How to use cookies from a component?

Ankur Alankar Biswal picture Ankur Alankar Biswal · Apr 25, 2013 · Viewed 14.5k times · Source

How can I use cookies in a Joomla component?

setcookie( JUtility::getHash('JLOGIN_REMEMBER'), false, time() - 86400, '/' );

Can anybody describe how this works?

Answer

piotr_cz picture piotr_cz · Apr 26, 2013
// Get input cookie object
$inputCookie  = JFactory::getApplication()->input->cookie;

// Get cookie data
$value        = $inputCookie->get($name = 'myCookie', $defaultValue = null);

// Check that cookie exists
$cookieExists = ($value !== null);

// Set cookie data
$inputCookie->set($name = 'myCookie', $value = '123', $expire = 0);

// Remove cookie
$inputCookie->set('myCookie', null, time() - 1);

Some rules about $expire value

  • its a Unix tinestamp in seconds, like return value of time().
  • $expire == 0: cookie lifetime is of browser session.
  • $expire < time(): cookie is being deleted (expire set to past). You could remove cookie by setting it's value to null, but apparently IE fails to do so.

Notes

Keep in mind that cookies should be set before headers are sent (usually before output is echoed).

Cookie key and value should be properly escaped

Non-string values

When serializing the value on set (like json_encode($dataNode)), remember to use proper filter to retrieve it later on. Default is cmd, which filters out pretty much anything but a-Z, 0-9 and cracks JSON structure.

// Get cookie data
$encodedString = $inputCookie->get('myCookie', null, $filter = 'string');

// Decode
$values = json_decode($encodedString);

// Encode and Set
$inputCookie->set('myCookie', json_encode($values));

Rererences