HTML5 web storage, better than cookies.
What is HTML5 Web Storage?
With HTML5, web pages can store data locally within the user's browser.Earlier, this was done with cookies. However, Web Storage is more secure and faster. The data is not included with every server request, but used ONLY when asked for. It is also possible to store large amounts of data, without affecting the website's performance.
The data is stored in name/value pairs, and a web page can only access data stored by itself.
Unlike cookies, the storage limit is far larger (at least 5MB) and information is never transferred to the server.
Browser Support
Web storage is supported in Internet Explorer 8+, Firefox, Opera, Chrome, and Safari.
Note: Internet Explorer 7 and earlier versions, do not support Web Storage.
HTML5 Web Storage Objects
HTML5 Web Storage provides two new objects for storing data on the client:- window.localStorage - stores data with no expiration date
- code.sessionStorage - stores data for one session (data is lost when the tab is closed)
if(typeof(Storage)!=="undefined")
{
// Code for localStorage/sessionStorage.
}
else
{
// Sorry! No Web Storage support..
}
{
// Code for localStorage/sessionStorage.
}
else
{
// Sorry! No Web Storage support..
}
The localStorage Object
The localStorage object stores the data with no expiration date. The data will not be deleted when the browser is closed, and will be available the next day, week, or year.Example
// Store
localStorage.setItem("lastname", "Smith");
// Retrieve
document.getElementById("result").innerHTML=localStorage.getItem("lastname");
localStorage.setItem("lastname", "Smith");
// Retrieve
document.getElementById("result").innerHTML=localStorage.getItem("lastname");
Try it yourself »
- Create a localStorage name/value pair with name="lastname" and value="Smith"
- Retrieve the value of "lastname" and insert it into the element with id="result"
// Store
localStorage.lastname = "Smith";
// Retrieve
document.getElementById("result").innerHTML=localStorage.lastname;
localStorage.lastname = "Smith";
// Retrieve
document.getElementById("result").innerHTML=localStorage.lastname;
localStorage.removeItem("lastname");
The following example counts the number of times a user has clicked a button. In this code the value string is converted to a number to be able to increase the counter:
Example
if (localStorage.clickcount)
{
localStorage.clickcount = Number(localStorage.clickcount) + 1;
}
else
{
localStorage.clickcount = 1;
}
document.getElementById("result").innerHTML="You have clicked the button " +
localStorage.clickcount + " time(s).";
{
localStorage.clickcount = Number(localStorage.clickcount) + 1;
}
else
{
localStorage.clickcount = 1;
}
document.getElementById("result").innerHTML="You have clicked the button " +
localStorage.clickcount + " time(s).";
Try it yourself »
The sessionStorage Object
The sessionStorage object is equal to the localStorage object, except that it stores the data for only one session. The data is deleted when the user closes the browser window.The following example counts the number of times a user has clicked a button, in the current session:
Example
if (sessionStorage.clickcount)
{
sessionStorage.clickcount = Number(sessionStorage.clickcount) + 1;
}
else
{
sessionStorage.clickcount = 1;
}
document.getElementById("result").innerHTML="You have clicked the button " +
sessionStorage.clickcount + " time(s) in this session.";
{
sessionStorage.clickcount = Number(sessionStorage.clickcount) + 1;
}
else
{
sessionStorage.clickcount = 1;
}
document.getElementById("result").innerHTML="You have clicked the button " +
sessionStorage.clickcount + " time(s) in this session.";
Try it yourself »
