PHP: Reset session lifetime on reload

This probably is a rather simple question. I have found dozens of similar ones, asking how to generally shorten or extend the session life time in PHP. I know how to achieve that, my PHP script reads like this:

ini_set('session.gc_maxlifetime', 3600);
session_set_cookie_params(3600);
session_start();

This sets my sessions to time out after 3600 seconds. And this basically is what happens, when I initally open a website where I have to log in, I can work with it for exactly one hour, then all session data is being deleted and I need to log in again.

However, this is not the behavior I'd expect. I want my Sessions to time out after one hour of inactivity. So when I first open my website at 10:00 am, do something until 10:45, then it should time out at 11:45, not at 11:00 as it does now.

Any suggestions how to achieve this?

Solution 1:

Use instead of session_set_cookie_params -> setcookie

instead

session_set_cookie_params(3600);
session_start();

use this and call it on every page of your website

$lifetime=3600;
session_start();
setcookie(session_name(),session_id(),time()+$lifetime);

it will update session cookie expiration date on each execution till time()+$lifetime date