Purpose

Make Meteor's ReactiveDict object persist its values locally and across page refreshes. Meteor's default implementation loses values whenever the page is refreshed.

Uses amplifyjs's store library to save values in the browsers localStorage, falling back to other solutions if it's not available.

Installation

meteor add robertlowe:persistent-reactive-dict

mySession = new PersistentReactiveDict('mySession')

Types

1. Temporary ReactiveDict

• matches current Meteor implementation
• are not available after a page reload

2. Persistent ReactiveDict

• content is stored in the localstorage until it is cleared

3. Authenticated ReactiveDict

• content is stored in the localstorage AND is cleared when a user logs out

Usage

Setting ReactiveDict Values

• mySession.set(key, value)
  • stores a var according to the mode (see Options)
• mySession.setTemp(key, value)
  • stores a temporary variable (non-persistent)
• mySession.setPersistent(key, value)
  • store a persistent variable (persistent)
• mySession.setAuth(key, value)
  • stores a authenticated variable (persistent + automatic deletion)

Updating ReactiveDict Values

You can update the value of an existing variable without changing or knowing its type. Note: If you call update on an non-existent variable, it will be created as a temporary variable.

• mySession.update(key, value)

Set Default

All of the set() functions have a setDefault() counterpart where the variable will only be created if one doesn't already exist. Note: None of the setDefault() commands will change the type of an existing variable.

• mySession.setDefault(key, value)
• mySession.setDefaultTemp(key, value)
• mySession.setDefaultPersistent(key, value)
• mySession.setDefaultAuth(key, value)

Change Types

Use these commands to change a variable into a particular type.

• mySession.makeTemp(key)
• mySession.makePersistent(key)
• mySession.makeAuth(key)

Clear Values

• mySession.clear()
  • destroys all variables of all types
• mySession.clear(key)
  • destroys a single variable
• mySession.clearTemp()
  • destroys all temporary variables
• mySession.clearPersistent()
  • destroys all persistent variables
• mySession.clearAuth()
  • destroys all authenticated variables

Other

These work the same as the current Meteor implementation:

• mySession.get(key)
• mySession.equals(key, value)

Options

The default mode for PersistentReactiveDict is persistent, you can change that by providing it as the second option to the constructor

temporaryDict = new PersistentReactiveDict('temporaryDict', 'temporary')

persistentDict = new PersistentReactiveDict('persistentDict', 'persistent')

authenticatedDict = new PersistentReactiveDict('authenticatedDict', 'authenticated')

Testing

meteor test-packages ./ where ./ is the root of the package directory

TODO

• More tests

Credits

• Robert Lowe - meteor developer and author of persistent-reactive-dict
• okgrow - consultancy and host for Meteor Code Club
• Richard Gould - author of the original meteor-persistent-session which most of the code is based on
• Paul Dowman - head of okgrow