I want to store the zip code of a user, if they use it for a proximity search in a cookie. However, I don't know where or how to start to implement this.
How do I store anonymous user information on a cookie?
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3 Answers
Since Drupal 7, there are two functions to store data in a cookie: user_cookie_save(), and user_cookie_delete(). Despite the function names, the functions work also for anonymous users, since they don't get information from the $user object or any information that is related to the user ID.
comment_form_submit() uses user_cookie_save() in the following code lines:
if (user_is_anonymous()) {
user_cookie_save(array_intersect_key($form_state['values'], array_flip(array('name', 'mail', 'homepage'))));
}
If you are using a version of Drupal that doesn't define that functions, you can implement similar functions in a module you use.
function mymodule_cookie_save(array $values) {
foreach ($values as $field => $value) {
// Set cookie for 365 days.
setrawcookie('Drupal.visitor.' . $field, rawurlencode($value), REQUEST_TIME + 31536000, '/');
}
}
function mymodule_cookie_delete($cookie_name) {
setrawcookie('Drupal.visitor.' . $cookie_name, '', REQUEST_TIME - 3600, '/');
}
Keep in mind that setrawcookie() is only available in PHP 5. If you are developing a module that could be used with PHP 4, then you should use setcookie(), and the code of the functions should be accordingly changed: the parameter needs to be declared as $values (not array $values), and the call to rawurlencode() needs to be removed as the cookies are already URL encoded from setcookie().
answered May 31, 2011 at 14:23
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2If you are developing code for Drupal 6, creating such functions would make your code compatible with Drupal 7; when porting the code to Drupal 7 you would just need to change the calls to
mymodule_cookie_save()withuser_cookie_save(). You could also useuser_cookie_save()anduser_cookie_delete()for your functions, if you first check those functions are not already defined, which would happen if another module defines them for Drupal 6.– apaderno ♦May 31, 2011 at 14:28
Setting cookies in Drupal is not different from how you would do it with any other PHP site:
setcookie is the function that PHP provides for this. There is also the $_COOKIE super global variable to use.
Code example:
$cookieval = 'my cookie value';
if ($_COOKIE['my_cookie_key'] != $cookie_val) {
setcookie('my_cookie_key', $cookie_val);
}
answered May 31, 2011 at 10:46
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The only example of this I can find is in the flag module which records anonymous users flags in client cookies. Perhaps it's the object oriented PHP, but the code is a little intimidating for me. I'll look at it again since from your suggesting its the write direction.– Adam SMay 31, 2011 at 11:06
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@Adam, I've added a code example of how you could set a cookie value (and how to get it) it is really not that hard. May 31, 2011 at 11:11
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I'll use $_COOKIE['location'] value for the default value of an exposed Views form for a proximity search. On submit I'll just check to see if the $_COOKIE['location'] value does not equal the $form_state value in which case I'll use the setcookie() function as you described above.– Adam SMay 31, 2011 at 11:23
If you have Drupal installed in subfolder so that your site root URL has the form www.mydomain.com/mysite, you should probably use base_path() instead of '/' when setting the cookie.
Functions in kiamlaluno's answer would then be:
function mymodule_cookie_save(array $values) {
foreach ($values as $field => $value) {
// Set cookie for 365 days.
setrawcookie('Drupal.visitor.' . $field, rawurlencode($value), REQUEST_TIME + 31536000, base_path());
}
}
function mymodule_cookie_delete($cookie_name) {
setrawcookie('Drupal.visitor.' . $cookie_name, '', REQUEST_TIME - 3600, base_path());
}
