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April 22, 2003
Cookieless data persistence is possible using these viable strategies. Check out which option could work best for you
"You shouldn't rely strictly on cookies for functionality. For example, what happens if your Web application is viewed through a wireless device that doesn't support cookies or is viewed through a pre-HTML 2.0 or text-based browser? Another possibility is that your audience may be using cookie-blocking technology to protect their privacy. To reach the widest audience possible, developers should take these scenarios into consideration when building any cookie-based Web application."
Cookies are useful tools for maintaining information about the users on your Web site. For example, when you create a shopping cart for an online e-commerce application, you can store your user's product selections in a cookie. The contents of the cookie can be viewed no matter on which page they end up. Cookies can also be useful for storing user preferences and authentication data.
The HTTP protocol and data persistence
Why do cookies exist in the first place? Netscape developed the cookie mechanism to address a few shortcomings in the HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) specifications.
HTTP is stateless by nature, which means that the data contained on one page will not be stored when you navigate to the next page. For example, when you enter a URL in your browser, it will request the corresponding page from the Web server. Once the page has been served, all communications will cease until another request is made.
Here is the inherent problem with HTTP: There's no built-in mechanism to persist data in between page requests. If you fill in a form online and forget to click the Submit button, everything you typed in will be lost. There is nowhere else for the data to go.
Sessions states were developed as a way of tracking every unique user that visits your Web site. Sessions provide detailed user information for your server logs. They also allow you to programmatically monitor and control individual users on your Web site.
Article source continued: ZDNet - UK (TechUpdate)
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