Accessing session from outside script

I use this bit of code stolen from 'index.php' in Drupal core.

require_once './includes/bootstrap.inc';
drupal_bootstrap(DRUPAL_BOOTSTRAP_FULL);

This basically loads drupal with no content. Then I add my code below and refer to the user as '$user->uid'.

HofMonkey
Open-Source | Open-Access | Open-Mind

I have a similar need. I am trying to integrate Open Flash Charts into my Drupal site. The Flash SWF opens a URL to fetch the data to chart, and I intend to pass the data behind the scenes via the session (instead of a bloated URL querystring). Only an hour ago I discovered that what I store into the $_SESSION in a Drupal page using the "PHP" content type is not available to a plain-vanilla PHP script's $_SESSION. (I have confirmed the session is working in the drupal page by implementing a simple session-based counter.)

I have tried mhofmockel's suggestion, but then my script returns an empty response to the charting SWF.

My external PHP script is in a folder called "charts" one level down from the root, so I tried both of the following to no avail:

require_once '/includes/bootstrap.inc';
drupal_bootstrap(DRUPAL_BOOTSTRAP_FULL);

require_once '../includes/bootstrap.inc';
drupal_bootstrap(DRUPAL_BOOTSTRAP_FULL);

I see mhofmockel's post is from back in 2006, and I am running Drupal 5.2, so I am wondering if I need to do something different?

Many thanks,
Jim

compound interest chart

I got a similar problem with my project based on drupal 4.7, where i was worried how to secure my popup pages which are not drupal modules. I did a little study and found that the problem is related to includes files which drupal did directly reference from the root directory. For that reason bootstrap.inc can't be included from other directory.

What i did:

1. I have created an .inc file where i have declared a constant to where my local site is reside. like:
define("ALTERNATE_URL", "tdcr");
2. Then i copy the following drupal files into different file:
bootstarp.inc ----> bootstarp2.inc
database.inc ----> database2.inc
theme.inc ----> theme2.inc
common.inc ----> common2.inc

3. Now where ever there are some include / require_once command, change it with a variable name before which is a global variable (on the copied files). Like

global $alternate_path;
require_once $alternate_path.'includes/path.inc';
require_once $alternate_path.'includes/theme2.inc';
require_once $alternate_path.'includes/common2.inc';
require_once $alternate_path.'includes/unicode.inc';

4. I did change a little in the bootstrap2.inc file of conf_init() function. Here is the code;

function conf_init() {
global $db_url, $db_prefix, $base_url, $base_path, $base_root, $conf,$alternate_path,$alternate_url;
$conf = array();
require_once $alternate_path. conf_path() .'/settings.php';

if (isset($base_url))
{
// Parse fixed base URL from settings.php.
$parts = parse_url($base_url);
if (!isset($parts['path']))
{
$parts['path'] = '';
}
$base_path = $parts['path'] . '/';

// Build $base_root (everything until first slash after "scheme://").
$base_root = substr($base_url, 0, strlen($base_url) - strlen($parts['path']));
}
else
{
// Create base URL
$base_root = (isset($_SERVER['HTTPS']) && $_SERVER['HTTPS'] == 'on') ? 'https' : 'http';
$base_url = $base_root .= '://'. $_SERVER['HTTP_HOST'];
//$base_url = $base_root .= '://'. $alternate_url;

//if ($dir = trim(dirname($_SERVER['SCRIPT_NAME']), '\,/'))
if ($dir = trim($alternate_url))
{
$base_path = "/$dir";
$base_url .= $base_path;
$base_path .= '/';
}
else
{
$base_path = '/';
}
}
}

5. Now the final part. I write the code in each non-drupal php file like this:

include_once('../../../includes/tdcr.inc');

$alternate_path = "../../../";
$alternate_url = ALTERNATE_URL;
require_once '../../../includes/bootstrap2.inc';
drupal_bootstrap(DRUPAL_BOOTSTRAP_FULL);

global $PHP_SELF,$user;
$connect_url = $db_url;
$conn=db_connect($connect_url);

if(!$user->uid)
{
echo "Please login first.";
return;
}

Note that my popup php file is 3 level down from the root.
I did not check in detail but with this code i can share the sessions as well as global variables.

Thanks