org.htmlparser.http
Class Cookie

java.lang.Object
  org.htmlparser.http.Cookie

All Implemented Interfaces:

Serializable, Cloneable

public class Cookie
extends Object
implements Cloneable, Serializable

A HTTP cookie. This class represents a "Cookie", as used for session management with HTTP and HTTPS protocols. Cookies are used to get user agents (web browsers etc) to hold small amounts of state associated with a user's web browsing. Common applications for cookies include storing user preferences, automating low security user signon facilities, and helping collect data used for "shopping cart" style applications.

Cookies are named, and have a single value. They may have optional attributes, including a comment presented to the user, path and domain qualifiers for which hosts see the cookie, a maximum age, and a version. Current web browsers often have bugs in how they treat those attributes, so interoperability can be improved by not relying on them heavily.

Cookies are assigned by servers, using fields added to HTTP response headers. Cookies are passed back to those servers using fields added to HTTP request headers. Several cookies with the same name can be returned; they have different path attributes, but those attributes will not be visible when using "old format" cookies.

Cookies affect the caching of the web pages used to set their values. At this time, none of the sophisticated HTTP/1.1 cache control models are supported. Standard HTTP/1.0 caches will not cache pages which contain cookies created by this class.

Cookies are being standardized by the IETF. This class supports the original Cookie specification (from Netscape Communications Corp.) as well as the updated RFC 2109 specification.

See Also:

Serialized Form

Field Summary

protected String	mComment Describes the cookie's use.
protected String	mDomain Domain that sees cookie.
protected Date	mExpiry Cookie expires after this date.
protected String	mName The name of the cookie.
protected String	mPath URLs that see the cookie.
protected boolean	mSecure Use SSL.
protected String	mValue The cookie value.
protected int	mVersion If Version=1 it means RFC 2109++ style cookies.

Constructor Summary

Cookie(String name, String value)
Defines a cookie with an initial name/value pair.

Method Summary

Object	clone() Returns a copy of this object.
String	getComment() Returns the comment describing the purpose of this cookie, or null if no such comment has been defined.
String	getDomain() Returns the domain of this cookie.
Date	getExpiryDate() Returns the expiry date of the cookie.
String	getName() Returns the name of the cookie.
String	getPath() Returns the prefix of all URLs for which this cookie is targetted.
boolean	getSecure() Returns the value of the 'secure' flag.
String	getValue() Returns the value of the cookie.
int	getVersion() Returns the version of the cookie.
void	setComment(String purpose) If a user agent (web browser) presents this cookie to a user, the cookie's purpose will be described using this comment.
void	setDomain(String pattern) This cookie should be presented only to hosts satisfying this domain name pattern.
void	setExpiryDate(Date expiry) Sets the expiry date of the cookie.
void	setPath(String uri) This cookie should be presented only with requests beginning with this URL.
void	setSecure(boolean flag) Indicates to the user agent that the cookie should only be sent using a secure protocol (https).
void	setValue(String newValue) Sets the value of the cookie.
void	setVersion(int version) Sets the version of the cookie protocol used when this cookie saves itself.
String	toString() Convert this cookie into a user friendly string.

Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object

equals, finalize, getClass, hashCode, notify, notifyAll, wait, wait, wait

Field Detail

mName

protected String mName

The name of the cookie.

mValue

protected String mValue

The cookie value.

mComment

protected String mComment

Describes the cookie's use.

mDomain

protected String mDomain

Domain that sees cookie.

mExpiry

protected Date mExpiry

Cookie expires after this date.

mPath

protected String mPath

URLs that see the cookie.

mSecure

protected boolean mSecure

Use SSL.

mVersion

protected int mVersion

If Version=1 it means RFC 2109++ style cookies.

Constructor Detail

Cookie

public Cookie(String name,
              String value)
       throws IllegalArgumentException

Defines a cookie with an initial name/value pair. The name must be an HTTP/1.1 "token" value; alphanumeric ASCII strings work. Names starting with a "$" character are reserved by RFC 2109. The path for the cookie is set to the root ("/") and there is no expiry time set.

Parameters:

name - The name of the cookie.

value - The value of the cookie.

Throws:

IllegalArgumentException - if the cookie name is not an HTTP/1.1 "token", or if it is one of the tokens reserved for use by the cookie protocol

Method Detail

setComment

public void setComment(String purpose)

If a user agent (web browser) presents this cookie to a user, the cookie's purpose will be described using this comment. This is not supported by version zero cookies.

Parameters:

purpose - The cookie comment.

See Also:

getComment()

getComment

public String getComment()

Returns the comment describing the purpose of this cookie, or null if no such comment has been defined.

Returns:

The cookie comment, or null if none.

See Also:

setComment(java.lang.String)

setDomain

public void setDomain(String pattern)

This cookie should be presented only to hosts satisfying this domain name pattern. Read RFC 2109 for specific details of the syntax. Briefly, a domain name name begins with a dot (".foo.com") and means that hosts in that DNS zone ("www.foo.com", but not "a.b.foo.com") should see the cookie. By default, cookies are only returned to the host which saved them.

Parameters:

pattern - The domain name pattern. The pattern is converted to lower case to accommodate less capable browsers.

See Also:

getDomain()

getDomain

public String getDomain()

Returns the domain of this cookie.

Returns:

The cookie domain (the base URL name it applies to).

See Also:

setDomain(java.lang.String)

setExpiryDate

public void setExpiryDate(Date expiry)

Sets the expiry date of the cookie. The cookie will expire after the date specified. A null value indicates the default behaviour: the cookie is not stored persistently, and will be deleted when the user agent (web browser) exits.

Parameters:

expiry - The expiry date for this cookie, or null if the cookie is persistent.

See Also:

getExpiryDate()

getExpiryDate

public Date getExpiryDate()

Returns the expiry date of the cookie. If none was specified, null is returned, indicating the default behaviour described with setExpiryDate.

Returns:

The cookie expiry date, or null if it is persistent.

See Also:

setExpiryDate(java.util.Date)

setPath

public void setPath(String uri)

This cookie should be presented only with requests beginning with this URL. Read RFC 2109 for a specification of the default behaviour. Basically, URLs in the same "directory" as the one which set the cookie, and in subdirectories, can all see the cookie unless a different path is set.

Parameters:

uri - The exclusion prefix for the cookie.

See Also:

getPath()

getPath

public String getPath()

Returns the prefix of all URLs for which this cookie is targetted.

Returns:

The cookie path (or "/" if no specific path is specified).

See Also:

setPath(java.lang.String)

setSecure

public void setSecure(boolean flag)

Indicates to the user agent that the cookie should only be sent using a secure protocol (https). This should only be set when the cookie's originating server used a secure protocol to set the cookie's value.

Parameters:

flag - Use true if the cookie is to be sent using secure protocols, false otherwise.

See Also:

getSecure()

getSecure

public boolean getSecure()

Returns the value of the 'secure' flag.

Returns:

The true if this cookie should only be sent using a secure protocol, false otherwise.

See Also:

setSecure(boolean)

getName

public String getName()

Returns the name of the cookie. This name may not be changed after the cookie is created.

Returns:

The name of the cookie.

setValue

public void setValue(String newValue)

Sets the value of the cookie. BASE64 encoding is suggested for use with binary values.

With version zero cookies, you need to be careful about the kinds of values you use. Values with various special characters (whitespace, brackets and parentheses, the equals sign, comma, double quote, slashes, question marks, the "at" sign, colon, and semicolon) should be avoided. Empty values may not behave the same way on all browsers.

Parameters:

newValue - The new value for the cookie.

See Also:

getValue()

getValue

public String getValue()

Returns the value of the cookie.

Returns:

The cookie value.

See Also:

setValue(java.lang.String)

getVersion

public int getVersion()

Returns the version of the cookie. Version 1 complies with RFC 2109, version 0 indicates the original version, as specified by Netscape. Newly constructed cookies use version 0 by default, to maximize interoperability. Cookies provided by a user agent will identify the cookie version used by the browser.

Returns:

The cookie version.

See Also:

setVersion(int)

setVersion

public void setVersion(int version)

Sets the version of the cookie protocol used when this cookie saves itself. Since the IETF standards are still being finalized, consider version 1 as experimental; do not use it (yet) on production sites.

Parameters:

version - The version of the cookie, either 0 or 1.

See Also:

getVersion()

clone

public Object clone()

Returns a copy of this object.

Overrides:

clone in class Object

Returns:

The clone of this cookie.

toString

public String toString()

Convert this cookie into a user friendly string.

Overrides:

toString in class Object

Returns:

A short form string representing this cookie.