[whatwg] Suggestion: API for accessing cookies (document.cookies)

Christian Schmidt whatwg.org at chsc.dk
Fri Dec 28 09:13:38 PST 2007


In order to read, write and delete cookies from script most people use 
their own utility functions like the ones shown at 
http://www.w3schools.com/js/js_cookies.asp

It would be useful if cookies could be read, written and deleted through 
a more abstract API, e.g. by an HTMLCollection-like interface stored in 
document.cookies. This would allow something like this:

if (document.cookies.myCookie) {
	alert(document.cookies.myCookie.value)

	document.cookies.remove('myCookie');
	// or alternatively
	document.cookies.myCookie.remove();

	document.cookies.add('myCookie2', 'myVal', '/', 'example.org');
}

In particular the remove() method would be useful, because today neither 
the client-side nor the server-side can determine the path and domain 
parameters necessary to delete a given cookie unless they know how it 
was originally set.

The API could give access to the values only or possibly also to the 
other properties (expiry, path etc.) that are currenly not accessible 
from neither client-side nor server-side.

What do you think of this?

-- 
Christian Schmidt



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