Sessions in Node.js

Question

I'm very new to Node.js and I can't seem to find a way to store sessions, or at least not a official way.

I read you can do it with Redis I found that express has it's own Session handler and I found a Git repository.

Now I don't know which method to use... I'm from a PHP background where it was really easy to do this.

I would prefer not to install any more modules. I am currently using Express.js, so is there a detailed guide to Express.js' session handler?

Answer 1

First of all, you need to use the proper middleware or include it when you are setting up your Express.js application.

app.use(express.cookieParser());
app.use(express.session({secret: 'this is the secret'}));

or

express --sessions myapp

Both the cookieParser and sessions middleware are required also; the order matters.

After you include the required middleware, a sessions object is added to every request and you can set and get properties on the object.

Setting:

app.get('/', function(req, res) {
  req.session.user = 'mike';
  res.send('index');
});

Getting:

app.get('/about', function(req, res) {
  var user = req.session.user;
  res.send("I know you, you're" + user + '!');
});