PHP - Session And Cookies... Ahhhhh Help

Ok guys heres the deal.  I have been struggling on this for about two weeks and am giving up.
Because I'm giving up, I would like to throw this up to you guys to help me out.

I am trying to build a login
I tried learning sessions but they make no sense to me whatsoever on how the information passes from one to another.  So i created my own sessions database, where im uploading the data i need to pass page to page to my db, and repulling it on the next page.  In order to do this i needed to create a cookie so I can refrence that data on the next page, main.php.
When I run main.php i get an the echo of. "THIS COOKIE AINT FUCKING WORKING". which to me means one of two things.  One is either im not creating the cookie right, or two, im not accessing it correctly.  But to widdle that down I created the testpoint on if cookie is created and it seems to work fine, cuase im not getting the die().

Im not an advance php programmer by any means,  just been self learning for a few months, so bear with me and please break it down as much as possible.  I feel that if i can just get a userid created on one page, put it into a cookie, send it, and retreive it when on the next page, i can do the rest from there.  If you can see why that is happening then let me know.

Thanks in advance. 
NEVERBEGOSU


----------------------------------
index.php
-------------
Code: [Select]
<?php
include ('srvdbcon.php');
include ('functions/sitebuild.php');
include ('functions/functions.php');
setcookie('user', 'mike');
login();

headcontent();

headermain();

leftcontent();
?>


<div id="content">
   <div class="post">   
   <h1 class="title"><a href="#">Welcome to  </a></h1><p class="byline">21 April 2011 by <a href="#"></a></p>
      <div class="entry">
      <p><strong></strong> is a free, 100% Starcraft 2 Replay Center. Our goal is to provide the ability to UPLOAD replays with detailed data, as well as to DOWNLOAD those replays.  Our Replay Search function is one of a kind, designed by hand to help you find replays that you are looking for.</p>
      <p class="links"><a href="#" class="more">About Us</a></p>
      </div>
   </div>
     
     
   <div class="post">
   <h2 class="title"><a href="#">Latest News</a></h2>
   <p class="byline">Working hard to get the site up and running. <a href="#"></a></p>
      <div class="entry">
      <h3>Looking for late May Release:</h3>
      <blockquote>
      <p>Im working really hard guys. Forgive me for the pushback.</p>
      </blockquote>
      <h3>In Production:</h3>
      <ul>
      <li>Working on a new template for the site.</li>
      <li>Continuing developing the search function for replays.</li>
      <li>In the middle of moving in RL so working hard when I can.</li>
      <li>Working hard on the member login/registration pages.</li>
      <li>Started working on the forums</li>
      </ul>
      <h3>Finished:</h3>
      <ul>
      <li>Got the Upload Page working.</li>
      <li>Completed the Download style for the site.</li>
      <li>Finished a few other smaller aspects.</li>
      </ul>
      <p class="links"><a href="#" class="more">Read More</a></p>
      </div>
   </div>
         
   <div class="post">
   <h2 class="title"><a href="#">LOOKING FOR HELP </a></h2>
   <p class="byline"><small>Posted on 22 Aprl 2011 by <a href="#">SCG.Admin</a></small></p>
      <div class="entry">
      <p> is looking for a few people, if willig, to help design the site. The following positions are needed. </p>
      <ul>
      <li>Graphics Designer</li>
      <li>PHP/MYSQL Programmer</li>
      </ul>
      <p>If anyone is intrested please contact me at .</p>
      <p class="links"><a href="#" class="more">Read More</a></p>
      </div>
   </div>
</div>

<?php

rightcontent1();

echo "<center><h2>Login</h2></center> ";
echo "<form name='log' method='POST' action='" . $PHP_SELF . "'>";
echo "Username:";
echo "<p><input type='text' name='username'>";
echo "<p>Password:";
echo "<p><input type='password' name='password'>";
echo "<p><input type='submit' id='log' name='log' value='Login'>";
echo "<br>";
echo "<h2> Not a Member </h2>";
echo "<p><a href='register.php'>Register</a></p>";
echo "</center>";

rightcontent2();

footerdiv();
?>
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

main.php
---------
Code: [Select]
<?php
include ('srvdbcon.php');
include ('functions/sitebuild.php');

if(!isset($_COOKIE['userid']));
{
die ('CANT GET THE FUKCING COOKIE TO WORK');
}

headcontent();
headermain();
leftcontent();
?>


<div id="content">
   <div class="post">   
   <h1 class="title"><a href="#">Welcome to  </a></h1><p class="byline">21 April 2011 by <a href="#">SCG.Admin</a></p>
      <div class="entry">
      <p><strong></strong> is a free, 100% Starcraft 2 Replay Center. Our goal is to provide the ability to UPLOAD replays with detailed data, as well as to DOWNLOAD those replays.  Our Replay Search function is one of a kind, designed by hand to help you find replays that you are looking for.</p>
      <p class="links"><a href="#" class="more">About Us</a></p>
      </div>
   </div>
     
     
   <div class="post">
   <h2 class="title"><a href="#">Latest News</a></h2>
   <p class="byline">Working hard to get the site up and running. <a href="#">SCG.Admin</a></p>
      <div class="entry">
      <h3>Looking for late May Release:</h3>
      <blockquote>
      <p>Im working really hard guys. Forgive me for the pushback.</p>
      </blockquote>
      <h3>In Production:</h3>
      <ul>
      <li>Working on a new template for the site.</li>
      <li>Continuing developing the search function for replays.</li>
      <li>In the middle of moving in RL so working hard when I can.</li>
      <li>Working hard on the member login/registration pages.</li>
      <li>Started working on the forums</li>
      </ul>
      <h3>Finished:</h3>
      <ul>
      <li>Got the Upload Page working.</li>
      <li>Completed the Download style for the site.</li>
      <li>Finished a few other smaller aspects.</li>
      </ul>
      <p class="links"><a href="#" class="more">Read More</a></p>
      </div>
   </div>
         
   <div class="post">
   <h2 class="title"><a href="#">LOOKING FOR HELP </a></h2>
   <p class="byline"><small>Posted on 22 Aprl 2011 by <a href="#">SCG.Admin</a></small></p>
      <div class="entry">
      <p>SCG.O is looking for a few people, if willig, to help design the site. The following positions are needed. </p>
      <ul>
      <li>Graphics Designer</li>
      <li>PHP/MYSQL Programmer</li>
      </ul>
      <p>If anyone is intrested please contact me at </p>
      <p class="links"><a href="#" class="more">Read More</a></p>
      </div>
   </div>
</div>

<?php
rightcontent1();
rightcontent2();

footerdiv();
?>
----------------
functions.php
Code: [Select]
<?php

function verifylogin()
{

}

function login()
{
$Login=$_POST['log'];
if ($Login)
{
$username=$_POST['username'];
$password=($_POST['password']);
$verlogin="SELECT * FROM user WHERE user='$username' AND password='$password'";
$verloginq=mysql_query($verlogin);
   if(mysql_num_rows($verloginq)!='0')
   {
   setcookie('userid' , 'mike');
      if (setcookie)
      {   
      $ip = getenv("REMOTE_ADDR"); 
      $time=time();
      $loginquery="INSERT INTO login (id,user,date,ip) VALUES ('','$username','$time','$ip')";
      $loginqueryr=mysql_query($loginquery);
         if ($loginqueryr)
         {
         header("location:testmain.php");
         }
         else
         {
         die('There was a problem sending info to database: LOGIN.');
         }
      }
      else
      {
      die ('Cookie wont set for some damn reason.');}
   }
   else
   {die ('username/password error');}
}
else
{

}
}


function logout()
{

}

function logcook()
{

}

function logsess()
{

}
?>

MOD EDIT: [code] . . . [/code] BBCode tags added.

Hello all..... Grasshopper here......... Need help with the following: I have a registration form for a Sport Gym Complex offering a free guest pass if you register......  Where would I implement cookies or sessions to reject 2nd times registrants trying to take advantage of the free guest pass within the year;
I have attached the php.file
Thanks
Steve

Hello,
I have the following code. I am trying to have it same the searches save for 30 days. I can't tell exactly how long this works for because it does work for a while but when I open the browser the following day, the information is lost. The server time is accurate. Does anyone have any clue to why this might not work?
session_set_cookie_params(2592000);   session_name('test_mysearches');  session_start();  $rqstsignature = md5($_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'].$_SERVER['QUERY_STRING'].print_r($_POST, true));if(!isset($_SESSION['mysearches'])) {    $_SESSION['mysearches'] = array($_GET['s']);} else { if ($_GET['s'] != '') { $_SESSION['mysearches'] = array_filter($_SESSION['mysearches'], 'strlen'); if ($_SESSION['LastRequest'] != $rqstsignature) { // not a refresh array_unshift($_SESSION['mysearches'], $_GET['s']); $_SESSION['LastRequest'] = $rqstsignature; while(count($_SESSION['mysearches']) > 5) { array_pop($_SESSION['mysearches']); } } } } ()

thanks in advance.

What is the best practice to use cookies and sessions? Should i create a cookie and keep inside the cookie the name of the username the user has logged in or a session? How am i supposed to compine theese two? Is there any example or a tutorial on this? For example how does php freaks sessions and cookies work.

I'm pulling my hair out here...
Here's my problem. I'm about halfway done with my site (It's a site to sell stuff and I'm working on the shopping cart) when I noticed a big problem. I've got session cookies working in every browser (FF, chrome, safari) except Internet Explorer. For some reason IE likes to delete my session cookies so there's nothing there after I click 'view shopping cart'. I've verified that the session is set but then it gets deleted. Now I am using IFrames and I searched for possible causes and tried changing headers, making sure there's no underscores, etc... No joy

The problem is that getting the problem to show up would require a lot of copying code onto this page since it's like 4 or 5 pages to get something into the cart and then view the cart itself. What do you folks recommend? Should I just link to the site itself?