Introduction to session-file-store

Session management is a critical part of web application development. The session-file-store module in Node.js makes it easier to manage and store session data. In this guide, we’ll explore the ins and outs of session-file-store, detailing its API and providing practical code examples to help you integrate it into your applications.

Setting Up session-file-store

First, let’s start with installing the required modules:

npm install express express-session session-file-store

Initial Configuration

To use session-file-store, you need to configure it with express-session. Below is the basic setup:

  const session = require('express-session');
  const FileStore = require('session-file-store')(session);

  const app = express();

  app.use(session({
    store: new FileStore({}),
    secret: 'your-secret-key',
    resave: false,
    saveUninitialized: true,
    cookie: { maxAge: 3600000 } // 1 hour
  }));

Advanced Configuration Options

The session-file-store module offers a variety of options to customize your sessions. Some of the commonly used options are:

• path: Directory where session files will be stored.
• ttl: Time-To-Live in seconds.
• retries: Number of attempts to retry object operations failure.
• factor: Exponential factor for retry.

Example with Options

Here’s an advanced example using some of the available options:

  app.use(session({
    store: new FileStore({
      path: './sessions',
      ttl: 3600,
      retries: 5,
      factor: 2
    }),
    secret: 'your-secret-key',
    resave: false,
    saveUninitialized: true,
    cookie: { maxAge: 3600000 }
  }));

Using Session Data

You can store and retrieve session data easily with session-file-store:

  app.get('/set-session', (req, res) => {
    req.session.user = { name: 'John Doe', age: 30 };
    res.send('Session data set!');
  });

  app.get('/get-session', (req, res) => {
    res.send(req.session.user);
  });

Destroying a Session

To destroy a session, you can use the destroy method:

  app.get('/logout', (req, res) => {
    req.session.destroy((err) => {
      if (err) {
        return res.send('Error logging out');
      }
      res.send('Successfully logged out');
    });
  });

Complete Application Example

Below is a complete example of an Express application utilizing session-file-store:

  const express = require('express');
  const session = require('express-session');
  const FileStore = require('session-file-store')(session);

  const app = express();

  app.use(session({
    store: new FileStore({
      path: './sessions',
      ttl: 3600,
      retries: 5,
      factor: 2
    }),
    secret: 'your-secret-key',
    resave: false,
    saveUninitialized: true,
    cookie: { maxAge: 3600000 }
  }));

  app.get('/set-session', (req, res) => {
    req.session.user = { name: 'Jane Doe', age: 25 };
    res.send('Session data set!');
  });

  app.get('/get-session', (req, res) => {
    res.send(req.session.user);
  });

  app.get('/logout', (req, res) => {
    req.session.destroy((err) => {
      if (err) {
        return res.send('Error logging out');
      }
      res.send('Successfully logged out');
    });
  });

  app.listen(3000, () => {
    console.log('Server running on port 3000');
  });

By leveraging these features, you can effectively manage sessions in your Node.js applications using session-file-store.

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