JavaScript, Fourth Edition Chapter 9 Managing State Information and Security

Objectives Learn about state information Save state information with hidden form fields, query strings, and cookies Learn about security issues JavaScript, Fourth Edition JavaScript, Fourth Edition 2 2

Understanding State Information Information about individual visits to a Web site HTTP was originally designed to be stateless Browsers stored no persistent data about site visits Reasons for maintaining state information Customize individual Web pages Temporarily store information for a user Allow a user to create bookmarks Provide shopping carts JavaScript, Fourth Edition

Understanding State Information (continued) Reasons for maintaining state information Store user IDs and passwords Use counters Example Frame-based Color Printer Product Registration Web page JavaScript, Fourth Edition 4

Understanding State Information (continued) JavaScript, Fourth Edition 5

Understanding State Information (continued) JavaScript, Fourth Edition 6

Saving State Information with Hidden Form Fields Special type of form element Not displayed by the Web browser Allows you to hide information from users Created with the <input> element Temporarily store data that needs to be sent to a server along with the rest of a form But that a user does not need to see Syntax <input type="hidden"> JavaScript, Fourth Edition 7

Saving State Information with Hidden Form Fields (continued) JavaScript, Fourth Edition 8

Saving State Information with Hidden Form Fields (continued) Example Add hidden form fields to the Color Printer Product Registration program Add code to the Customer Information document that copies its form field values to the hidden form fields in the top frame of the Color Printer Product Registration frameset Add code to the Product Information document that copies its form field values to the hidden form fields in the top frame of the Color Printer Product Registration frameset JavaScript, Fourth Edition 9

Saving State Information with Query Strings Set of name=value pairs appended to a target URL Consists of a single text string containing one or more pieces of information You can use a query string to pass information from one Web page to another JavaScript, Fourth Edition

Passing Data with a Query String Add a question mark (?) immediately after a URL Followed by the query string (in name=value pairs) for the information you want to preserve You separate individual name=value pairs within the query string using ampersands (&) The passed query string is then assigned to the search property Of the target Web page Location object Example Modify the Color Printer Product Registration page to pass registration information as query strings JavaScript, Fourth Edition 11

Parsing Data from a Query String Remove the question mark Using the substring() method combined with the length property Convert the individual pieces of information into array elements Using the split() method Example Write your own parsing script that extracts and displays the data in the query string JavaScript, Fourth Edition 12

Parsing Data from a Query String (continued) JavaScript, Fourth Edition 13

Saving State Information with Cookies Query strings and hidden form fields maintain state information only temporarily Cookies Small pieces of information about a user that are stored by a Web server in text files On the user’s computer Each time the Web client visits a Web server Saved cookies are sent from the client to the server Temporary cookies Remain available only for current browser session JavaScript, Fourth Edition 14

Saving State Information with Cookies (continued) Persistent cookies Remain available beyond current browser session And are stored in a text file on a client computer Limitations on the use of cookies Server or domain can store a maximum of 20 cookies Total cookies per browser cannot exceed 300 Largest cookie size is 4 kilobytes JavaScript, Fourth Edition 15

Creating Cookies Use the cookie property of the Document object To create cookies in name=value pairs The name attribute Only required parameter Specifies the cookie’s name=value pair Cookies created with only the name attribute are temporary cookies Cookies cannot include semicolons or special characters You can use special characters in your cookies if you use encoding JavaScript, Fourth Edition 16

Creating Cookies (continued) The name attribute (continued) Encoding involves converting special characters in a text string To their corresponding hexadecimal ASCII value encodeURIComponent() function Used for encoding the individual parts of a URI Converts special characters in the individual parts of a URI to their corresponding hexadecimal ASCII value decodeURIComponent() function Counterpart of encodeURIComponent() function JavaScript, Fourth Edition 17

Creating Cookies (continued) The name attribute (continued) You should manually encode and decode cookies Example Modify the Customer Information form so its fields are saved in temporary cookies instead of in query strings The expires attribute Determines how long a cookie can remain on a client system before it is deleted Cookies created without this attribute are available for only the current browser session Be sure not to encode this attribute JavaScript, Fourth Edition 18

Creating Cookies (continued) The expires attribute (continued) You can manually type a string in UTC format Or you can create the string with the Date object Use the toUTCString() method to convert the Date object to a string Unused persistent cookies can sometimes interfere with the execution of a JavaScript cookie program Example Add to ProductInfo.html a persistent cookie named registered that is assigned a value of true when the user clicks the Submit button JavaScript, Fourth Edition 19

Creating Cookies (continued) The path attribute Determines the availability of a cookie to other Web pages on a server By default, a cookie is available to all Web pages in the same directory To make a cookie available to all directories on a server, use a slash Cookies from other programs that are stored in the same directory Can cause your JavaScript cookie program to run erratically JavaScript, Fourth Edition 20

Creating Cookies (continued) The domain attribute Used for sharing cookies across multiple servers in the same domain You cannot share cookies outside of a domain The secure attribute Indicates that a cookie can only be transmitted across a secure Internet connection Using HTTPS or another security protocol JavaScript, Fourth Edition 21

Reading Cookies Parsing a cookie Example Decode it using decodeURIComponent() function Use the methods of the String object to extract individual name=value pairs Example Modify the code in ProductInfo.html so it does not refer to the query string Add code to the Register.html document that reads and prints the contents of the cookies from the CustomerInfo.html document JavaScript, Fourth Edition 22

Reading Cookies (continued) Example Modify CustomerInfo.html so it reads the persistent registered cookie to determine whether the user has already submitted the product registration JavaScript, Fourth Edition 23

Understanding Security Issues Discuss security issues that relate to Web browsers and JavaScript JavaScript, Fourth Edition 24

Secure Coding with JavaScript Security threats Viruses, worms, and data theft by hackers Consider both Web server security issues and secure coding issues Web server security technologies Firewalls Secure Socket Layer (SSL) JavaScript programs are downloaded and execute locally JavaScript, Fourth Edition 25

Secure Coding with JavaScript (continued) Secure coding or defensive coding Writing code to minimize any intentional or accidental security issues All code is insecure unless proven otherwise No magic formula for writing secure code JavaScript, Fourth Edition 26

JavaScript Security Concerns Security areas of most concern Protection of a Web page and JavaScript program against malicious tampering Privacy of individual client information Protection of the local file system of the client or Web site from theft or tampering Another security concern Privacy of individual client information in the Web browser window An important JavaScript security feature Its lack of certain types of functionality JavaScript, Fourth Edition 27

JavaScript Security Concerns (continued) Missing functionalities File manipulation Create a network connection Cannot run system commands or execute programs on a client JavaScript, Fourth Edition 28

The Same Origin Policy Same origin policy Restricts how JavaScript code in one window or frame accesses a Web page In another window or frame on a client computer To view and modify the elements in other windows and frames They must have the same protocol and exist on the same Web server Same origin policy applies not only to the domain name But also to server on which a document is located JavaScript, Fourth Edition 29

The Same Origin Policy (continued) Policy prevents malicious scripts from modifying the content of other windows and frames And prevents the theft of private browser information and information displayed on secure Web pages Policy also protects the integrity of the design of your Web page Example Create a frame set in which one frame uses JavaScript code to try to change the status bar text of another frame JavaScript, Fourth Edition 30

The Same Origin Policy (continued) domain property of the Document object Changes the origin of a document to its root domain name Allows documents from different origins in the same domain to access each other’s elements and properties JavaScript, Fourth Edition 31

Summary Information about individual visits to a Web site is called state information HTTP was originally designed to be stateless You can hide information from users in a hidden form field Most common tools for maintaining state information are hidden form fields, query strings, and cookies A query string is a set of name=value pairs appended to a target URL JavaScript, Fourth Edition

Summary (continued) Cookies are small pieces of information about a user that are stored by a Web server Cookies can be temporary or persistent The cookie property is created with a required name attribute You can use special characters in your cookies if you use encoding The built-in encodeURIComponent() function encodes the individual parts of a URI JavaScript, Fourth Edition

Summary (continued) When you read a cookie or other text string encoded, you must first decode it with the decodeURIComponent() function Cookies are one continuous string that must be parsed “Secure coding,” or “defensive coding,” refers to writing of code to minimize any intentional or accidental security issues JavaScript, Fourth Edition 34

Summary (continued) The same origin policy restricts how JavaScript code in one window or frame accesses a Web page in another window or frame on a client computer. The domain property of the Document object changes the origin of a document to its root domain name using the statement document.domain = “domain”; JavaScript, Fourth Edition