Cookie¶

Controller Setup¶

There are a number of controller variables that allow you to configure the way cookies are created and managed. Defining these special variables in the beforeFilter() method of your controller allows you to define how the CookieComponent works.

The following snippet of controller code shows how to include the CookieComponent and set up the controller variables needed to write a cookie named ‘baker_id’ for the domain ‘example.com’ which needs a secure connection, is available on the path ‘/bakers/preferences/’, expires in one hour and is HTTP only:

public $components = array('Cookie');

public function beforeFilter() {
    parent::beforeFilter();
    $this->Cookie->name = 'baker_id';
    $this->Cookie->time = 3600;  // or '1 hour'
    $this->Cookie->path = '/bakers/preferences/';
    $this->Cookie->domain = 'example.com';
    $this->Cookie->secure = true;  // i.e. only sent if using secure HTTPS
    $this->Cookie->key = 'qSI232qs*&sXOw!adre@34SAv!@*(XSL#$%)asGb$@11~_+!@#HKis~#^';
    $this->Cookie->httpOnly = true;
    $this->Cookie->type('aes');
}

Next, let’s look at how to use the different methods of the Cookie Component.

Using the Component¶

The CookieComponent offers a number of methods for working with Cookies.

CookieComponent::write(mixed $key, mixed $value = null, boolean $encrypt = true, mixed $expires = null)¶

The write() method is the heart of the cookie component. $key is the cookie variable name you want, and the $value is the information to be stored:

$this->Cookie->write('name', 'Larry');

You can also group your variables by using dot notation in the key parameter:

$this->Cookie->write('User.name', 'Larry');
$this->Cookie->write('User.role', 'Lead');

If you want to write more than one value to the cookie at a time, you can pass an array:

$this->Cookie->write('User',
    array('name' => 'Larry', 'role' => 'Lead')
);

All values in the cookie are encrypted by default. If you want to store the values as plain text, set the third parameter of the write() method to false. You should remember to set the encryption mode to ‘aes’ to ensure that values are securely encrypted:

$this->Cookie->write('name', 'Larry', false);

The last parameter to write is $expires – the number of seconds until your cookie will expire. For convenience, this parameter can also be passed as a string that the PHP strtotime() function understands:

// Both cookies expire in one hour.
$this->Cookie->write('first_name', 'Larry', false, 3600);
$this->Cookie->write('last_name', 'Masters', false, '1 hour');

CookieComponent::read(mixed $key = null)¶

This method is used to read the value of a cookie variable with the name specified by $key.

// Outputs "Larry"
echo $this->Cookie->read('name');

// You can also use the dot notation for read
echo $this->Cookie->read('User.name');

// To get the variables which you had grouped
// using the dot notation as an array use the following
$this->Cookie->read('User');

// this outputs something like array('name' => 'Larry', 'role' => 'Lead')

CookieComponent::check($key)¶

Parameters:

• $key (string) – The key to check.

Used to check whether a key/path exists and has a non-null value.

New in version 2.3: CookieComponent::check() was added in 2.3

CookieComponent::delete(mixed $key)¶

Deletes a cookie variable of the name in $key. Works with dot notation:

// Delete a variable
$this->Cookie->delete('bar');

// Delete the cookie variable bar, but not everything under foo
$this->Cookie->delete('foo.bar');

CookieComponent::destroy()¶

Destroys the current cookie.

CookieComponent::type($type)¶

Allows you to change the encryption scheme. By default the ‘cipher’ scheme is used for backwards compatibility. However, you should always use either the ‘rijndael’ or ‘aes’ schemes.

Changed in version 2.2: The ‘rijndael’ type was added.

New in version 2.5: The ‘aes’ type was added.