Codeigniter API session

Question

Am writing an api for IOS application I have some concerns about handling session for the IOS application

When a user login from iphone, I need to pass the session id as login response and use that session id in further api calls for validating the user,

What I have done in my api controller is get the session id and save it to session array along with user details and pass the session id as response

  $session = $this->session->userdata('session_id');
        $user_array = array(

     'email' => $user->email,     
       'session_id'=>$session
                   );
      $this->session->set_userdata('logged_in', $user_array);

     $output = array(
                            'code'=>200,                            
                            'user'=>$user,
                            'session_id'=>$session
                   );
                   $this->output
                       ->set_content_type('application/json')
                       ->set_output(json_encode($output));

For the further api calls, I will get the session_id as a parameter,

I checked its a valid section or not using the following. code

 $session_id =  $this->input->get('session_id', TRUE);
        if($session_id){
            if($this->session->userdata('logged_in')){
                $user =  $this->session->userdata('logged_in');
                 if($user['session_id'] == $session_id){
              // valid session
}

This worked well when tested with postman.

But am not sure , this is the correct way to handle session with API calls.

Will the same work when run from the IOS application?

thanks in advance

score 1 · Answer 1 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:06

You are using a REST api method which is stateless, So session will not get maintained while calling from IOS application. Every call you make from the app will have a new session.

You have to use SOAP as a web service if you really need session to be maintained while API call.

For more information please check on If REST applications are supposed to be stateless, how do you manage sessions?

Codeigniter API session

1 Answers1