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HTTP Cookies in Node - Js

Cookies are small data stored on the client side that can be used to maintain sessions and add user-specific features. The cookie-parser module allows parsing cookies in a Node.js app. To use cookies, install cookie-parser and use it as a middleware. Cookies can be added to the response using res.cookie(name, value) and accessed from the request using req.cookies. Cookies can be destroyed using res.clearCookie(name). This allows using cookies to store user data during sessions in a Node.js app.

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61 views

HTTP Cookies in Node - Js

Cookies are small data stored on the client side that can be used to maintain sessions and add user-specific features. The cookie-parser module allows parsing cookies in a Node.js app. To use cookies, install cookie-parser and use it as a middleware. Cookies can be added to the response using res.cookie(name, value) and accessed from the request using req.cookies. Cookies can be destroyed using res.clearCookie(name). This allows using cookies to store user data during sessions in a Node.js app.

Uploaded by

coolnanu
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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HTTP Cookies in Node.

js
geeksforgeeks.org/http-cookies-in-node-js

August 9, 2018

Cookies are small data that are stored on a client side and sent to the client along with server requests. Cookies have various
functionality, they can be used for maintaining sessions and adding user-specific features in your web app. For this, we will use cookie-
parser module of npm which provides middleware for parsing of cookies.
First set your directory of the command prompt to root folder of the project and run the following command:

npm init

This will ask you details about your app and finally will create a package.json file.
After that run the following command and it will install the required module and add them in your package.json file

npm install express cookie-parser --save

package.json file looks like this :


After that we will setup basic express app by writing following code in our app.js file in root directory .
let express = require( 'express' );

//setup express app

let app = express()

//basic route for homepage

app.get( '/' , (req, res)=>{

res.send( 'welcome to express app' );

});

//server listens to port 3000

app.listen(3000, (err)=>{

if (err)

throw err;

console.log( 'listening on port 3000' );

});

After that if we run the command

node app.js

It will start our server on port 3000 and if go to the url: localhost:3000, we will get a page showing the message :
welcome to express app

Here is screenshot of localhost:3000 page after starting the server :

So until now we have successfully set up our express app now let’s start with cookies.

For cookies first, we need to import the module in our app.js file and use it like other middlewares.

var cookieParser = require('cookie-parser');


app.use(cookieParser());

Let’s say we have a user and we want to add that user data in the cookie then we have to add that cookie to the response using the
following code :

res.cookie(name_of_cookie, value_of_cookie);

This can be explained by the following example :


let express = require( 'express' );

let cookieParser = require( 'cookie-parser' );

//setup express app

let app = express()

app.use(cookieParser());

//basic route for homepage

app.get( '/' , (req, res)=>{

res.send( 'welcome to express app' );

});

//JSON object to be added to cookie

let users = {

name : "Ritik" ,

Age : "18"

//Route for adding cookie


app.get( '/setuser' , (req, res)=>{

res.cookie( "userData" , users);

res.send( 'user data added to cookie' );

});

//Iterate users data from cookie

app.get( '/getuser' , (req, res)=>{

//shows all the cookies

res.send(req.cookies);

});

//server listens to port 3000

app.listen(3000, (err)=>{

if (err)

throw err;

console.log( 'listening on port 3000' );

});

So if we restart our server and make a get request to the route: localhost:3000/getuser before setting the cookies it is as follows :
After making a request to localhost:3000/setuser it will add user data to cookie and gives output as follows :

Now if we again make a request to localhost:3000/getuser as this route is iterating user data from cookies using req.cookies so output
will be as follows :
If we have multiple objects pushed in cookies then we can access specific cookie using req.cookie.cookie_name .

Adding Cookie with expiration Time


We can add a cookie with some expiration time i.e. after that time cookies will be destroyed automatically. For this, we need to pass an
extra property to the res.cookie object while setting the cookies.
It can be done by using any of the two ways :

//Expires after 400000 ms from the time it is set.


res.cookie(cookie_name, 'value', {expire: 400000 + Date.now()});
//It also expires after 400000 ms from the time it is set.
res.cookie(cookie_name, 'value', {maxAge: 360000});

Destroy the cookies :


We can destroy cookies using following code :

res.clearCookie(cookieName);

Now let us make a logout route which will destroy user data from the cookie. Now our app.js looks like :

let express = require( 'express' );

let cookieParser = require( 'cookie-parser' );

//setup express app

let app = express()

app.use(cookieParser());

//basic route for homepage

app.get( '/' , (req, res)=>{

res.send( 'welcome to express app' );

});

//JSON object to be added to cookie


let users = {

name : "Ritik" ,

Age : "18"

//Route for adding cookie

app.get( '/setuser' , (req, res)=>{

res.cookie( "userData" , users);

res.send( 'user data added to cookie' );

});

//Iterate users data from cookie

app.get( '/getuser' , (req, res)=>{

//shows all the cookies

res.send(req.cookies);

});

//Route for destroying cookie

app.get( '/logout' , (req, res)=>{

//it will clear the userData cookie


res.clearCookie( 'userData' );

res.send( 'user logout successfully' );

});

//server listens to port 3000

app.listen(3000, (err)=>{

if (err)

throw err;

console.log( 'listening on port 3000' );

});

For destroying the cookie make get request to following link: user logged out[/caption]

To check whether cookies are destroyed or not make a get request to localhost:3000/getuserand you will get an empty user cookie
object.

This is about basic use of HTTP cookies using cookie-parser middleware. Cookies can be used in many ways like maintaining sessions
and providing each user a different view of the website based on their previous transactions on the website.

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