com.bradmcevoy.http
Interface Cookie

public interface Cookie

Author:

brad

Method Summary

java.lang.String	getDomain() This returns the domain for this cookie.
int	getExpiry() This returns the number of seconds a cookie lives for.
java.lang.String	getName() This returns the name for this cookie.
java.lang.String	getPath() This returns the path for this cookie.
boolean	getSecure() This determines whether the cookie is secure.
java.lang.String	getValue() This returns the value for this cookie.
int	getVersion() This returns the version for this cookie.
void	setDomain(java.lang.String domain) This enables the domain for this Cookie to be set.
void	setExpiry(int expiry) This allows a lifetime to be specified for the cookie.
void	setPath(java.lang.String path) This is used to set the cookie path for this cookie.
void	setSecure(boolean secure) This is used to determine if the client browser should send this cookie over a secure protocol.
void	setValue(java.lang.String value) This enables the value of the cookie to be changed.
void	setVersion(int version) This enables the version of the Cookie to be set.

Method Detail

getVersion

int getVersion()

This returns the version for this cookie. The version is not optional and so will always return the version this cookie uses. If no version number is specified this will return a version of 1, to comply with RFC 2109.

Returns:

the version value from this cookie instance

setVersion

void setVersion(int version)

This enables the version of the Cookie to be set. By default the version of the Cookie is set to 1. It is not advisable to set the version higher than 1, unless it is known that the client will accept it.

Some old browsers can only handle cookie version 0. This can be used to comply with the original Netscape cookie specification. Version 1 complies with RFC 2109.

Parameters:

version - this is the version number for the cookie

getName

java.lang.String getName()

This returns the name for this cookie. The name and value attributes of a cookie define what the Cookie is for, these values will always be present. These are mandatory for both the Cookie and Set-Cookie headers.

Because the cookie may be stored by name, the cookie name cannot be modified after the creation of the cookie object.

Returns:

the name from this cookie instance object

getValue

java.lang.String getValue()

This returns the value for this cookie. The name and value attributes of a cookie define what the Cookie is for, these values will always be present. These are mandatory for both the Cookie and Set-Cookie headers.

Returns:

the value from this cookie instance object

setValue

void setValue(java.lang.String value)

This enables the value of the cookie to be changed. This can be set to any value the server wishes to send. Cookie values can contain space characters as they are transmitted in quotes. For example a value of some value is perfectly legal. However for maximum compatibility across the different plaforms such as PHP, JavaScript and others, quotations should be avoided. If quotations are required they must be added to the string. For example a quoted value could be created as "some value".

Parameters:

value - this is the new value of this cookie object

getSecure

boolean getSecure()

This determines whether the cookie is secure. The cookie is secure if it has the "secure" token set, as defined by RFC 2109. If this token is set then the cookie is only sent over secure channels such as SSL and TLS and ensures that a third party cannot intercept and spoof the cookie.

Returns:

this returns true if the "secure" token is set

setSecure

void setSecure(boolean secure)

This is used to determine if the client browser should send this cookie over a secure protocol. If this is true then the client browser should only send the cookie over secure channels such as SSL and TLS. This ensures that the value of the cookie cannot be intercepted by a third party.

Parameters:

secure - if true then the cookie should be protected

getExpiry

int getExpiry()

This returns the number of seconds a cookie lives for. This determines how long the cookie will live on the client side. If the expiry is less than zero the cookie lifetime is the duration of the client browser session, if it is zero then the cookie will be deleted from the client browser.

Returns:

returns the duration in seconds the cookie lives

setExpiry

void setExpiry(int expiry)

This allows a lifetime to be specified for the cookie. This will make use of the "max-age" token specified by RFC 2109 the specifies the number of seconds a browser should keep a cookie for. This is useful if the cookie is to be kept beyond the lifetime of the client session. If the valie of this is zero then this will remove the client cookie, if it is less than zero then the "max-age" field is ignored.

Parameters:

expiry - the duration in seconds the cookie lives

getPath

java.lang.String getPath()

This returns the path for this cookie. The path is in both the Cookie and Set-Cookie headers and so may return null if there is no domain value. If the toString or toClientString is invoked the path will not be present if the path attribute is null.

Returns:

this returns the path value from this cookie

setPath

void setPath(java.lang.String path)

This is used to set the cookie path for this cookie. This is set so that the cookie can specify the directories that the cookie is sent with. For example if the path attribute is set to /pub/bin, then requests for the resource http://hostname:port/pub/bin/README will be issued with this cookie. The cookie is issued for all resources in the path and all subdirectories.

Parameters:

path - this is the path value for this cookie object

getDomain

java.lang.String getDomain()

This returns the domain for this cookie. The domain is in both the Cookie and Set-Cookie headers and so may return null if there is no domain value. If either the toString or toClientString is invoked the domain will not be present if this is null.

Returns:

this returns the domain value from this cookie

setDomain

void setDomain(java.lang.String domain)

This enables the domain for this Cookie to be set. The form of the domain is specified by RFC 2109. The value can begin with a dot, like .host.com. This means that the cookie is visible within a specific DNS zone like www.host.com. By default this value is null which means it is sent back to its origin.

Parameters:

domain - this is the domain value for this cookie