Accessing session from TWIG template

Question

I've searched a lot on the net how to access the global $_SESSION array from TWIG template and found this: {{app.session.get('index')}}, but when I'm calling it, it returns an empty string. I have a $_SESSION['filter']['accounts'] and I'm getting this error when calling {{app.session.get('filter').accounts}}: Item "accounts" for "" does not exist. What I'm doing wrong?

Honestly

Do NOT use $_SESSION in Symfony! – Lantz

Answer 1

{{app.session}} refers to the Session object and not the $_SESSION array. I don't think the $_SESSION array is accessible unless you explicitly pass it to every Twig template or if you do an extension that makes it available.

Symfony2 is object-oriented, so you should use the Session object to set session attributes and not rely on the array. The Session object will abstract this stuff away from you so it is easier to, say, store the session in a database because storing the session variable is hidden from you.

So, set your attribute in the session and retrieve the value in your twig template by using the Session object.

// In a controller
$session = $this->get('session');
$session->set('filter', array(
    'accounts' => 'value',
));

// In Twig
{% set filter = app.session.get('filter') %}
{% set account-filter = filter['accounts'] %}

Gudgeon

thanks :) this helped me P.S. you need to change your answer as this: $session->set('filter', array( 'accounts' => 'value' )); – Honestly

What if sessions are stored in Memcached ? – Sunfish

@Sekai doesnt make a differnce i would say if you configured it correctly – Lantz

Answer 2

Setup twig

$twig = new Twig_Environment(...);    
$twig->addGlobal('session', $_SESSION);

Then within your template access session values for example

$_SESSION['username'] in php file Will be equivalent to {{ session.username }} in your twig template

Garrard

This is a great answer. – Anteversion

Yes, great answer. – Amaral

Yes, great answer – Calgary

Great answer because it works without Symphony. Not shown is how to do this within the view container, which is very similar. Where $view is the newly created Twig object, add the following to the container function (the same place you might add extensions). $view->getEnvironment()->addGlobal('session', $_SESSION); – Mob

This code does not work in the latest Twig version. @Garrard – Paratroops

This solution does still work with Twig 3.x - the Twig_Environment class has been changed to just Environment. – Secession

Answer 3

A simple trick is to define the $_SESSION array as a global variable. For that, edit the core.php file in the extension folder by adding this function :

public function getGlobals() {
    return array(
        'session'   => $_SESSION,
    ) ;
}

Then, you'll be able to acces any session variable as :

{{ session.username }}

if you want to access to

$_SESSION['username']

Yogh

This is a much better answer than the above, given that you can be using Twig without using Symfony. – Snakemouth

Rather than edit core.php though follow the docs here: twig.sensiolabs.org/doc/advanced.html – Snakemouth

@Snakemouth Both solutions are just great. – Beriosova

Answer 4

The way to access a session variable in Twig is:

{{ app.session.get('name_variable') }}

Retardant

Answer 5

I found that the cleanest way to do this is to create a custom TwigExtension and override its getGlobals() method. Rather than using $_SESSION, it's also better to use Symfony's Session class since it handles automatically starting/stopping the session.

I've got the following extension in /src/AppBundle/Twig/AppExtension.php:

<?php    
namespace AppBundle\Twig;

use Symfony\Component\HttpFoundation\Session\Session;

class AppExtension extends \Twig_Extension {

    public function getGlobals() {
        $session = new Session();
        return array(
            'session' => $session->all(),
        );
    }

    public function getName() {
        return 'app_extension';
    }
}

Then add this in /app/config/services.yml:

services:
    app.twig_extension:
        class: AppBundle\Twig\AppExtension
        public: false
        tags:
            - { name: twig.extension }

Then the session can be accessed from any view using:

{{ session.my_variable }}

Luetic

This is nice. How can i set a session variable in twig using this solution?? – Refrain

@Ranhot, you shouldn't set session variables in twig views. That should be done in controllers or services. – Luetic

Answer 6

I found that in Grav CMS you could access session variables from twig like this:

{{ grav.session.variable }}

Draught