Retaining a value from a response in node js - javascript

On page load, say for a particular route for (e.g. https://localhost:8000/home/index), a service is called and the response from the service is rendered to the page at the client side.
On the same page, I have a link that pops up a Backbone.js modal and from the modal a click event triggers which hits another url (e.g. https://localhost:8000/home/index2) upon which another service call triggers and the response is rendered to another html page.
On the same html page, I want to display a value which I got from the first service call on page load. However, I am unable to retain that value as there are two different requests each time. Hence, I cannot even append the value from first response to the request object and use it a second time.

You can use JavaScripts Web Storage API to storage information on client browser.
MDN Web Storage API
For example, If you are on the first screen and call a service, store the service information on localStorage
localStorage.setItem('firstService', serviceResponseObject);
Once you are navigated to second page, you can use localStorage to read to previous service information
localStorage.getItem('firstService');

There are multiple ways to store state between requests.
From the server, if you're using say Express etc, you could store the result in a Session. Or you can even store state in the requests query params, or from a POST request.
You could also store some data on the client end, using say Cookies or localstorage.
What you choose really depends, it might be best if you explain in more detail what sort of information your passing between pages.
If it's just a simple value, I would go for using query params.
eg. Just place in your url https://localhost:8000/home/index2?value=123, and then from node.js, req.query.value would have your value.

Related

Is there a way to send POST data to another form and return the result of that form?

I need to send form data to another page that will allow the user to do something in a form and return the result of that form back to the original page? Is this possible? I know it's not ideal, but the issue is that I need to make a "drop-in" solution that does not need to be integrated with other code. I know it's a very specific request and scenario.
I know how to send POST data that doesn't require any user input on the processing page. i.e. I can send POST data to 'calculate.php' which will do the math and send it back, but if I need additional user input on 'calculate.php', how can I still send it back?
An example of expected results would be:
Page #1: User enters a number and presses submit to go to next page.
Page #2: User enters a second number and presses submit to finish.
Back to Page #1: User receives sum of both numbers.
Obviously, this is a really redundant thing to do, but I'm trying to simplify the problem as much as possible.
EDIT: There a few restrictions I forgot to add.
Page #1 is not my application, I am developing Page #2 as a "drop-in" solution for Page #1. Essentially, I can only use Page #1 to call Page #2 and receive a response from it. The problem is that I need to be able to allow for user input on Page #2.
I know I can post to Page #2 and then post to Page #1 again, but what if I need to maintain the state of Page #1. For example, if there's an open Web Socket connection.
Please note, I understand that this may be impossible or extremely difficult, but if I don't ask I'll never know right?
You want it with PHP or any other language. If you are running Php on server side then you can use Global variables like $_GET and $_POST.
Page #1: Use Post/Get method to send data to second page.
Page #2: Receive all fields' values using Globe variables ($_GET and $_POST). You can use these values as default values of form fields. Now submit this data to page 1 using post or get method.
Back to Page #1: Here you will receive the data of first page from second page and newly posted data from page 2
Either of these should work:
Never leave the page - use AJAX / XMLHttpRequest to call out to other pages to process chunks of data
Do everything on page 1 using "postbacks" -- the form targets are the same page, there is a state variable like "stage=1", and you use JavaScript to add set hidden variables for any additional state that's needed.
... PHP state validation and processing for the different stages ...
... one or more blocks of HTML for the page (PHP if / else can be used to choose between multiple page views) ...
Edit for added restrictions:
Have page 2 use postbacks or AJAX to collect the additional information
I figured out a few ways to do it.
Update a Database (or Data Store of some sort, depends on security needs) and have Page #1 listen for events from a separate page (on the same server as the database). Very similar to the way PayPal's Instant Payment Notification (IPN) works. I was actually able to set up server sent events with it as well.
Essentially, Page #1 sends data to Page #2 where the user will perform the function and then Page #2 will send POST data to a listener somewhere (either on the same server or Page #1's server), the listener will update a database and Page #1 will be listening or pulling to an event handler that will send an update once the database updates.
Use JavaScript Child/Parent Window functions. This is okay if Page #1 and Page #2 are on the same server, but can get messy and browsers have a lot of restrictions and it varies depending on browser.
Page #1 will open Page #2 in a child window, after the user performs a function, Page #2 will call a function that accepts the result data on Page #1.

Passing data to server before page is rendered in node.js?

After a user login, the data is stored on a client side.
There are some pages which don't require a logged user to be viewed...
for example, I have a route on node.js which render a profile page through a URL parameter.
app.get("Profile/:id",function(req,res){ //render page and send it.}
anyone can see this page... but here is the situation... in my app, users can post notes on this pages so they can see it later. So the idea is, if a user is logged in when the user access that page he can see all his notes.
the data of the notes are in server side.
So my question is...
how can I pass the user data into app.get("profile/:id "... function so that the notes can be loaded and sent when is rendered
...
one thing is important to be known. I have a solution in wich I pass a unique key though the url which references to the active socket of the user so that the data is post on a json, is there any other way to pass data from client to server before the page is rendered?
After several days I have manage to achieve the resolution of this question
The idea is to have a Session tipe variable like $_SESSION in php.
you need express-session npm and assign session on require parameter on a express post function. After you have set a value, every time that browser change from location, you can extract that same session variable and use the data to post a response when you are rendering.
I used ejs to render.
In the next link, there is a full tutorial to achieve this.
https://codeforgeek.com/2014/09/manage-session-using-node-js-express-4/

Remain class from previous page

Simple question here, I've got a button with JavaScript that changes from ON to OFF changing it's class attribute.
So, the default value is OFF, and when you click it, swaps to ON. The problem is that everytime you navigate through the website's pages it always displays as OFF from default even if you selected ON previously.
Is it anyway with JavaScript or jQuery to remain the option selected from the previous page? I'm using class attribute to change the element from ON to OFF
Thanks in advance for your help!
There are two ways that comes to my mind where you can get the value from the previous page. In each case the previous page would need to store the data (option value) somewhere and the next page would need to load this data from there.
SERVER-SIDE Solution (Permanent Solution)
When user selects the option on the previous page, the page should then send the data to the server via AJAX, or using the <form> element. Server can then store the option into the database, file or session storage...
When you load the next page from the server, this page can be set to already include the data on loading or fetch it dynamically via AJAX.
CLIENT-SIDE Solution (Data persistency not guaranteed)
When user selects the option on the previous page, the page should then save the data to the local storage of the browser. This means if user clears the data in the browser, it will be lost forever.
When you load the next page from the server, just fetch the option from the local storage. It's easy...
http://www.w3schools.com/html/html5_webstorage.asp
Furthermore:
The data can be stored in cookies. Similar to local storage but will be sent to server with each HTTP request. This would be overhead if you don't need this data on the server. Use local storage instead.
The data can be passed in the URL. Only if you want the user to be able to change this data.

browser tab wise session creation using JSP ans Servlets example [duplicate]

I'm developing a single page jQuery & Backbone.js web app. The backend is a JBoss 6 application server.
Until now we had the following structure:
There is only one servlet (front controller). Every request from the JavaScript client goes through here.
In the servlet - at the first request of a certain JS client - I make a look p to a stateful session bean. For the next requests of this client, I store the result of the look up in an HTTP session container. So every JS client has exactly one stateful session bean. This connection is kept by a session cookie.
Now I have an additional requirement:
When the user has two browser tabs (in one browser), they should have two isolated instances of the web app in every browser tab. Because of that I have a problem with session cookies because this session cookie is for all browser tabs.
I have to change the structure so that:
The servlet has to generate a new session ID for the first request of a certain JS client. This session ID is communicated to the client.
With every POST to the backend the JS client has to send this session ID.
My question is:
Until now I saved the result of the look up in an HTTP Session object and I hadn't to think about generating a session ID. But now I have to store this somewhere else, where?
Has anybody experience with this kind of setting and can help me?
Update:
Thank you BalusC for this very interesting approach.
When I understood you well, this means:
All individual JS clients of the tabs of one browser share one HTTP session object. And in this HTTP session object, every tab has its own entry point. That sounds really good. So I still can use the whole HTTP session infrastructure and don't have to reinvent the wheel.
Autogenerate an unique value on the initial GET request which you store and pass around on every subsequent postback as a hidden input value. Use this unique value as identifier of the session attribute representing the view-scoped data.
During the 1st request on a brand new session, do:
Map<String, ViewData> viewScope = new HashMap<String, ViewData>();
session.setAttribute("viewScope", viewScope);
(the ViewData represents the view-specific data you'd like to track across postbacks on the same view)
During every GET request, do:
String viewDataId = UUID.randomUUID().toString();
viewScope.put(viewDataId, new ViewData());
request.setAttribute("viewDataId", viewDataId);
During generating the HTML, do:
<input type="hidden" name="viewDataId" value="${viewDataId}" />
During every POST request, do:
ViewData viewData = viewScope.get(request.getParameter("viewDataId"));
// Get/set view-specific data in there.
Make sure that jQuery also passes this hidden input around (which shouldn't be a big problem if you already properly use $(form).serialize() or e.g. AjaxForm plugin to ajaxify the forms).
If you're familiar with Java EE's MVC framework JSF, then it may be useful to know that its #ViewScoped annotation works roughly the same as described above. See also a.o. How to choose the right bean scope?
You can use session tracking with URL rewriting. See here:
Session shared in between tabs

Refreshing a page with cookies in Play

I have a drop-down selection of available languages. Currently, clicking on a language is mapped to a method in controller which updates the Play Session (which is a cookie under the hood) with the selected language and returns index page.
View:
English
Controller:
def setLanguage(language: String): Action[AnyContent] = Action { implicit request =>
val updatedSession = request.session + (("lang", language))
Redirect(routes.Application.index()).withSession(updatedSession)
}
As you can see, I redirect to index page and it's working fine. However, as the language selection is available at all times on my page, it may be clicked from /resource1, /resource2, /resource3 etc. and I would like to refresh that particular view instead of being returned to home page. I cannot simply get request.uri in the controller and refresh whatever it's pointing to because setLanguage() is mapped to its own route, so my request URI is always /language?lang=whatever.
So, how do I know that prior to invoking GET on /language, client was on, say, /items so I can reload items page instead of returning him to home page? Should I send a GET request with resource as a parameter (e.g. ?lang=en&location=items) to know which page to render? Should I make an ajax request and call window.location.reload() on success? Do I even need to go to server or can I simply update the PLAY_SESSION cookie manually from the client?
I'm using Play 2.3.7.
No you cannot update the PLAY_SESSION cookie from the client side, since it is signed by play with the application secret.
So I think the easiest solution would be, as suggested, to send the current resource as parameter and trigger a redirect.
There is an HTTP header called Referer that contains the url from which the request was made. As far as I know it's supported and used by all modern browsers when you navigate from a page to another.
You can simply redirect to that Referer url.
Another solution is to track in a session or a cookie all pages that are accessed by an user, by using some kind of interceptor in Global.scala or a custom Action builder that you use everywhere. Then in case of language change you can simply redirect to the last page that was accessed by the user.

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