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WOCookie

Inherits from: NSObject

Package: com.apple.yellow.webobjects

Class Description

WOCookie is used for the creation and setting of cookies in your response objects. A cookie allows for the persistent storage of client state. Instead of using a WOSession object (which can potentially have a shorter life span), a cookie allows server-side applications to store state in client browsers for a specific or indeterminate amount of time. An advantage to cookies is that the data will be stored on the client and not on the server, allowing the server to maintain less state information. A specific advantage in WebObjects applications is that cookies allow the server to put state into the browser that is not bound to a session. Hence, the client can "leave" your application and return with its cookie's state intact.

A WOCookie object defines a cookie that can be added to the HTTP header for your response. You create a cookie using the static method cookieWithName.

To add or remove cookies from the response, use the WOMessage methods addCookie and removeCookie. To retrieve cookie data, use the WORequest methods cookieValues, cookieValueForKey, and cookieValuesForKey. WORequest returns the data as name/value pairs and not as WOCookie objects, since browsers don't return the additional data WOCookies provide, such as path name and expiration date.

For more information about cookies and their implementation details, see Netscape's preliminary specification at http://www.netscape.com/newsref/std/cookie_spec.html and RFC 2109 - HTTP State Management Mechanism at http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/htbin/rfc/rfc2109.html.

If and when new details evolve in the implementation of cookies, you can subclass WOCookie and implement new behaviors. Pay particular attention to how you override headerString, which WOResponse uses to fill the HTTP response with a header string.

Method Types

Constructors

WOCookie

Creation

cookieWithName

Obtaining a cookie's attributes

domain

expires

headerString

isSecure

name

path

value

Setting a cookie's attributes

setDomain

setExpires

setIsSecure

setName

setPath

setValue

Constructors

WOCookie

public WOCookie()

Creates and returns a new empty cookie. To set its attributes, use the appropriate set methods.

Static Methods

cookieWithName

public static WOCookie cookieWithName( String aName, String aValue)

Creates and returns a cookie with just a name and its value. This method sets the path attribute to your application's path.

public static WOCookie cookieWithName( String aName, String aValue, String aPath, String aDomain, NSDate expirationDate, boolean flag)

Creates and returns a cookie, specifying all its attributes. For more information, see the descriptions of the methods that return attribute values.

See Also: domain, expires, isSecure, name, path, value

Instance Methods

domain

public String domain()

Returns the value of the cookie's "domain" attribute. It's of the form "companyname.com".

expires

public NSDate expires()

Returns the value of the cookie's "expires" attribute as an NSDate. The expiration date tells the browser how long to keep the cookie in its cache. To have the browser remove the cookie from its cache, set the expiration date to a recent date in the past (see setExpires for more information).

headerString

public String headerString()

Returns the string that will be used in the HTTP header. The returned string has the format:

Set-cookie: name=value; expires=date; path=path; domain=domain; secure;

The calendar format for the expiration date is:

@"%A, %d-%b-%Y %H:%M:%S GMT"

where all times are converted relative to Greenwich Mean Time.

This method is called by WOResponse when generating the response.

isSecure

public boolean isSecure()

Returns the cookie's "secure" attribute. This attribute specifies whether the cookie should be transmitted only with secure HTTP. The default value is false.

name

public String name()

Returns the cookie's "name" attribute. The name is similar to the key of a dictionary or hash table. Together, the name and value form the cookie's data.

path

public String path()

Returns the value of the cookie's "path" attribute. Cookies for a specific path are sent only when accessing URLs within that path. For more information on cookies and their paths, see Netscape's preliminary specification at http://www.netscape.com/newsref/std/cookie_spec.html and RFC 2109 - HTTP State Management Mechanism at http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/htbin/rfc/rfc2109.html.

setDomain

public void setDomain(String aDomain)

Sets the cookie's "domain" attribute to aDomain. For more information, see domain.

See Also: cookieWithName

setExpires

public void setExpires(NSDate expirationDate)

Sets the cookie's "expires" attribute to expirationDate.

If you want to set the cookie's expiration date to some date in the distant past-for instance, in order to erase the cookie-don't use NSDate.distantPast(). distantPast returns a date from the year 1 AD, and some browsers incorrectly interpret this as the year 2001. Instead, set the cooke's expiration date to an actual date in the recent past.

See Also: cookieWithName, expires

setIsSecure

public void setIsSecure(boolean flag)

Sets the cookie's "secure" attribute to flag. For more information, see isSecure.

See Also: cookieWithName

setName

public void setName(String aName)

Sets the cookie's "name" attribute to aName. For more information, see name.

See Also: cookieWithName

setPath

public void setPath(String aPath)

Sets the cookie's "path" attribute to aPath. For more information, see path.

See Also: cookieWithName

setValue

public void setValue(String aValue)

Sets the cookie's "value" attribute to aValue. For more information, see value.

See Also: cookieWithName

value

public String value()

Returns the value of the cookie's value attribute. This attribute is similar to the value of a dictionary or hash table. Together, the name and value form the cookie's data.