[javascript] Set cookie and get cookie with JavaScript

I'm trying to set a cookie depending on which CSS file I choose in my HTML. I have a form with a list of options, and different CSS files as values. When I choose a file, it should be saved to a cookie for about a week. The next time you open your HTML file, it should be the previous file you've chosen.

JavaScript code:

function cssLayout() {
    document.getElementById("css").href = this.value;
}


function setCookie(){
    var date = new Date("Februari 10, 2013");
    var dateString = date.toGMTString();
    var cookieString = "Css=document.getElementById("css").href" + dateString;
    document.cookie = cookieString;
}

function getCookie(){
    alert(document.cookie);
}

HTML code:

<form>
    Select your css layout:<br>
    <select id="myList">
        <option value="style-1.css">CSS1</option>
        <option value="style-2.css">CSS2</option>  
        <option value="style-3.css">CSS3</option>
        <option value="style-4.css">CSS4</option>
    </select>
</form>

Check JavaScript Cookies on W3Schools.com for setting and getting cookie values via JS.

Just use the setCookie and getCookie methods mentioned there.

So, the code will look something like:

<script>
function setCookie(c_name, value, exdays) {
    var exdate = new Date();
    exdate.setDate(exdate.getDate() + exdays);
    var c_value = escape(value) + ((exdays == null) ? "" : "; expires=" + exdate.toUTCString());
    document.cookie = c_name + "=" + c_value;
}

function getCookie(c_name) {
    var i, x, y, ARRcookies = document.cookie.split(";");
    for (i = 0; i < ARRcookies.length; i++) {
        x = ARRcookies[i].substr(0, ARRcookies[i].indexOf("="));
        y = ARRcookies[i].substr(ARRcookies[i].indexOf("=") + 1);
        x = x.replace(/^\s+|\s+$/g, "");
        if (x == c_name) {
            return unescape(y);
        }
    }
}

function cssSelected() {
    var cssSelected = $('#myList')[0].value;
    if (cssSelected !== "select") {
        setCookie("selectedCSS", cssSelected, 3);
    }
}

$(document).ready(function() {
    $('#myList')[0].value = getCookie("selectedCSS");
})
</script>
<select id="myList" onchange="cssSelected();">
    <option value="select">--Select--</option>
    <option value="style-1.css">CSS1</option>
    <option value="style-2.css">CSS2</option>
    <option value="style-3.css">CSS3</option>
    <option value="style-4.css">CSS4</option>
</select>

These are much much better references than w3schools (the most awful web reference ever made):

• How cookies work (quirksmode.org)
• MDN document.cookie

Examples derived from these references:

// sets the cookie cookie1
document.cookie = 'cookie1=test; expires=Sun, 1 Jan 2023 00:00:00 UTC; path=/'

// sets the cookie cookie2 (cookie1 is *not* overwritten)
document.cookie = 'cookie2=test; expires=Sun, 1 Jan 2023 00:00:00 UTC; path=/'

// remove cookie2
document.cookie = 'cookie2=; expires=Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 UTC; path=/'

The Mozilla reference even has a nice cookie library you can use.

I'm sure this question should have a more general answer with some reusable code that works with cookies as key-value pairs.

This snippet is taken from MDN and probably is trustable. This is UTF-safe object for work with cookies:

var docCookies = {
  getItem: function (sKey) {
    return decodeURIComponent(document.cookie.replace(new RegExp("(?:(?:^|.*;)\\s*" + encodeURIComponent(sKey).replace(/[\-\.\+\*]/g, "\\$&") + "\\s*\\=\\s*([^;]*).*$)|^.*$"), "$1")) || null;
  },
  setItem: function (sKey, sValue, vEnd, sPath, sDomain, bSecure) {
    if (!sKey || /^(?:expires|max\-age|path|domain|secure)$/i.test(sKey)) { return false; }
    var sExpires = "";
    if (vEnd) {
      switch (vEnd.constructor) {
        case Number:
          sExpires = vEnd === Infinity ? "; expires=Fri, 31 Dec 9999 23:59:59 GMT" : "; max-age=" + vEnd;
          break;
        case String:
          sExpires = "; expires=" + vEnd;
          break;
        case Date:
          sExpires = "; expires=" + vEnd.toUTCString();
          break;
      }
    }
    document.cookie = encodeURIComponent(sKey) + "=" + encodeURIComponent(sValue) + sExpires + (sDomain ? "; domain=" + sDomain : "") + (sPath ? "; path=" + sPath : "") + (bSecure ? "; secure" : "");
    return true;
  },
  removeItem: function (sKey, sPath, sDomain) {
    if (!sKey || !this.hasItem(sKey)) { return false; }
    document.cookie = encodeURIComponent(sKey) + "=; expires=Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 GMT" + ( sDomain ? "; domain=" + sDomain : "") + ( sPath ? "; path=" + sPath : "");
    return true;
  },
  hasItem: function (sKey) {
    return (new RegExp("(?:^|;\\s*)" + encodeURIComponent(sKey).replace(/[\-\.\+\*]/g, "\\$&") + "\\s*\\=")).test(document.cookie);
  },
  keys: /* optional method: you can safely remove it! */ function () {
    var aKeys = document.cookie.replace(/((?:^|\s*;)[^\=]+)(?=;|$)|^\s*|\s*(?:\=[^;]*)?(?:\1|$)/g, "").split(/\s*(?:\=[^;]*)?;\s*/);
    for (var nIdx = 0; nIdx < aKeys.length; nIdx++) { aKeys[nIdx] = decodeURIComponent(aKeys[nIdx]); }
    return aKeys;
  }
};

Mozilla has some tests to prove this works in all cases.

There is an alternative snippet here:

I find the following code to be much simpler than anything else:

function setCookie(name,value,days) {
    var expires = "";
    if (days) {
        var date = new Date();
        date.setTime(date.getTime() + (days*24*60*60*1000));
        expires = "; expires=" + date.toUTCString();
    }
    document.cookie = name + "=" + (value || "")  + expires + "; path=/";
}
function getCookie(name) {
    var nameEQ = name + "=";
    var ca = document.cookie.split(';');
    for(var i=0;i < ca.length;i++) {
        var c = ca[i];
        while (c.charAt(0)==' ') c = c.substring(1,c.length);
        if (c.indexOf(nameEQ) == 0) return c.substring(nameEQ.length,c.length);
    }
    return null;
}
function eraseCookie(name) {   
    document.cookie = name +'=; Path=/; Expires=Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:01 GMT;';
}

Now, calling functions

setCookie('ppkcookie','testcookie',7);

var x = getCookie('ppkcookie');
if (x) {
    [do something with x]
}

Source - http://www.quirksmode.org/js/cookies.html

They updated the page today so everything in the page should be latest as of now.