In this third part of a series, you will learn how to get previously saved data from the browser by using the "getItem()" method provided by the "localStorage" object. You'll be amazed at how simple it is to use this method.
HTML5 Local Storage and the getItem() Method (Page 1 of 2 )
Aside from the brand new elements that let you emphasize the semantic meaning of your carefully-crafted web pages, such as <header>, <nav> and <footer>, HTML5 offers other features that will make you smile, especially if you enjoy enhancing the default behavior of your applications with JavaScript. Well, I can hear you saying that the <canvas> tag is useful, and I certainly agree with that. But in this case, I'm talking about a different feature, which so far hasn't gained <canvas>'s level of popularity.
As this article's title suggests, I'm referring to "localStorage." This powerful JavaScript object, bundled with the specification, will let you store up to 5 MB of data in the browser, without having to appeal to the limited capacity of cookies. And best of all, the data will persist between different requests until you close the browser's window. That's pretty interesting, isn't it?
What's more, if you've read the previous tutorial, you know how to save some trivial strings in the browser by using the object's "setItem()" method. In that article, I discussed this process in depth. Of course, storing data in the client without being able to get it back is rather useless. But fear not; "localStorage" provides a complementary method, called "getItem()," which permits you to do exactly that in an extremely intuitive manner.
If you want to learn how to utilize the method, in this third part of the series I'll be developing an example that will walk you through the details of this process. So, are you ready to dig deeper into the capabilities offered by the "localStorage" HTML5 object? Then keep reading!
Review: the "setItem()" method
In the previous part, as I mentioned above, I explained how to save some basic strings to the browser by using the "setItem()" method of the "localStorage" object. In case you haven't read it, below I listed the example I developed then, which you'll grasp very quickly. Here it is:
<!doctype html> <html lang="en"> <head> <meta charset="utf-8" /> <title>HTML5 local Storage</title> <script type="text/javascript"> // add some items to the local storage function HTML5Storage() { if ('localStorage' in window && window['localStorage'] !== null) { localStorage.setItem('fname', 'Julie'); localStorage.setItem('lname', 'Smith'); localStorage.setItem('email', 'julie@domain.com'); } } // call the 'HTML5Storage()' function when the web page is loaded window.onload = function() { HTML5Storage(); } </script> <style type="text/css"> body { padding: 0; margin: 0; background: #ccc; font: 0.8em Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: #000; } p { margin: 0 0 10px 0; } #wrapper { width: 960px; margin: 0 auto; background: #fff; } #header, #content, #footer { padding: 20px; } </style> </head> <body> <div id="wrapper"> <div id="header"> <header> <h1>HTML5 Storage</h1> <section> <p>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse auctor commodo risus, et ultrices sapien vestibulum non. Maecenas scelerisque quam a nulla mattis tincidunt. Etiam massa libero, pharetra vel laoreet et, ultrices non leo. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Sed posuere ullamcorper lacus et sollicitudin. Morbi ultrices condimentum lacus, sit amet venenatis purus bibendum sit amet.</p> </section> </header> </div> <div id="content"> <h2>This is the main content section</h2> <section> <p>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse auctor commodo risus, et ultrices sapien vestibulum non. Maecenas scelerisque quam a nulla mattis tincidunt. Etiam massa libero, pharetra vel laoreet et, ultrices non leo. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Sed posuere ullamcorper lacus et sollicitudin. Morbi ultrices condimentum lacus, sit amet venenatis purus bibendum sit amet.</p> </section> <section> <p>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse auctor commodo risus, et ultrices sapien vestibulum non. Maecenas scelerisque quam a nulla mattis tincidunt. Etiam massa libero, pharetra vel laoreet et, ultrices non leo. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Sed posuere ullamcorper lacus et sollicitudin. Morbi ultrices condimentum lacus, sit amet venenatis purus bibendum sit amet.</p> </section> </div> <div id="footer"> <footer> <h2>This is the footer</h2> <p>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse auctor commodo risus, et ultrices sapien vestibulum non. Maecenas scelerisque quam a nulla mattis tincidunt. Etiam massa libero, pharetra vel laoreet et, ultrices non leo. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Sed posuere ullamcorper lacus et sollicitudin. Morbi ultrices condimentum lacus, sit amet venenatis purus bibendum sit amet.</p> </footer> </div> </div> </body> </html>
As the above sample code shows, saving some strings to the browser's local storage via the "setItem()" method is a simple process that can be mastered in the flicker of an eye. At present, the data passed to the method (along with the associated key, by the way) must be only strings, so if you need to save more complex structures, like objects and collections, make sure to JSON-encode them in the first place.
And now that you've grasped (or recalled) how to work with the "setItem()" method, it's time to take a close look at its counterpart "getItem()." As its name implies, this method comes in handy for fetching existing data from the local storage.
The details regarding the use of this method will be discussed in the following section; therefore, to learn more about them, click on the link below and keep reading.
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