/**
* Cookie plugin
*
* Copyright (c) 2006 Klaus Hartl (stilbuero.de)
* Dual licensed under the MIT and GPL licenses:
* http://www.opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.php
* http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html
*
*/

/**
* Create a cookie with the given name and value and other optional parameters.
*
* @example $.cookie('the_cookie', 'the_value');
* @desc Set the value of a cookie.
* @example $.cookie('the_cookie', 'the_value', { expires: 7, path: '/', domain: 'jquery.com', secure: true });
* @desc Create a cookie with all available options.
* @example $.cookie('the_cookie', 'the_value');
* @desc Create a session cookie.
* @example $.cookie('the_cookie', null);
* @desc Delete a cookie by passing null as value. Keep in mind that you have to use the same path and domain
*       used when the cookie was set.
*
* @param String name The name of the cookie.
* @param String value The value of the cookie.
* @param Object options An object literal containing key/value pairs to provide optional cookie attributes.
* @option Number|Date expires Either an integer specifying the expiration date from now on in days or a Date object.
*                             If a negative value is specified (e.g. a date in the past), the cookie will be deleted.
*                             If set to null or omitted, the cookie will be a session cookie and will not be retained
*                             when the the browser exits.
* @option String path The value of the path atribute of the cookie (default: path of page that created the cookie).
* @option String domain The value of the domain attribute of the cookie (default: domain of page that created the cookie).
* @option Boolean secure If true, the secure attribute of the cookie will be set and the cookie transmission will
*                        require a secure protocol (like HTTPS).
* @type undefined
*
* @name $.cookie
* @cat Plugins/Cookie
* @author Klaus Hartl/klaus.hartl@stilbuero.de
*/

/**
* Get the value of a cookie with the given name.
*
* @example $.cookie('the_cookie');
* @desc Get the value of a cookie.
*
* @param String name The name of the cookie.
* @return The value of the cookie.
* @type String
*
* @name $.cookie
* @cat Plugins/Cookie
* @author Klaus Hartl/klaus.hartl@stilbuero.de
*/
jQuery.cookie = function(name, value, options) {
    if (typeof value != 'undefined') { // name and value given, set cookie
        options = options || {};
        if (value === null) {
            value = '';
            options.expires = -1;
        }
        var expires = '';
        if (options.expires && (typeof options.expires == 'number' || options.expires.toUTCString)) {
            var date;
            if (typeof options.expires == 'number') {
                date = new Date();
                date.setTime(date.getTime() + (options.expires * 24 * 60 * 60 * 1000));
            } else {
                date = options.expires;
            }
            expires = '; expires=' + date.toUTCString(); // use expires attribute, max-age is not supported by IE
        }
        // CAUTION: Needed to parenthesize options.path and options.domain
        // in the following expressions, otherwise they evaluate to undefined
        // in the packed version for some reason...
        var path = options.path ? '; path=' + (options.path) : '';
        var domain = options.domain ? '; domain=' + (options.domain) : '';
        var secure = options.secure ? '; secure' : '';
        document.cookie = [name, '=', encodeURIComponent(value), expires, path, domain, secure].join('');
    } else { // only name given, get cookie
        var cookieValue = null;
        if (document.cookie && document.cookie != '') {
            var cookies = document.cookie.split(';');
            for (var i = 0; i < cookies.length; i++) {
                var cookie = jQuery.trim(cookies[i]);
                // Does this cookie string begin with the name we want?
                if (cookie.substring(0, name.length + 1) == (name + '=')) {
                    cookieValue = decodeURIComponent(cookie.substring(name.length + 1));
                    break;
                }
            }
        }
        return cookieValue;
    }
};
// The plugin
// Download the jQuery cookie plugin here: http://plugins.jquery.com/project/Cookie

// Set a cookie
// Setting a cookie with jQuery is as simple as this, where we are creating a cookie called "example" with a value of "foo":
// $.cookie("example", "foo");

// This is a session cookie and will be destroyed when the user exits the browser. To make the same cookie last for e.g. 7 days do this:
// $.cookie("example", "foo", { expires: 7 });

// The above examples will apply the cookie to the root level. If you wanted to make it apply only to e.g. /admin and make it last 7 days you can do this:
// $.cookie("example", "foo", { path: '/admin', expires: 7 });
// Get the cookie's value

// Getting the cookie's value is also very easy with jQuery. The following would show the value of the "example" cookie in a dialog window:
// alert($.cookie("example"));
// Delete the cookie
// And finally, to delete a cookie set the value to null. Setting it to e.g. an empty string doesn't remove it; it just clears the value.
// $.cookie("example", null);

// Looping through the cookies
// My next jQuery post will look at how to loop through cookies with jQuery to show all the currently set cookies.