Cookie jQuery Plugin

As published on my last post, JSON gives us the great possibility to save objects on Cookies. I have already created a JSON Plugin for jQuery, then, why not create one Cookie Plugin that, in conjunction with the JSON plugin, allows us to save objects on cookies? Well, the challenge was simple and I decided to do it for those using jQuery.

The code

Remember than this plugin works in conjunction with my JSON jQuery Plugin, also on this blog.

jQuery.cookie = {

set : function(name,value,options){

options = $.extend({}, options);

if (value === null) {
value = '';
options.expires = -1;
}
var expires = '';
if (options.expires && (typeof options.expires == 'number' || options.expires.toUTCString)) {
var date;
if (typeof options.expires == 'number') {
date = new Date();
date.setTime(date.getTime() + (options.expires * 24 * 60 * 60 * 1000));
} else {
date = options.expires;
}
expires = '; expires=' + date.toUTCString();
}

value = options.json ? encodeURIComponent($.JSON.encode(value)):encodeURIComponent(value);

var path = options.path ? '; path=' + (options.path) : '';
var domain = options.domain ? '; domain=' + (options.domain) : '';
var secure = options.secure ? '; secure' : '';

document.cookie = [name, '=', value, expires, path, domain, secure].join('');
},
get : function(name,json){

var cookieValue = null;

if (document.cookie && document.cookie != '') {
var cookies = document.cookie.split(';');
for (var i = 0; i < cookies.length; i++) {
var cookie = $.trim(cookies[i]);
if (cookie.substring(0, name.length + 1) == (name + '=')) {
cookieValue = json ? $.JSON.decode(decodeURIComponent(cookie.substring(name.length + 1))):decodeURIComponent(cookie.substring(name.length + 1));
break;
}
}
}

return cookieValue;

},
unset: function(name){
this.set(name,'',-1);
}
};

How to use

Note that you have to insert the jquery library on your head section and also the JSON jQuery Plugin -they are all included into the zip file below. Please, also refer to the example provided on my last article ‘cookies on roids’ to view more cookie options.

var obj = {json:'this is a test json property',xml:'this is a test xml property'};
var arr = ['A','B of 2 index array','C','D'];
var str = 'This is a string test';
var num = 123;

$.cookie.set('testobject',obj,{json:true});
$.cookie.set('testarray',arr,{json:true});
$.cookie.set('teststring',str);
$.cookie.set('testnumber',num);

var a = $.cookie.get('testobject',true);
var b = $.cookie.get('testarray',true);
var c = $.cookie.get('teststring');
var d = $.cookie.get('testnumber');

$.cookie.unset('testobject');
$.cookie.unset('testarray');
$.cookie.unset('teststring');
$.cookie.unset('testnumber');

alert('object:'+a.xml);
alert('array:'+b[1]);
alert('string:'+c);
alert('number:'+d);

DOWNLOAD
The zip file includes the JSON jQuery Plugin and Cookie jQuery Plugin together with an example page on how to use them.

download: jQuery Cookie Plugin (23.84KB) added: 02/01/2010 clicks: 426 description: