In the context of PHP development, what debugging techniques can be employed to troubleshoot and resolve session-related problems, especially when variables appear to be empty or missing?

Session-related problems in PHP, such as empty or missing variables, can often be debugged by checking the session data and ensuring that variables are properly set and accessed. One common technique is to use the session_start() function at the beginning of each PHP script to start or resume a session. Additionally, using var_dump($_SESSION) can help to inspect the session data and identify any missing or empty variables.

<?php
session_start();

// Check if a session variable is set
if(isset($_SESSION['variable_name'])){
    // Access the session variable
    $variable_value = $_SESSION['variable_name'];
    echo $variable_value;
} else {
    echo "Session variable is empty or missing.";
}
?>