SetCookie simply not working

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I cannot get a cookie to set properly through WordPress theme. I am putting the following code on the bottom of my functions.php page for my theme. 

function set_cookie() {
if (isset($_GET['id'])) {
    $referrerID = $_GET['id'];
        setcookie('referrerid', $referrerID,time()+ 3600 * 24, COOKIEPATH, COOKIE_DOMAIN, false);
    }
}
add_action( 'init', 'set_cookie');

I even went as far as using JavaScript to alert if the script reached the function (which it did).

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Why are my cookies not being set?? (The code works locally – outside of WordPress that is).

Post Views: 2

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2 comments

  1. Make sure the HTTP headers are not sent already at the point you want to set the cookie. Here’s how you can test that:

    function set_cookie() {
  var_dump(headers_sent()); // should be bool(false)
  ...

    Turning WP_DEBUG on in your config.php file may help also while debugging.

    By the way, you really should be doing some filtering on $_GET['id']. This variable could contain anything. Casting it to a (positive) integer should go a long way:

    $referrerID = absint($_GET['id']); // Note: absint() is a WP function

  2. Another option is to use PHP’s ob_start(); and ob_end_flush();.

    You can find documentation on the two functions here

    The way I resolved my issues was to call the two functions before and after the opening and closing html tags like this: 

    <?php ob_start(); ?>
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
  </head>
<body>
  <?php /* WordPress loop and other tempate code here */ ?>
</body>
</html>
<?php ob_end_flush(); ?>

    The issue I was running into was calling a global function that used PHP’s setcookie(); and because WordPress processes the page progressively, the cookie couldn’t be created due to the page’s headers already being sent.

    PHP’s output buffering function forces the headers to be sent before WordPress processes the page.

    Hope this helps.