Updated April 11, 2023
Introduction to Laravel Session
Sessions are an essential part of the Laravel PHP framework. It helps to make it possible to store information of the user across multiple requests on the server. Unified API helps to access various session backends that Laravel ships. All the files of the session configuration are stored at config/session.php. Laravel automatically uses the file session driver which is compatible with many applications. Driver configuration is a session that defines where the session data is to be stored for each of the requests. Different drivers available in Laravel are file, APC, array, cookie, Redis, Memcached, and database. They assist in handling session data.
What are the Laravel Sessions?
To get all session data you can use all () method rather than the get () method.
The different drivers which are made available in laravel session are as follows:
- File: Here, the sessions are stored in the directory – storage/framework/sessions.
- Cookie: Secure and encrypted cookies are where the sessions are stored.
- Database: Sessions here are stored in a relational database.
- Array: A PHP array is where the sessions are stored and they will not be persisted any further.
- Memcached/Redis: These are fast and cache-based stores and sessions are also stored inside them.
Given below are the two ways of operating session:
- Request instance
- Global session helper
Whenever the session data needs to be accessed, it is accessed via an instance of a session with the help of an HTTP request. The get() method is used after getting the instance wherein one argument “key” is used to get the session data.
$value = $request->session () ->get ('key');For, global helper the code is as follows:
//Global Helper
Session (['key'=> 'value']);The retrieving of Session Data is possible in Laravel. When you store data and want to retrieve it anytime later.
You can do so in two different ways, i.e. with the help of Session Helper and Request Instance.
- To retrieve with the help of Global Helper.
$result= session ('key');- To retrieve with Request Instance.
$result= $request-> session () -> get ('key');This is how the sessions are retrieved with the help of the key.
To retrieve all the data that is stored in the application, we can use all method on the request instance.
$result = $request -> session () -> all ();Another option to retrieve session data is with the available default argument.
In situations where the session value cannot be retrieved because the session doesn’t exist, returning the default value which is specified help.
$request->session () ->get ('key', 'default value');
// Closure
$result = $request->session () ->get ('key', function () {
Return 'default value';
});How does Laravel Sessions work?
Laravel session helps you to access session data, store session data, delete session data, and also retrieve session data. There are various designated steps to perform these varied actions in the Laravel application. With the help of sessions, you can handle the data of the users and also store it securely in your application. The data is well organized and saved in the application. The user can refer to the data at any point in time with the help of the retrieving option that is available in the application. Also if there is a need to delete the data from the stored space, it is possible with sessions. Also, the sole authority is in the hands of the administrator. Nobody else can handle data; be it storing, deleting, or retrieving.
Sessions are very crucial for any web application. It is important to know of all its use cases. Even authentication status and similar kind of log data can be stored in the sessions. There can be errors that may arise in the sessions if they are not coded or followed properly by the user. There can be HTTP request errors too. Do not panic during such situations and rework on the following of the instructions carefully.
Has method needs to be used to confirm if a value you want to find about is present in the session. The purpose of the has method is that it helps in returning the true value if it is present in the session and if it is not present the return will be null in confirmation.
If ($request->session () ->has ('users')) {
//
}How to remove all items from the session?
The flush method needs to be used if you want to flush out all the data from the session. This will wipe every single data present and therefore it is termed as flush symbolically.
$request->session () ->flush ();When you want to flash all the data that is present in the session you will have to use a different approach. It can be possible that there may be times when you may have to store items in your session only for the next request that follows. Use the flash method when such a demand may arise. Only during a subsequent HTTP request, this data will be available following which it will be deleted.
$request->session () ->flash ('status', 'Task was successful!');Example of Laravel Session
Given below is the example mentioned:
1. Create a migration table
Run the following commands:
first generate a migration file
Php artisan session: tablenow, migrate generated sessions table
2. Php artisan migrate
The sample migration file will be generated with the following contents in it.
Schema::create('sessions', function ($table) {
$table->string('id')->unique();
$table->unsignedInteger('user_id')->nullable();
$table->string('ip_address', 45)->nullable();
$table->text('user_agent')->nullable();
$table->text('payload');
$table->integer('last_activity');
});Once the migration table has been created, open the .env file to change the following line in it.
SESSION_DRIVER=databaseConclusion
In conclusion, we can say that Laravel Sessions plays an important role in securing and storing data of the users and the log details which can be stored, deleted, or retrieved when needed. They can be customized as per the need of handling the data in a particular way. The users need to follow the method appropriately to get the correct results.
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