Container;
Make Session variable
$user_session = new Container('user');
'user' is Your Session Name To put Value in Your Session write:
$user_session->username = 'xyz';
After Storing You can Access Your Session By:
$user_session-> username
To destroy Session Variable Use:
$session = new Container('user');
$session->getManager()->getStorage()->clear('user');
it is Just Like : -
unset($_SESSION['user']);
http://wownewcode.blogspot.in/2013/12/set-session-in-zend-framework-2.html

Answer 3

Once you've initialized a session Container you can just re-use it with $_SESSION['container_name'];
Basically $session = new \Zend\Session\Container('base'); will create an ArrayObject named base inside $_SESSION. One advantage of initializing by creating a Container is that you can specify a TTL or expiration after x-hops.
$_SESSION['base']['key'] = "store this value";

Answer 4

I think you need to use session Manager and service with the container storage to achieve your goal.
you can set it in your application Module
Application\Module.php
use Zend\Session\Config\SessionConfig;
public function onBootstrap(EventInterface $e)
{
//Your other code here
//configure session
$sessionConfig = new SessionConfig();
$sessionConfig->setOptions($config['session']);
}
and in module.config.php
'session' => array(
'save_path' => realpath(ZF2PROJECT_ROOT . '/data/session'),
'name' => 'ZF2PROJECT_SESSION',
),
and in your services you can use like this. Forexample in Authentication service.
class AuthenticationService
{
protected $storage = null;
public function getStorage()
{
if (null === $this->storage) {
$this->setStorage(new Storage\Session());
}
return $this->storage;
}
}

Answer 5

Here is my current provisional solution or workaround, consisting of:
- a service for storing the session container object.
- a controller plugin for easy access to the session container, without having to inject a dependency for it in every controller.
The session service:
class Session
{
private static $container;
public function getContainer() {
if (!isset(self::$container)) {
self::$container = new \Zend\Session\Container('base');
}
return self::$container;
}
public function __invoke() {
return $this->getContainer();
}
}
The controller plugin:
class Session extends AbstractPlugin
{
protected $sessionService;
public function __construct(
SessionService $sessionService
) {
$this->sessionService = $sessionService;
}
public function getContainer() {
return $this->sessionService->getContainer();
}
public function __invoke() {
return $this->getContainer();
}
}
Configuration in module.config.php:
'service_manager' => array(
'factories' => array(
'sessionService' => function($sm) {
return new Application\Service\Session\Session();
},
),
),
'controller_plugins' => array(
'factories' => array(
'session' => function($serviceLocator) {
$sessionService = $serviceLocator->get('sessionService');
return new Application\Service\Mvc\Controller\Plugin\Session($sessionService);
},
),
),
Usage example in any controller or controller plugin method:
$sessionContainer = $this->session->getContainer();
or short form (because session service and controller plugin both implement __invoke):
$sessionContainer = $this->session();
and then can use the session container to store any variables in it, like this:
$sessionContainer->foo = 'bar';
Because the session service is created by a factory function through module.config.php, it is only created once.
The actual session container is a static variable in the session service and only created once, i.e. if it doesn't exist.
In subsequent calls to the getSessionContainer function, this only once created static session container is returned.
This is just a provisional workaround solution, works for me for now, but for making it re-usable for other applications also, it should provide functions to customize the session container name and the storage place and strategy, those parts are missing in this simple workaround solution.
Note: A view helper should not be necessary for it. Session variables should not be set in a view, and if a view needs read access to them, the data should be passed via a view model from controller to view.