http://www.javascriptkit.com/javatutors/cookie.shtml
Session-only cookies, on the other
hand, stores information in the
browser memory, and is available for
the duration of the browser session.
In other words, the data stored inside
a session cookie is available from the
time of storage until the browser is
closed. Moving from page to page
during this time does not erase the
data.
How can I achieve this using Express.js?
First off, that website is a horrible place to go.
Now on to the question.
What sessions actually are:
- Data is stored on the server side.
- A cookie is issued which contains an ID.
- This ID gets send back to the server on every request, due to the fact that the browser sends the cookies.
- Now the server can re-associate the ID in the cookie - commonly called
Session ID
or short SID
- with the session data stored on the server.
Express.js has support for sessions built in.
What the example shows:
- Setting up the Express.js middleware
- Using a third-party store for saving the session data, in this case Redis (which IMO is overkill for your problem atm)
Installing Redis requires quite some work, but it's also possible to use Express.js's built-in memory store:
var express = require('express');
var app = express.createServer();
var MemoryStore = require('connect/middleware/session/memory');
app.use(express.bodyDecoder());
app.use(express.cookieDecoder());
app.use(express.session({ store: new MemoryStore({ reapInterval: 60000 * 10 }) }));
app.get('/', function(req, res){
req.session.visitCount = req.session.visitCount ? req.session.visitCount + 1 : 1;
res.send('You have visited this page ' + req.session.visitCount + ' times');
});
app.listen(4000);
This will simply keep track of how many times you visited the page, closed your browser and re-opend. The counts will still be there.
You can find more on the options of the MemoryStore
, like maximum life time of a session, etc. here.
The following is what I wanted (sort of). When I close browser the information is gone.
var express = require('express');
var app = express.createServer();
var MemoryStore = require('connect/middleware/session/memory');
app.use(express.bodyDecoder());
app.use(express.cookieDecoder());
app.get('/remember', function(req, res) {
res.cookie('rememberme', 'yes', { expires: new Date() - 1, httpOnly: true });
});
app.get('/', function(req, res){
res.send('remember: ' + req.cookies.rememberme);
});
app.listen(4000, '127.0.0.1');
app.use(express.session({cookie: { path: '/', httpOnly: true, maxAge: null }, secret:'eeuqram'}));
The above works on IE8, Firefox and Chrome.
The important piece is maxAge:null
app.get('/remember', function(req, res) {
res.cookie('rememberme', 'yes', { expires: 0, httpOnly: true });
});
This will set session cookie. On browser close it will be erased!
Below is the updated code for Alfred's answer (session using Express.js).
var express = require('express');
var app = express.createServer();
var MemoryStore = require('/home/node/node_modules/connect/lib/middleware/session/memory');
app.use(express.bodyParser());
app.use(express.cookieParser());
app.use(express.session({
key: 'some-key',
secret: 'some-We1rD sEEEEEcret!',
store: new MemoryStore({ reapInterval: 60000 * 10 })
}));
app.get('/', function(req, res) {
req.session.visitCount = req.session.visitCount ? req.session.visitCount + 1 : 1;
res.send('You have visited this page ' + req.session.visitCount + ' times');
});
app.listen(4000);