Question

I just started with OOP programming in PHP and I have made a cookie class.

With doing that i have got a few questions unanswered

• is my class correct?

• how do I use it properly in my page? ( lets think i want to see how many times the visitor visited my website before and output the result for the user )

I already tested it after loging in and using this code:

$cookie = new Cookie();
$cookie->store();
print_r($_COOKIE);

(I had a result thrown back but I don’t know if its the good result)
Bellow you can find my Cookie class.

<?php
class Cookie {
    /* cookie $id */ 
    private $id = false;

    /* cookie life $time */
    private $time = false;

    /* cookie $domain */
    private $domain = false;    

    /* cookie $path */
    private $path = false;

    /* cookie $secure (true is https only) */
    private $secure = false;


    public function __construct ($id, $time = 3600, $path = false, $domain = false, $secure = false) {
        $this->id = $id;
        $this->time = $time;                  
        $this->path = $path;
        $this->domain = $domain;      
        $this->secure = $secure;
    }

    public function store() {
        foreach ($this->parameters as $parameter => $validator) {
            setcookie($this->id . "[" . $parameter . "]", $validator->getValue(), time() + $this->time, $this->path, $this->domain, $this->secure, true);        
        }            
    }     

    public function restore() {
        if (isset($_COOKIE[$this->id])) {

            foreach ($_COOKIE[$this->id] as $parameter => $value) {
                $this->{$parameter} = $value;
            }
        }   
    }           

    public function destroy() {
        $this->time =  -1;
    }   
}
?>

I hope someone can give me a good example! thanks for the help in advance!

Answer 1

This code should do the most frequent tasks you’ll need to manipulate cookies.
Don’t get confused by reading the getter and setter methods – they’re used to access the private variables defined in the class.
Have in mind this class is used per cookie and you need to have a new instance for every new cookie you’ll operate over.
Below the class I’ve added an example how to use the class.

<?php
/**
 * Cookie manager.
 */
class Cookie
{
    /**
     * Cookie name - the name of the cookie.
     * @var bool
     */
    private $name = false;

    /**
     * Cookie value
     * @var string
     */
    private $value = "";

    /**
     * Cookie life time
     * @var DateTime
     */
    private $time;

    /**
     * Cookie domain
     * @var bool
     */
    private $domain = false;

    /**
     * Cookie path
     * @var bool
     */
    private $path = false;

    /**
     * Cookie secure
     * @var bool
     */
    private $secure = false;

    /**
     * Constructor
     */
    public function __construct() { }

    /**
     * Create or Update cookie.
     */
    public function create() {
        return setcookie($this->name, $this->getValue(), $this->getTime(), $this->getPath(), $this->getDomain(), $this->getSecure(), true);
    }

    /**
     * Return a cookie
     * @return mixed
     */
    public function get(){
        return $_COOKIE[$this->getName()];
    }

    /**
     * Delete cookie.
     * @return bool
     */
    public function delete(){
        return setcookie($this->name, '', time() - 3600, $this->getPath(), $this->getDomain(), $this->getSecure(), true);
    }


    /**
     * @param $domain
     */
    public function setDomain($domain) {
        $this->domain = $domain;
    }

    /**
     * @return bool
     */
    public function getDomain() {
        return $this->domain;
    }

    /**
     * @param $id
     */
    public function setName($id) {
        $this->name = $id;
    }

    /**
     * @return bool
     */
    public function getName() {
        return $this->name;
    }

    /**
     * @param $path
     */
    public function setPath($path) {
        $this->path = $path;
    }

    /**
     * @return bool
     */
    public function getPath() {
        return $this->path;
    }

    /**
     * @param $secure
     */
    public function setSecure($secure) {
        $this->secure = $secure;
    }

    /**
     * @return bool
     */
    public function getSecure() {
        return $this->secure;
    }

    /**
     * @param $time
     */
    public function setTime($time) {
        // Create a date
        $date = new DateTime();
        // Modify it (+1hours; +1days; +20years; -2days etc)
        $date->modify($time);
        // Store the date in UNIX timestamp.
        $this->time = $date->getTimestamp();
    }

    /**
     * @return bool|int
     */
    public function getTime() {
        return $this->time;
    }

    /**
     * @param string $value
     */
    public function setValue($value) {
        $this->value = $value;
    }

    /**
     * @return string
     */
    public function getValue() {
        return $this->value;
    }
}

/**
 * Create a cookie with the name "myCookieName" and value "testing cookie value"
 */
$cookie = new Cookie();
// Set cookie name
$cookie->setName('myCookieName');
// Set cookie value
$cookie->setValue("testing cookie value");
// Set cookie expiration time
$cookie->setTime("+1 hour");
// Create the cookie
$cookie->create();
// Get the cookie value.
print_r($cookie->get());
// Delete the cookie.
//$cookie->delete();

?>

P.S. I’ve commented the $cookie->delete(); on purpose so that you can see the content of print_r($cookie->get()).

Edit:
Question: Where does the code go to see if the cookie is set?
Answer:
You should check what does $_COOKIE do in the php documentation.
Basically the server sends headers to the client’s browser which stores the cookies on the client’s computer. When the client initializes a connection to the server it passes the cookies with the request.

Question: Where goes the $cookie->delete();
Answer:
There isn’t a direct way to delete cookies. So in order to do that you need to create a cookie with the same name and expiration time which is in the past. When you do that the cookie is removed from the client’s browser.