sesscook

Local session manager module for nodejs with expressjs applications. Uses signed & masked cookies to maintain local session only.

Install

npm i sesscook

Methods

After declaring

const express = require("express");
const app = express();
const sesscook = require("sesscook");
 
const session = sesscook(
  app, //Express.Application object
  "somesessionsecret",  //private key
  60*60*2,  //validity in seconds (here 2 hours), defaults  to 10 years.
  "somesessionpublickey" //optional public key.
);
 
//an optional fifth parameter (boolean) is also present, but not recommended to set true, as session will only be created on https protocol then.
 

the following methods can be accessed via session object.

• session.create(response,sessiondata)

  This method creates a new session based on following parameters.

  • response is parameter of app.get(path, (request,response)=>{...})'s callbackfn.

  • sessiondata is JSON/String type data, to be stored in current session (like username, or userid).

  • secured is Boolean type, defaults to false. If set true, then session will only be created on https (secured) protocol. (not recommended)

• session.isValid(request) This method checks if session is valid, returns false if not, or returns sessiondata which was provided as second parameter of session.create() method.

  • request is parameter of app.get(path, (request,response)=>{...})'s callbackfn.

• session.finish(response)

  This method finishes and thus invalidates any current session created via session.create() method.

  • response is parameter of app.get(path, (request,response)=>{...})'s callbackfn.

Example

const express = require("express");
const app = express();
const sesscook = require("sesscook");
 
const session = sesscook(app,"sessionsecret",60*60*2,"sessionpublickey");
 
//now use session object to access Sesscook methods, wherever needed.
 
/** This endpoint creates a new session with dummy session
 data, and after that the session.isValid() method will return that same data.
 */
app.get("/login",(req,res)=>{
  ...
  //after successfull authentication
 
  let sessiondata = {
    username:"someuser",
    email:"someemail"
  };
 
  session.create(res,sessiondata);
  //session is created
});
 
/**An endpoint which redirects to login page, if session is
invalid, else session.isValid(req) method returns the
session data stored using session.create() method.
*/
app.get("/session",(req,res)=>{
  const client = session.isValid(req);
  if(!client) return res.redirect("/login");  //if client is false, session is invalid.
 
  ...
  //if session is valid, then client contains sessiondata for current valid session.
  const email = client.email;
  const username = client.username;
  ...
})
 
/**An endpoint which removes the current session. This will
 lead the session.isValid() method to return false.
 */
app.get("/logout",(req,res)=>{
  session.finish(res);
  //session finished.
  ...
});
 
app.listen(8000);
 

The session object is an object of unexported class Sesscook, accessed via exported sesscook() method, which returns a new instance of the same.

Dependencies

• jsonwebtoken

• cookie-parser