Help Me With Cookies, HTML and IE8

xarzu posted this at 01:47 — 14th February 2011.

Joined: May 2007

For complex reasons, I have to use HTML with JavaScript to set a cookie. I know it is easy to set and get cookies PHP but I have to put the code in HTML.

I have searched the internet for some examples and I ran a test based on an example. I ran this Javascript code:

<SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript">

function putCookie()
{
	cookie_name = "specialcookiehuge";

 	if(document.cookie != document.cookie)
	{
		index = document.cookie.indexOf(cookie_name);
	}
	else
	{
		index = -1;
	}

	if (index == -1)
	{
		document.cookie=cookie_name+"; expires=Monday, 04-Apr-2020 05:00:00 GMT";
	}

}
</SCRIPT>

I tested this code by placing alert statements and I nkow that the line:

document.cookie=cookie_name+"; expires=Monday, 04-Apr-2020 05:00:00 GMT";

gets run.

I tried to find this cookie (Tools -> Internet Options -> Browsing History ->Settings) And I did not find anything named "specialcookiehuge" in "View Objects" or "View Files".

I guess I could try other browsers, but it would be good to know what I am doing wrong. I do not know if I am really setting a cookie. Is there some additional javascript command I am missing? Or, is the cookie being set but I am not looking in the right place according to the tutorials I saw online?

JeevesBond posted this at 19:12 — 14th February 2011.

He has: 3,956 posts

Joined: Jun 2002

This code doesn't seem to make much sense. For example:

if(document.cookie != document.cookie)
{
[...]
}

will always be false, maybe there's some Javascript trickery I'm not understanding, but this looks equivalent to:

if(true != true) {
[...]
}

document.cookie=cookie_name+"; expires=Monday, 04-Apr-2020 05:00:00 GMT";

also won't work as you expect, because it's not a name/value pair.

Try this as your script:

<script type="text/javascript">
<![CDATA[//><!--
function putCookie() {
  cookie_name = "specialcookiehuge";
  cookie_value = "specialcookievalue";
  document.cookie = cookie_name + "=" + cookie_value + "; expires=Monday, 04-Apr-2020 05:00:00 GMT; path=/";
}
//--><!]]>
</script>

I haven't checked in IE, but in Google Chrome you can go to Tools -> Javascript console, run the code that's inside the function, then enter document.cookie and you'll see your key/value pair is set.

You will also want to change those local variables into arguments of the function.

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xarzu posted this at 19:56 — 14th February 2011.

They have: 25 posts

Joined: May 2007

This feature with Google Chrome looks very interesting and this is the first time I have seen it. When I click on Tools -> javascript console, it opens up a window at the bottom of the browser that is cut in two. The top half shows the source for the current page. The bottom half shows an entry field. When I past the script you mentioned above, It says (in red) SyntaxError: Unexpected token <

I assume that this must not be how this is used. I assume I need to put this script into an html file and then load that file into chrome and then use this feature to see the results. Am I right?

JeevesBond posted this at 21:07 — 14th February 2011.

He has: 3,956 posts

Joined: Jun 2002

I assume I need to put this script into an html file and then load that file into chrome and then use this feature to see the results. Am I right?

You just open it and start entering Javascript immediately. Don't put <script> tags into it, since they're not Javascript but HTML.

For example, open the Javascript console and paste:

alert('hello world')

Then press enter.

What I meant above, when I said you should copy and paste into the Javascript console, was you should copy and paste:

cookie_name = "specialcookiehuge";
cookie_value = "specialcookievalue";
document.cookie = cookie_name + "=" + cookie_value + "; expires=Monday, 04-Apr-2020 05:00:00 GMT; path=/";

Then copy and paste:

document.cookie

Hope this makes sense!

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