JSP Cookie

Cookie is one of the most common ways to track a user on the internet. Cookie is a text file using which you can store the information in a user's browser and access it when you need it to communicate with the user or to manage the user's session. You can even specify the duration for which this cookie file is going exist before it gets deleted by the browser.

JSP allows us to perform a user's session management using its Cookie class.

Constructor of Cookie class

Constructor	Description
void *Cookie(String* name, String value)**	Constructs a Cookie with a name and a value.

Some useful methods of Cookie class.

The methods in the table below are part of javax.servlet.http.Cookie class, hence these methods are available to the object of Cookie class.

Methods	Description
void *setDomain(String* name)**	Sets the domain name which will be associated with the Cookie.
String getDomain()	Returns the domain name associated with the Cookie.
void *setMaxAge(int* expiry)**	Sets the maximum time(in seconds) till the Cookie lasts.
int getMaxAge()	Returns the maximum time(in seconds) till the Cookie lasts.
void *setComment(String* message)**	Sets a message/comment describing the Cookie.
String getComment()	Returns the message describing the Cookie.
void *setValue(String* value)**	Sets the value of the Cookie that is already created.
String getValue()	Returns the value of the Cookie.

Creating, setting and reading a Cookie using JSP

In this example, we are going to create, set and read a Cookie using JSP's Cookie class and its methods.

CreateCookie.jsp

<html>
<head>	
<title>Ceating a JSP Cookie</title>
</head>

<body>

<h2>Creating and setting a Cookie using response object</h2>
<br/>
<br/>

<%

// Creating a Cookie
Cookie cookie = new Cookie("Name", "DecodeJava");
cookie.setMaxAge(60*60);

// Setting the Cookie in the browser
response.addCookie(cookie);

%>

<br/>

Do you want to read the Cookie? If yes, please visit <a href ="ReadCookie.jsp" /> Read the Cookie</a>
<br/>

Do you want to delete the Cookie? if yes, please visit the  <a href ="DeleteCookie.jsp" /> Delete the Cookie</a>

</body>
</html>

ReadCookie.jsp

<html>
<head>	
<title>Ceating a JSP Cookie</title>
</head>

<body>

<h2>Reading the cookies set by the request object.</h2>

<% 
Cookie[] array= request.getCookies();
for(int i=0; i<array.length; i++)
{
if(array[i].getName().equals("Name"))
{
out.println("<br/>");
out.println("Name of the cookie : " + array[i].getName() + "<br/>");
out.println("Value in cookie : " + array[i].getValue());
} 
}
%>


</body>
</html>

Executing CreateCookie.jsp creates a cookie and stores it in the browser.

Next, on clicking Read the Cookie link on this page takes us to ReadCookie.jsp which displays the value present in this Cookie.

Deleting a Cookie using JSP

We can delete an existing cookie in two steps -

First, by calling the setMaxAge() method of Cookie class and passing it a zero(0) in its parameters, which sets the cookie age to zero seconds.
Next, by calling addCookie() method of response object deletes the cookie from the browser's memory, as shown below.

DeleteCookie.jsp

<html>
<head>	
<title>Ceating a JSP Cookie</title>
</head>

<body>

<h2>Deleting a Cookie using response object</h2>
<br/>
<br/>

<%
Cookie[] array= request.getCookies(); 
for(int i=0; i<array.length; i++)
{
if(array[i].getName().equals("Name"))
{
out.println("<br/>");
out.println("Name of the cookie : " + array[i].getName() + "<br/>");
out.println("Value in cookie : " + array[i].getValue());

//Deleting the cookie
array[i].setMaxAge(0);
response.addCookie(array[i]); //After this, although cookie will be not be visible from browser's memory
			      //but Cookie data will still be visible until you refresh this page.

} 
}
%>
<br/>

</body>
</html>

We executing CreateCookie.jsp again.

Next, clicking the Delete the Cookie link on this page, takes us to DeleteCookie.jsp which deletes the cookie but the value in this cookie is displayed the first time this page loads.

Next, on refreshing the DeleteCookie.jsp page, the values associated with the cookie are not displayed because this cookie is deleted from the browser's memory.

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