Session in Express
A session is a feature in Express that let you maintaining state and user-specific data across multiple requests. sessions stores information at a server side with a unique session identifier. In a session you assign a unique session id to the client. After that client makes all request to the server with that unique id.
To use session in a Express, you have to install express-session package, It is a middleware that is used to provides a simple API for creating, reading, and updating session data.
npm install express-session
Example:
Javascript
//app.js const express = require('express'); const session = require('express-session'); const app = express(); // Middleware to enable sessions app.use(session({ secret: 'secret_key', resave: false, saveUninitialized: true, })); //Route to set the session app.get('/setSession', (req, res) => { // Setting session data req.session.username = 'w3wiki'; res.send('Session set successfully!'); }); //Route to retrieve the session app.get('/getSession', (req, res) => { // Retrieving session data const username = req.session.username; res.send(`Username from session: ${username}`); }); //Route to destroy the session app.get('/destroySession', (req, res) => { // Destroying the session req.session.destroy((err) => { if (err) { console.error(err); } else { res.send('Session destroyed successfully!'); } }); }); app.listen(3000, () => { console.log('Server is running on port 3000'); }); |
To Run the Application, Type the following command in terminal:
node index.js
Output
sessions example output
Difference between sessions and cookies in Express
Express.js is a popular framework for Node.js, that is used to create web applications. It provides tools to manage user sessions and cookies. The session and cookies are used to maintain the state and manage user authentication. In this article, we will learn about what sessions and cookies in Express and their differences.
Table of Content
- Cookies in Express
- Session in Express
- Difference between Session and Cookies in Express