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can you clear transient cookies in javascript?

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USMA99

USMA99

Programmer
Oct 12, 2000
85
US
JS newbie here, is there a way to clear out the contents of document.cookie. I want the transient cookies blown away as if the user closed their browser, not just resetting their values back to empty strings.

I would expect something like these to work but they dont:

document.cookie = "";
document.cookie.clear();
docuemnt.cookie.reset();
document.cookie.delete();
document.cookie.length=0;

I've looked around quite a bit and don't see any mention of being able to do it. Is this possible?

thx in advance
 
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<script>
void(document.cookie)
</script>

__________________________________________________________
"The only difference between me and a mad man is that I'm not mad."
- Dali
 
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daang it Im at work and not paying attention try this:


<script>
void(document.cookie="");
</script>

__________________________________________________________
"The only difference between me and a mad man is that I'm not mad."
- Dali
 
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not a problem

__________________________________________________________
"The only difference between me and a mad man is that I'm not mad."
- Dali
 
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er, actually that didn't work. I thought that it did on first glance, but it caused a javascript error that blew away the part of the page that prints values based on the cookie, making me think the cookie was cleared.

So, can I clear the entire cookie with one statement?
 
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what do you mean by "transient cookies"?

=========================================================
-jeff
try { succeed(); } catch(E) { tryAgain(); } finally { rtfm(); }
 
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a 'transient cookie' (aka session cookie) is lost when you close your browser as opposed to a persistent cookie which is a file on the hard-drive. There is no expiration on transient cookies that I can tell.

 
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ok then, if it's lost when you close your browser, what's the point in trying to delete it?

=========================================================
-jeff
try { succeed(); } catch(E) { tryAgain(); } finally { rtfm(); }
 
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because I have a sort of shopping cart. i loop through the items and their quantities that are in the cookie, ie:

chocolatechip=3; oatmealraisin=1; ...

to see what product and quantities the user selected. If they want to start over all of the old products are there if I can't clear the cookie. Telling them to close their browser would be silly. Looping through and setting each product to nothing is not accpetable either.
 
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why is looping through and setting each to nothing unacceptable? i don't think you have a choice.

=========================================================
-jeff
try { succeed(); } catch(E) { tryAgain(); } finally { rtfm(); }
 
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because their cart starts off empty, but each item that they add that I cannot clear will remain there but with no value (assuming i loop through and set it to nothing). What I want to know is:

is there a way to clear out the contents of
document.cookie? I want the transient cookies blown away
as if the user closed their browser, not just resetting
their values back to empty strings.

 
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you must delete each key's value, and set the cookie's "expires" property to a past date.

voila:
Code: 
<html>
  <head>
    <title>test</title>

    <script type="text/javascript">
      window.onload = function() {
        if (document.cookie) alert(document.cookie);
        else {
          document.cookie = "name=foo;";
        }
      }
    </script>
  </head>

  <body>
    <form>
			<input
				type="button"
				value="delete cookie"
				onclick="document.cookie = 'name=;expires=' + new Date(1974,0,1);" />
    </form>
  </body>
</html>


upon first loading the page, nothing will happen visually. refresh, and the cookie will be alerted. click "delete cookie", then reload the page, and you're back to no cookie = no alert.

=========================================================
-jeff
try { succeed(); } catch(E) { tryAgain(); } finally { rtfm(); }
 
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Does this work for you?

Code: 
document.cookie = 'yourCookieName=\'\';' + new Date().setYear(new Date().getYear()-1).toGMTString();

Just replace "yourCookieName" with the name of your cookie.

Dan
 
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Heh... So much for testing my code... For some reason, it gives me a JS error. Try this one instead:

Code: 
var myDate = new Date();
myDate.setFullYear(myDate.getFullYear()-1);
document.cookie = 'yourCookieName=\'\';' + myDate.toGMTString();

Dan
 
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thanks guys, i think this will get it
 
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