env vars not loading inside iframe

[iadj]

I have a PHP project running on Yii2 (configured to use https on localhost, no certiciate). I'm using a .env file with the vlucas/phpdotenv package to load my config variables.

When I have a page containing an iframe, and the iframe wants to access env vars, all env vars return 0. When I reload the iFrame using Javascript after the page has completely loaded, the env vars are loaded properly into the iframe.

For example:

index.php:

...
<!--full page content-->
...
<iframe src="file_using_env_vars.php" />

file_using_env_vars.php:
<?=getenv('SITE_NAME')?>

The site name is displayed if the php file is loaded directly in the browser, or if it's (re)loaded using Javascript after a few seconds. It never displays properly if the iframe is loaded normally using src.

[rquadling]

If you load the iframe url directly (i.e. not in an iframe), do you see the same error?
Is .html treated as .php by your server? If not, how can index.html process PHP code?

Most likely, your file_using_env_vars.php isn't loading the phpdotenv to parse your .env file.

[iadj]

@rquadling That's an error in the example. I use Yii2, so there's no actual HTML pages. It's all processed by the framework's MVC.

.env works everywhere, except in iframes.

When I load the URL directly it works. It only doesn't work when it's loaded in the iFrame, but it does work if the iFrame is refreshed later manually or using Javascript.

[rquadling]

I think you are seeing the putenv() issue that PHP has.

#109
#76 (comment)

[iadj]

@rquadling Very interesting. This definitely explains some of the other issues I've had. I'll use my framework's global variables to load my configurations instead.