Write to Session with Post - CakePHP - ajax

Question

I am trying to post an array of check box ids to an action in my controller. Here is the script from my index.ctp:
<script type="text/javascript">
$('.editSel_dialog').click(function()
{
var selected = [];
alert('Edit Selected Has Been Clicked');
$("#[id*=LocalClocks]").each(function()
{
if(false != $(this).is(':checked'))
{
selected.push($(this).attr('id').replace('LocalClocks', ''));
}
});
alert(selected);
/*$.ajax(
{
type: 'POST',
url: "/LocalClocks/editSelected/",
data: selected,
traditional: true,
//contentType: "application/json",
dataType: "text",
success: function(data){ alert(data); alert('Edit Success');}
});*/
$.post('/LocalClocks/editSelected', { "Session" : selected }, function(data){
alert(data);
});
});
</script>
I have both an ajax request and a post request. I was using the ajax until I saw that the post can actually modify a php variable. The code in the braces { "Session" : selected } should modify the Session variable with the array selected.
I tried using debug on $this->data, and $this->request->data, and $_POST, but they all are empty.
I need help getting the selected array written to a variable or something. I was thinking of trying to write to $this->Session but I am not sure how I would go about doing that.
Thanks in advance

Answer 1

With Cake, to get posted values in $this->request->data, their names have to be prefixed with data:
Javascript:
$.post('/LocalClocks/editSelected', { "data[Session][selected]" : selected }, function(data){
alert(data);
});
Controller:
function editSelected()
{
if($this->request->is('post'))
{
if(isset($this->request->data['Session']['selected']))
{
$this->Session->write('selected', $this->request->data['Session']['selected']);
}
}
}

Answer 2

Maybe I'm wrong, but I think you cannot do that directly from the client side using ajax. Can you share the source your statement regarding you can modify the php variable? I googled for that with no luck, and it will be weird to me being able to modify the PHP session.. it would be really insecure, saying you could use Session Fixation/Injection or other malicious techniques
Edited
For assigning the value on a existing variable you need
Make the ajax call
$.post('/LocalClocks/editSelected', { "selected" : selected }, function(data){
alert(data);
});
and on your controller you'll have a function like this
function editSelected($selected){
$_SESSION["selected"] = $selected;
}
and voila