Cookies

# Cookie processing requires a special mention. Cookies are in groups

# of name/value pairs. Each of those groups makes up one cookie to

# the client. Only 1 group can be persistent (kept between sessions). Each

# cookie group looks like "group=k1::v1~k2::v2". There are matching

# Javascript routines to extract cookies from groups.

use CGI::Cookies;

my $persistentCookies = new CGI::Cookies();

my $cookies = new CGI::Cookies( 'cookieGroupName');

# found() is used to see if a cookie exists.

# nextInstance() is used to iterate through the cookies.

if ($cookies->found())

{ do { .... } while ($cookies->nextInstance()); }

# get() retrieves cookies and returns undefined if there is none.

# get() can retrieve a list of cookies on demand.

# All keys are case independant (saved as upper case)

my $value = $cookies->get( 'key');

print "Not found" if not defined($value);

my ($gross, $nett, $tax) = get $cookies( 'gross', 'nett', 'tax');

# makePermanent will make the current cookie group permanent

# so that it can be kept between sessions.

# set() will send this group to the browser. It must be called before

# the page is displayed.

makePermanent $cookies;

set $cookies( key => value1, key2 => value2, ...);

# If you need to deal with cookies outside the system (no groups),

# use the RawCookie methods. The getAllRawCookies method

# is used if a cookie has more than one value - which happens if

# it is set by different levels of the URL structure.

my $value = CGI::getRawCookies( 'key');

CGI::setRawCookie( key => $value);

my @cookies = getAllRawCookies();