Learn how to use cookies in ASP.
Setting and playing around with cookies is a fun
and useful way to save data on a user's hard drive,
and can successfully store valuable information which
may be helpful the next time they come to the site.
It's fairly simple to set up, and even easier to read.
To use it, you have to remember some guidelines:
1. You must put the cookie before any HTML.
2. The cookie will not work on the page until its
refreshed, or the user visits the page again (as long
as the cookie hasn't expired).
3. The cookie only works on the directory you're in
and down. Its best to place the cookie in a file which
is located in the root directory, so you can use the
cookie anywhere around the site.
Here's the code to set a variable:
<%
Response.Cookies("cookie")="spoono
rocks!"
response.write Request.Cookies("cookie")
'prints "spoono rocks!"
%> |
Now, the next time someone visits this page, or any
other ASP page in the same directory or a child directory,
the Response.Cookies("cookie") variable will
already be defined. If you
response.write Request.Cookies("cookie") |
it will display "spoono rocks!".
Moving on, if you want the cookie to expire past
the closing of the browser, you can use this code (where
365 is the number of days):
<%
Response.Cookies("cookie")="spoono
rocks!"
Response.Cookies("cookie").Expires=date+365
response.write Request.Cookies("cookie")
'prints "spoono rocks!" for the next
year
%> |
Some people also want to know how to store multiple
variables in one cookie. Not a problem, we'll be using
Keys to identify the different variables. Remember:
a cookie can either have keys or not, never both.
<%
Response.Cookies("cookie")("one")="spoono
did rock!"
Response.Cookies("cookie")("two")="spoono
is rocking!"
Response.Cookies("cookie")("three")="spoono
will rock!"
response.write Request.Cookies("cookie")("one")
'prints "spoono did rock!"
response.write Request.Cookies("cookie")("two")
'prints "spoono is rocking!"
response.write Request.Cookies("cookie")("three")
'prints "spoono will rock!"
%> |
Finally, you may wonder how to make the cookie "dissappear"
when you don't want it anymore? Eat it:
<%
Response.Cookies("cookie")=""
%> |
Thats it! Not too challenging was it?
|
