Category: Flash

CakePHP: Flash uploader and session lost

I recently implemented a YUI uploader for an application developed with CakePHP 1,3. I based me on the solution proposed in the Bakery: Ability to select and upload multiple files at once – under 5 mins..

As explained in the article SWFUpload and cakePHP, a trick is required to avoid losing the current session when you add a Flash uploader to your application.

The solution proposed in the Bakery comes with a component to solve this problem but it is useless. Below comes the rewritten component keeping correctly the current session:

01
02
03
04
05
06
07
08
09
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
<?php
class YuiUploaderComponent extends Object {
 
    /**
     * Restore session from POST fields if possible.
     *
     * This is required because flash plugin uses a different
         * session (id and user agent) from the application one.
     *
     * @param Object &$controller pointer to calling controller
     */
    public function initialize(&$controller) {
        if (!empty($_POST[Configure::read('Session.cookie')])) {
            //Restore session for our application and not session used by Flash plugin.
            $controller->Session->id($_POST[Configure::read('Session.cookie')]);
            //Required if application is configured to check session user agent.
            if (Configure::read('Session.checkAgent')) {
                $controller->Session->write('Config.userAgent', $_POST['userAgent']);
            }
        }
    }
 
}
?>

Changes made:

  • The session should be restored before any call to a method of the CakeSession class. It means the trick has to be executed in the “initialize” method of the component and not in the “startup” method.
  • If the variable Session.checkAgent in core.php is set to true (to check the user agent), the user agent should also be restored.