store.js

store.js exposes a simple API for cross browser local storage

// Store 'marcus' at 'username'
store.set('username', 'marcus')

// Get 'username'
store.get('username')

// Remove 'username'
store.remove('username')

// Clear all keys
store.clear()

// Store an object literal - store.js uses JSON.stringify under the hood
store.set('user', { name: 'marcus', likes: 'javascript' })

// Get the stored object - store.js uses JSON.parse under the hood
var user = store.get('user')
alert(user.name + ' likes ' + user.likes)

store.js depends on JSON for serialization.

IE6/7 limitation

Access to the userData behavior in IE6 and IE7 is restricted to "same directory" in the path of the URL, much like access to localStorage is restricted to "same domain" in the protocol and host name of the URL. In addition, just as localStorage cannot be accessed across sub domains, userData behavior cannot be accessed across sub-directories.

Here are some examples to demonstrate the IE6 and IE7 limitations:

// on http://example.com/path1/
store.set('foo', 1)

// on http://example.com/path1/test.html the value of "foo"
// is readable because we are in the same "directory" /path1/
store.get('foo') == 1
store.set('bar', 2)

// on http://example.com/path2/ the values of "foo" and "bar" are not readable
// because we are not in the same "directory" - the directory is not /path2/
store.get('foo') == null
store.get('bar') == null

// on http://example.com/path1/subpath/ the values of "foo" and "bar" are not
// readable here either, because we are in the directory /path1/subpath/.
store.get('foo') == null
store.get('bar') == null

How does it work?

store.js uses localStorage when available, and falls back on globalStorage for earlier versions of Firefox and the userData behavior in IE6 and IE7. No flash to slow down your page load. No cookies to fatten your network requests.

Serialization

localStorage, when used without store.js, calls toString on all stored values. This means that you can't conveniently store and retrieve numbers, objects or arrays:

localStorage.myage = 24
localStorage.myage != 24
localStorage.myage == '24'

localStorage.user = { name: 'marcus', likes: 'javascript' }
localStorage.user == "[object Object]"

localStorage.tags = ['javascript', 'localStorage', 'store.js']
localStorage.tags.length == 32
localStorage.tags == "javascript,localStorage,store.js"

What we want (and get with store.js) is

store.set('myage', 24)
store.get('myage') == 24

store.set('user', { name: 'marcus', likes: 'javascript' })
alert("Hi my name is " + store.get('user').name + "!")

store.set('tags', ['javascript', 'localStorage', 'store.js'])
alert("We've got " + store.get('tags').length + " tags here")

The native serialization engine of javascript is JSON. Rather than leaving it up to you to serialize and deserialize your values, store.js uses JSON.stringify() and JSON.parse() on each call to store.set() and store.get(), respectively.

Some browsers do not have native support for JSON. For those browsers you should include JSON.js (non-minified copy is included in this repo).

Tests

Go to test.html in your browser.

(Note that test.html must be served over http:// or https://. This is because localStore does not work in some browsers when using the file:// protocol)

Supported browsers

• Tested in Firefox 2.0
• Tested in Firefox 3.0
• Tested in Firefox 3.5
• Tested in Firefox 3.6
• Tested in Firefox 4.0
• Tested in Chrome 5
• Tested in Chrome 6
• Tested in Chrome 7
• Tested in Chrome 8
• Tested in Chrome 10
• Tested in Chrome 11
• Tested in Safari 4
• Tested in Safari 5
• Tested in IE6
• Tested in IE7
• Tested in IE8
• Tested in Opera 10
  • Opera 10.54

Supported but broken (please help fix)

• Chrome 4
• Opera 10.10

Unsupported browsers

• Firefox 1.0: no means (beside cookies and flash)
• Safari 2: no means (beside cookies and flash)
• Safari 3: no synchronous api (has asynch sqlite api, but store.js is synch)
• Opera 9: don't know if there is synchronous api for storing data locally
• Firefox 1.5: don't know if there is synchronous api for storing data locally

Forks

• Sans JSON support (simple key/values only): https://github.com/cloudhead/store.js
• jQueryfied version: https://github.com/whitmer/store.js
• Lint.js passing version (with semi-colons): https://github.com/StevenBlack/store.js

TODO

• I believe underlying APIs can throw under certain conditions. Where do we need try/catch?
• Test different versions of Opera 10.X explicitly

My repo: https://github.com/marcuswestin/store.js