session.js - super simple session management for node.js

Installation

Installing npm (node package manager)

  curl http://npmjs.org/install.sh | sh

Installing session.js

  npm install sesh

Example request.session

{
    "id": "m2ENokSCHY3",
    "data": {
        "history": [
            "/"
        ],
        "user": "Guest"
    },
    "path": "/",
    "persistent": true,
    "lifetime": 604800,
    "expiration": 1291446379596
}

Usage

Using session.js as a middle-ware

  var http = require('http'), 
      session = require('./lib/core').session;

  // let's create a basic http server!
  http.createServer(function (request, response) {

    // before we process any part of the request, let's use the session middle-ware!
    session(request, response, function(request, response){

      // now we can access request.session

      // after the session middleware has executed, let's finish processing the request
      response.writeHead(200, {'Content-Type': 'text/plain'});
      response.write('request.session: \n' + JSON.stringify(request.session, 2, true));
      response.end();

    });

  }).listen(8080);

  /* server started */  
  console.log('> hello world running on port 8080');

Magic Monkey Punched Middle-ware Sessions (automatically patches httpServer)

var http = require('http'),
    session = require('./lib/core').magicSession(); // special magic, now all requests have sessions!

// let's create a basic http server!
http.createServer(function (request, response) {

  // now we can access request.session

  // let's finish processing the request
  response.writeHead(200, {'Content-Type': 'text/plain'});
  response.write('request.session: \n' + JSON.stringify(request.session, 2, true));
  response.end();

}).listen(8080);

/* server started */  
console.log('> hello world running on port 8080');

Creating a super simple login / logout feature

One of the best things about having a persistent session object per user, is having the ability to create user logins. The actual way you want to implement authentication is up to, but here is a basic pattern to follow. Please, remember this method of authentication is just an example:

var http = require('http'),
    session = require('./lib/core').magicSession();

// let's create a basic http server!
http.createServer(function (request, response) {

  // please note: this is just an example of how to hook auth into session.js, its not ideal at all

  // super basic logout
  if(request.url === '/logout'){
    request.session.data.user = "Guest";
    response.writeHead(200, {'Content-Type': 'text/plain'});
    response.write('You\'ve been logged out');
    response.end();
    return;
  }

  // let's hardcode a username and password variable into the url
  var urlParams = require('url').parse(request.url, true).query || {};

  if(typeof urlParams.name != 'undefined'){
    // if the "name" parameter has been sent, lets log in as that user
    request.session.data.user = urlParams.name;
  }

  // request.session.data.user always defaults to "Guest"
  if(request.session.data.user == "Guest"){
    response.writeHead(200, {'Content-Type': 'text/plain'});
    response.write('Hello, you are the Guest user');
    response.end();
  }
  else{
    response.writeHead(200, {'Content-Type': 'text/plain'});
    response.write('Hello, you are ' + request.session.data.user);
    response.end();
  }


}).listen(8080);

/* server started */  
console.log('> hello world running on port 8080');

Once you have this running you can do the following:

GET http://localhost:8080/
Hello, you are the Guest user

GET http://localhost:8080/?name=Marak
Hello, you are Marak

GET http://localhost:8080/
Hello, you are Marak

GET http://localhost:8080/logout
You've been logged out

GET http://localhost:8080 
Hello, you are the Guest user

Requirements

 npm install response

Authors

 inimino@inimino.org, Marak Squires