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Work With Cookies

Problem​

You want to create an HTTP flow that uses cookies.

Solution​

The messages sent by the HTTP In node include the msg.req.cookies property that lists the cookies set on the current request.

The HTTP Response node will use the msg.cookies property in order to set or clear cookies.

Example​


Flow JSON
[{"id":"c362b989.954ae8","type":"http in","z":"3045204d.cfbae","name":"","url":"/hello-cookie","method":"get","swaggerDoc":"","x":130,"y":1020,"wires":[["21ddf71f.d00518"]]},{"id":"21ddf71f.d00518","type":"function","z":"3045204d.cfbae","name":"Format cookies","func":"msg.payload = JSON.stringify(msg.req.cookies,null,4);\nreturn msg;","outputs":1,"noerr":0,"x":340,"y":1020,"wires":[["f3aa98c1.befc18"]]},{"id":"f3aa98c1.befc18","type":"template","z":"3045204d.cfbae","name":"page","field":"payload","fieldType":"msg","format":"handlebars","syntax":"mustache","template":"<html>\n    <head></head>\n    <body>\n        <h1>Cookies</h1>\n        <p></p><a href=\"hello-cookie/add\">Add a cookie</a> &bull; <a href=\"hello-cookie/clear\">Clear cookies</a></p>\n        <pre>{{ payload }}</pre>\n    </body>\n</html>","x":530,"y":1020,"wires":[["f52e2880.180968"]]},{"id":"f52e2880.180968","type":"http response","z":"3045204d.cfbae","name":"","x":750,"y":1020,"wires":[]},{"id":"9a2a9a4.0fc0768","type":"change","z":"3045204d.cfbae","name":"Redirect to /hello-cookie","rules":[{"t":"set","p":"statusCode","pt":"msg","to":"302","tot":"num"},{"t":"set","p":"headers","pt":"msg","to":"{}","tot":"json"},{"t":"set","p":"headers.location","pt":"msg","to":"/hello-cookie","tot":"str"}],"action":"","property":"","from":"","to":"","reg":false,"x":550,"y":1080,"wires":[["f52e2880.180968"]]},{"id":"afefb90.53dcf48","type":"function","z":"3045204d.cfbae","name":"Add a cookie","func":"msg.cookies = { };\nmsg.cookies[\"demo-\"+(Math.floor(Math.random()*1000))] = Date.now();\nreturn msg;","outputs":1,"noerr":0,"x":330,"y":1060,"wires":[["9a2a9a4.0fc0768"]]},{"id":"d5205a2c.db9018","type":"function","z":"3045204d.cfbae","name":"Clear cookies","func":"// Find demo cookies and clear them\nvar cookieNames = Object.keys(msg.req.cookies).filter(function(cookieName) { return /^demo-/.test(cookieName);});\nmsg.cookies = {};\n\ncookieNames.forEach(function(cookieName) {\n    msg.cookies[cookieName] = null;\n});\n\nreturn msg;","outputs":1,"noerr":0,"x":340,"y":1100,"wires":[["9a2a9a4.0fc0768"]]},{"id":"fda60c66.04975","type":"http in","z":"3045204d.cfbae","name":"","url":"/hello-cookie/add","method":"get","swaggerDoc":"","x":140,"y":1060,"wires":[["afefb90.53dcf48"]]},{"id":"35285a76.1f8636","type":"http in","z":"3045204d.cfbae","name":"","url":"/hello-cookie/clear","method":"get","swaggerDoc":"","x":140,"y":1100,"wires":[["d5205a2c.db9018"]]}]

This example provides three HTTP endpoints:

  • /hello-cookie returns a page that lists the cookies currently set
  • /hello-cookie/add adds a new cookie and redirects back to /hello-cookie
  • /hello-cookie/clear clears all cookies created by the example and redirects back to /hello-cookie

Discussion​

The msg.req.cookies property is an object of key/value pairs containing the cookies set on the current request.

var mySessionId = msg.req.cookies['sessionId'];

In order to set a cookie in the response, the msg.cookies property should be set to a similar key/value object.

The value can be either a string to set the value of the cookie with default options, or it can be an object of options.

The following example sets two cookies - one called name with a value of Nick, the other called session with a value of 1234 and an expiry set to 15 minutes.

msg.cookies = {
    name: 'nick',
    session: {
        value: '1234',
        maxAge: 900000
    }
}

The valid options include:

  • domain - (String) domain name for the cookie
  • expires - (Date) expiry date in GMT. If not specified or set to 0, creates a session cookie
  • maxAge - (String) expiry date as relative to the current time in milliseconds
  • path - (String) path for the cookie. Defaults to /
  • value - (String) the value to use for the cookie

To delete a cookie, set its value to null.