add to cart not working when not logged in

[delia]

I made a number of small changes to a site that has resulted in a weird problem. If I log in, adding products is not a problem. When not logged in, you can't add products from either the product info page or the product list page. It will go to the shopping cart but says there are no products in the cart.

I've checked the mods and other changes and am pretty sure they aren't the cause of this.

I also applied the recommended patches and I suspect there lies the problem. I've tried to back those changes out - in admin it fixed one problem I was having there. I've had other problems with these patch files but this is the updated set with all patches so far for 1.5.4.

Those files are:
ajax.php
includes/functions/html_output.php - rolled back to 1.5.3 level as 1.5.4 did not change that file
includes/extra_configures/security_patch_v154_and_older.php - removed
includes/modules/pages/checkout_confirmation/header_php.php - not touched since I can't get that far

admin/admin_account.php
admin/includes/auto_loaders/config.adminSanitize.php - removed
admin/includes/classes/AdminRequestSanitizer.php - removed - I think this was the one that screwed up admin
admin/includes/init_includes/init_sanitize.php - returned to 1.5.3

So the first question is there any way the patch files could cause this aberrant behavior of not adding to cart?

Second question - can anyone think of any alternate scenario that would cause this behavior? Never had it happen before.

It has to be template caused: no admin settings have changed. I will set up a test scenario and gradually add the template back in but I am hoping for a clue first so that I don't have to spend a lot more time on this.

[delia]

maybe this will help. Print session returns this:

[1] => Array
                        (
                            [page] => product_info
                            [mode] => NONSSL
                            [get] => Array
                                (
                                    [products_id] => 11152
                                    [cPath] => 2683_2684
                                    [action] => add_product
                                )

                            [post] => Array
                                (
                                )

                        )

Looks like it does retain tje product but won't post it to the cart?

[mc12345678]

Does the product page contain the securityToken that is typically added to within the form tags by use of the zen function for generating a post related form?

Also, what files are in the includes/extra_cart_actions directory?

[delia]

happening on both product info and product list pages
nothing in the extra cart actions

[mc12345678]

How does includes/modules/pages/shopping_cart and related files in that directory differ from a ZC vanilla install?

What includes/classes/observers are installed and to what do they listen?

[delia]

So I finally just set up the cart in another directory but with the same database and no custom template. It's doing the same thing so it must not be template based. The files are the default files for 1.5.4. What in the heck could be going on?

[DrByte]

I'm a bit baffled too. Normally symptoms like this also affect login.

Has the shopping_cart class been altered?

The add-to-cart process works like this:
a) user clicks link/button to request the add ... this fires a GET/POST depending on where they're at
b) init system fires, to confirm session is started, and link to visitor's current session
c) main_cart_actions and extra_cart_actions fire to trigger the actual add
d) the shopping_cart class (fired by cart actions above) stuffs the added product into the visitor's basket:
- if logged in, the basket data is stored in both the session and in the database
- if not logged in, the basket data is stored only in the session, until they login (which causes a merge of the data)

So, given that both the logged-in and not-logged-in visitor are treated the same until the last step where the actual add happens, it's odd to see a disparity like this.

So I finally just set up the cart in another directory but with the same database and no custom template. It's doing the same thing so it must not be template based. The files are the default files for 1.5.4. What in the heck could be going on?

I'd be very interested in seeing if v155 does the same, on the same server and hosting account.

Are there any custom php.ini files on this site? How about any PHP directives in any .htaccess files?
(I'm thinking mainly of things that would affect how sessions are configured on this server, where temporary session data is stored on this server, whether that's out-of-disk/quota-space, and so on)

[delia]

Server shouldn't be an issue. It is my server - leased from, setup and supported by geekhost.ca. There are no custom php.ini files on the hosting account. Running three other zen cart installations on the same account with no issues (all 1.5.4)

I don't have any live 1.5.5 sites running on this server but there is a test site that works perfectly.

I did a print session from my now upgraded 1.5.5 default template where this is happening - this is when product is added and I see the product id in the session.

[cart] => shoppingCart Object ( [contents] => Array ( ) [total] => 0 [weight] => 0 [cartID] => [content_type] => [free_shipping_item] => 0 [free_shipping_weight] => 0 [free_shipping_price] => 0 [download_count] => 0 [total_before_discounts] => 0 [display_debug_messages] => [flag_duplicate_msgs_set] => ) [check_valid] => true [navigation] => navigationHistory Object ( [path] => Array ( [0] => Array ( [page] => product_info [mode] => NONSSL [get] => Array ( [cPath] => 14_86_316 [products_id] => 902 [action] => add_product ) [post] => Array ( ) ) [1] => Array ( [page] => shopping_cart [mode] => NONSSL [get] => [post] => Array ( ) ) ) [snapshot] => Array ( [page] => product_info [mode] => NONSSL [get] => Array ( [cPath] => 14_86_316 [products_id] => 902 ) [post] => Array ( ) ) ) [language] => english [languages_id] => 1 [languages_code] => en [currency] => GBP [today_is] => 2016-06-20 [updateExpirations] => 1 [session_counter] => 1 [customers_ip_address] => 7xxxxx [valid_to_checkout] => 1 [cart_errors] => )

[lat9]

If that's the full dump of the site's $_SESSION variable, then you're missing the securityToken value which is the root cause of the issue you're having (add-to-cart not working).

You need to determine why that value isn't being set (some session-related issue), correct that and your cart-handling will follow suit.

[delia]

nope, I just left it off - first part is
Array ( [securityToken] => 1cd17a7148ad85dda2d179ee89aa7931 [customers_host_address] => xxxxxx [cartID] =>