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Issues With Session TimeoutsWeird Icons



  • 2006-11-17 08:30:49

    Issues With Session TimeoutsWeird Icons

    Things to describe:
    operating system - Linux
    version of ATutor - 1.5.3.2
    versions of php - 4.3.1.1
    version of mysq l - 4.0.27 ?
    webserver & version -
    copies of error messages - none
    changes to default settings - none
    web browser being used - firefox/Internet Explorer

    We are having two issues...

    The first one is that I had to do a fresh install of 1.52, and then import my older database to get the upgrade working properly.

    In the test review (where you see your answers), there is a red X next to the wrong answer, on both sides, and then next to the right answer, along with a green checkmark. I know this display can't be correct, please see attached.

    Also, my user's sessions are timing out after 45 or so minutes. I have checked the php file that defines 36000 Seconds, or 10 hours, and verified that this is indeed correct. Am I missing another setting somewhere? This effectively is rendering our testing center useless, as 300 of our people are trying to take a 2 hour test, only to be greeted with a login screen once they submit the test, which they then have to retake and hope to get it done in 45 minutes.


  • 2006-11-17 08:55:06

    Re: Issues With Session Timeouts/Weird Icons

    In the test review (where you see your answers), there is a red X next to the wrong answer, on both sides, and then next to the right answer, along with a green checkmark. I know this display can't be correct, please see attached.

    [green]This is being changed i the spring release, to just checks and Xs to the left next to only items that were selected (most likely). For now the marks on the right indicate which are the correct answers that should have been chosen, and the marks on the left indicate correct answer were chosen (checkmark), and incorrect answers chosen (Xs), and correct answers not choosen(Xs).[/green]

    Also, my user's sessions are timing out after 45 or so minutes. I have checked the php file that defines 36000 Seconds, or 10 hours, and verified that this is indeed correct. Am I missing another setting somewhere? This effectively is rendering our testing center useless, as 300 of our people are trying to take a 2 hour test, only to be greeted with a login screen once they submit the test, which they then have to retake and hope to get it done in 45 minutes.

    [green]see http://www.atutor.ca/view/3/5387/1.html[/green]

    [reply][b]In reply to:[/b]
    Things to describe:
    operating system - Linux
    version of ATutor - 1.5.3.2
    versions of php - 4.3.1.1
    version of mysq l - 4.0.27 ?
    webserver & version -
    copies of error messages - non...
    [op]forums/view.php?fid=7;pid=9262;page=1#9262[/op][/reply]


  • 2006-11-29 13:25:21

    Re: Issues With Session Timeouts/Weird Icons

    I have followed the suggestions, and had my webhost change the php.ini file to correct this issue. My users are still timing out after a small amount of time. This is all after the upgrade to version 1.5.3.2

    I suppose at this point that our only option is to roll back to the older version, as we had no timeout issues at that point.


  • 2006-12-01 12:43:12

    Re: Issues With Session Timeouts/Weird Icons

    session.gc_maxlifetime, in the include/vitals.inc.php file, is the only thing in ATutor that affects timeouts, and it is set to ten hours be default. It is most certainly a server setting that's the problem. Ask your ISP if they have upgraded their system recently.


  • 2007-01-09 14:29:40

    Re: Issues With Session Timeouts/Weird Icons

    An update to this issue..

    My webhost modified the php.ini file to 10 hour timeouts, and I checked the file local to Atutor and it is set at default as well so there appeared to be no hope..

    The timeouts occured after I installed Joomla.

    I have included a section from an article that I stumbled upon...and also the link to the full article..please sticky this message in the hopes that it resolves this issue for other users of Atutor that have the same issues:

    [i]So, as it happens, what changed two weeks ago? We started playing with a number of PHP applications: Joomla! and Zen-Cart, both of whom (among others), take it upon themselves to override session.gc_maxlifetime to a smaller value, which appears to have been, drumroll please: around 45 minutes. So, every time the PHP interpreter was invoked in this environment, it obliterated sessions for all our other applications if they had been idle for 45 minutes or more. Harsh. [/i]

    Full Article - http://blog.centresource.com/2006/05/23/php-session-lifetime-an-adventure/


  • 2007-01-17 13:11:55

    Re: Issues With Session Timeouts/Weird Icons

    Just to follow up, this is our current issue:

    Joomla is killing all sessions in the /tmp folder, but we are unable to make Atutor default to another location to write the sessions to:

    ie. session_save_path = (' /path/to/session/save/directory');

    Can I insert this php snippet into index.php or is there another file where this would be picked up and utilized?


  • 2007-01-17 17:04:42

    Re: Issues With Session Timeouts/Weird Icons

    place it in:

    include/vitals.inc.php

    Could post the snippet here? We may include it in the trunk.

    Another option might be to contact Cas Nuy, who created the Mambo/Joomla module for ATutor. He may be able to shed some light and perhaps fix the module to do what you're planning to have ATutor do.

    See the ATutor support forums at:
    http://www.nuy.info/


  • 2007-01-29 09:21:17

    Re: Issues With Session Timeouts/Weird Icons

    This issue has been officially resolved. For anyone else having this problem, here is your solution...

    In the "includes" folder, find vitals.inc.php..

    Look for the line, around line 76, that reads "@set_time_limit(0);"

    Below it, add this code:

    @ini_set('session.save_path', '/path/to/new/tmp/folder');

    Please be aware, we had to path our absolute path to this directory; if you path it as /tmp/newfolder, then it tries to write to the overall tmp folder on the webserver (for shared hosting).

    So, try pathing it as /home/youraccountname/tmp/school, and if it works correctly, once you login, then you will see the new session in the folder.

    If you get the error "Session Cookies Must Be Enabled" then you have pathed it incorrectly, and it is unable to write to the folder that you specified.

    It may take some trial and error, but this is an effective solution to having many sessions written to the same folder, as Joomla/Mambo WILL KILL your sessions and cause your students to lose their tests.

    Good Luck :)


  • 2007-01-29 09:24:49

    Re: Issues With Session Timeouts/Weird Icons

    One More thing that I forgot above:

    You must create the folder that you want it to write to, and chmod it 755; so if I wanted Atutor to write the session to the sessions directory, then I would have to create this folder...

    /home/yourusername/public_html/atutor/sessions

    Good Luck :)