I need to programmatically store data on the client side without having to transfer the data from the server on every page load. I considered generating a dynamic JavaScript file with the needed data for the current session of the user and make sure it is cached, but that seems really messy and there are a few drawbacks I can think of to such an approach.
How can I go about storing persistent data on the client side?
You can use the Web Storage API (Window.localStorage or Window.sessionStorage). Check out this article on html5doctor for a more in-depth explanation. The Web Storage API is supported by all modern browsers at this point.
The read-only localStorage property allows you to access a Storage object for the Document's origin; the stored data is saved across browser sessions. localStorage is similar to sessionStorage, except that while data stored in localStorage has no expiration time, data stored in sessionStorage gets cleared when the page session ends — that is, when the page is closed.
https://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/Web/API/Window/localStorage
As highlighted above:
To store the data indefinitely (until the cache is cleared), use Window.localStorage.
To store the data until the window is closed, use Window.sessionStorage.
There are two methods of setting and getting properties via the Window.localStorage and Window.sessionStorage API's:
Access the properties directly:
localStorage.name = 'ashes999';
console.log(localStorage.name); // ashes999
delete localStorage.name;
console.log(localStorage.name); // undefined
sessionStorage.name = 'ashes999';
console.log(sessionStorage.name); // ashes999
delete sessionStorage.name;
console.log(sessionStorage.name); // undefined
Use the Storage.setItem, Storage.getItem, and Storage.removeItem API methods.
localStorage.setItem('name', 'ashes999');
console.log(localStorage.getItem('name')); // ashes999
localStorage.removeItem('name');
console.log(localStorage.getItem('name')); // undefined
sessionStorage.setItem('name', 'ashes999');
console.log(sessionStorage.getItem('name')); // ashes999
sessionStorage.removeItem('name');
console.log(sessionStorage.getItem('name')); // undefined
Caveats:
Browsers may impose limitations on the storage capacity per origin of the Web Storage API, but you should be safe up to 5MB.
The Web Storage API is limited by the same origin policy.
Access to Web Storage from third-party IFrames is denied if the user has disabled third-party cookies in Firefox
You may store data in window.name, which can hold up to 2MB of data (!).
/* on page 1 */
window.name = "Bla bla bla";
/* on page 2 */
alert(window.name); // alerts "Bla bla bla"
Edit: Also have a look at this Ajaxian article regarding this.
Note that other sites in the same tab/window does also have access to window.name, so you shouldn't store anything confidential here.
If you really need to do this (and I definitely have doubts that it's a good idea at all), your extra javascript file idea isn't as bad as you think. Just use JSON notation to keep the data and it's pretty easy to load and unload as needed. If you keep in some well-thought-out logical divisions you should be able to update just parts of it on demand, as well.
What about Google Gears. It is made for offline storage, but I think it might work.
http://code.google.com/apis/gears/design.html
From the documentation:
Storing User's Data
Applications that are more than just
static files have data that is
typically stored on the server. For
the application to be useful offline,
this data must be accessible locally.
The Database module provides a
relational database for storing data.
On the Architecture page you will find
a discussion of strategies for
designing the local storage that your
application needs.
When an offline application
reconnects, you will need to
synchronize any changes made in the
local database with the server. There
are many different approaches to
synchronizing data, and there is no
single perfect approach. The
Architecture page describes some
strategies for synching.
An additional feature of the Gears
database is Full-Text Search,
providing a fast way to search text
within a database file. Read the
details here.
The Web Storage API has a limit of 5MB for local storage, but it's possible to store greater amounts of data on the client-side using IndexedDB. In some newer browsers, it is also possible to cache data for offline use using Service Workers.
URL fragments can also store client-side data, though they can store only a few thousand characters in most browsers.
Client-side storage is usually limited to just one origin, though it is possible to share it between origins using postMessage().
Related
I'd like to create a web app where the user is able to create a session, with the session being accessible even after leaving the page/browser.
An example would be http://lichess.org where the user goes to 'Create a game' and a page is created. That page then remains accessible even after the session is finished; see: http://en.lichess.org/i8pV0vEv
Essentially what I'd like to know is, what would be needed in order to create a similar effect. I've programmed tonnes over the years, just web environments are new to me! Scala seems like a contender, but in all honesty I have no clue. Perhaps javascript?
Any advice would be appreciated, thanks.
If you want to store user session data permanently irrespective of whether user is on the website or not you may use browser storage facility of HTML 5.
where you can store data on user's browser in form of key value pair and the data will be there permanently(based on type of browser storage you are using) and you can easily manipulate data using javascript.
There are mainly two types of browser storage.
Local Storage: will be there permanently and can be accessed anytime you want.
Session Storage: will be there till the page is open and cleared when user close the browser window.
For your requirement my recommendation is to go for Local Storage
Advantages of Using Local Storage
Can be manipulated easily using JavaScript.
Will be permanent.
No server-side scripting hence, fast to load and manage.
Disadvantages of using local storage
won't work in browser not supporting HTML5(supported in IE 8,chrome 4,Mozilla 3.5,safari 4,opera 11.5 and above)
User will be able to manipulate/delete the value(The browser storage value can be manipulated using resource option of Browser developer tool)
Wont be permanent if user is visiting in In-cognito/in-private mode.(but will be stored during the session.)
Data limit of at least 5MB
Data will be deleted when user clears browser history.
for further reference checkout w3schoold
http://www.w3schools.com/html/html5_webstorage.asp
Web programming is generally session-less and you need a cookie to simulate a session. You save this in your client's browser and in a database to be able to tie them together. Or you can use the browser-session which in the end is also a cookie, but does not scale very well as it's saved in the internal mechanisms of the web-server.
There's nothing Scala specific here, but if you would like to give Scala a try, have a look at Play framework. It's pretty beginner friendly and already has built in support for everything you would need like Sessions, Cookies and Database access.
I am building a hybrid app (Ionic) and only need local storage to save my database objects.
The app simply allows you to store, edit and view simple Notes.
Now, obviously I need to make sure that when the user saves a note, it remains stored on his phone.
My question is, are there any dangers of using window.localstorage in this context? Moreover, in which cases will the user loose all its data? One obvious case is when he deletes and re installs the app.
If local storage is not the way to go, what other ways are there (or does it always require a server side solution)?
Local storage is indeed an easy way to store data in a Cordova app.
As pointed out by JohnAndrews all the data can be lost if the user clean the application data.
On top of that LocalStorage present some limitations:
it very handy for key-value pairs but can be hard to store complex data
You cannot "query" your data
If you are using more than 1 webview on your mobile app you need your HTML5 content to came from the same domain, otherwise the LocalStorage data will not be shared across webviews.
If you want to have more info about data storage possibilities on Ionic (Cordova) apps check their official docs http://cordova.apache.org/docs/en/4.0.0/cordova_storage_storage.md.html
There are a few limits I found serious when using localStorage (in my case) including:
Storage limitation (~5MB) depend on browser (for more info here)
Only store string so you will end up convert into json (JSON.stringify) and query through json object
Once the mobile storage is full, it will force pure all the data inside storage
I end up looking for new candidate (sqlite seem promising but having some issue for iOS 10)
On the other hand, if your application store small amount of data or mostly do transaction with online database. localStorage seems pretty good
Easy to use, already available for most browser
Json work like NoSQL
So I am making a pretty simple Chrome content script (or should be if it's allowed).
So I want to be able to save certain things on a webpage for future reference. So for example, say I go to quora and search for something. I want to be able to hold onto that query for, say, a the next few webpages the user goes to. I was thinking if I could save values to a database from a content script that would work, if not just a simple way to save it in a cookie or something could work.
Any thoughts? Is this possible with a content script?
localStorage
There's a special API to store small amounts of data in browser called localStorage. It is very useful to store key-value pairs.
localStorage["key1"] = "value1";
console.log(localStorage["key1"]); // value1
The point is that localStorage is similar to cookies in terms of data persistence. This means you can get saved data even after you exit the browser.
Nice read about localStorage: http://diveintohtml5.info/storage.html.
chrome.storage (best way for you)
Actually, Chrome has its own analogue of localStorage. It's called chrome.storage API. If you use content script, I think this is the best way for you. The point is that your content script can directly access data, there's no need of background page. And it also should be mentioned that you can store objects using chrome.storage (localStorage stores only strings).
As usual, there's a nice documentation from Google for its API: http://developer.chrome.com/extensions/storage.html
IndexedDB
If you need to store big amounts of data, the best way to do it is to utilize browser databases, such as IndexedDB or Web SQL (Alert! Web SQL is deprecated since 2010).
Read more about IndexedDB:
https://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/IndexedDB
http://www.html5rocks.com/en/tutorials/indexeddb/todo/
More about Web SQL:
http://html5doctor.com/introducing-web-sql-databases/
I am trying to understand the features of the localStorage. Suppose, I am storing large json via localStorage. I want the stored data to be shown to the testing team. If I display the stored data in a HTML page and then send the link to the testing team then they will see null, as localstorage stores data locally. The data is too large to copy/paste in a .txtfile. Is there any way of displaying localStorage data, so that it can viewed by others remotely?
The clue is in the name - local storage is local.
There is a work around in that you use iframes and the postMessage API to access localStorage from an external domain.
Is it possible to use HTML5 local storage to share data between pages from different sites?
As Jack Zelig points out, localStorage is local. But it is not only local to the domain but also to the particular browser on the particular machine. You cannot share it between browsers nor between devices. There is no work-around for that. To show it to remote people, you MUST be storing it or sending it through a server to which both devices/browsers are connected, at which point localStorage is irrelevant.
Think of localStorage as a new, improved version of cookies.
If I create a custom javascript Object using a constructor, Is it possible to persist the object between HTTP Requests? - like storing it in the DOM and use it conditionally ?
Will the DOM Objects persist (all client side Objects) between the HTTP Requests ..? or will it get lost after every form submit..?
Thanks
If you're refreshing the page, then the objects on that page will be released and the new page won't have access to them. You do have some options though.
You can use frames and only refresh the "main" frame. The objects stored in the JavaScript code and/or window object of the other frame(s) will be unchanged. These could be traditional frames or iframes.
You can serialize your objects out to a string (perhaps a JSON string) and store them in cookies, which the refreshed page will have access to and can deserialize back into an object graph.
On modern browsers you may have access to web storage in the form of web storage (Google Gears is one implementation) which is backed by an SQLite database (or any database implementing the web storage API, which at the moment is pretty much an SQLite database — this is one of the things holding up the web storage API, in fact, the lack of a second implementation). This also involves serializing/deserializing.
It will get lost on every request.
If it is very small, you might be able to put it in a cookie and re-read it (and evel it) on every reload.
With HTML5 you should be able to persist it using web/local storage.
you can store object in cookie using JSON to serialize it
you can use experimental HTML5 persistent storage: http://dev.w3.org/html5/webstorage/
you can ask people to install plugin like Google Gears which enables persistent storage