Cookie Control for Site Developers

If you install web pages or software and test their cookie to verify they work correctly, the software presented here is for you.

Download and use. No customization necessary.

Upload the software into the directory of the web page or the software being tested. Easily and quickly:

1. View the names and values of cookies available at that location – that your web page or software should recognize.

2. Delete cookies to start clean or to see how the web page or software handles sudden cookie disappearance.

3. Set new cookies so you don't have to go through the time-consuming process of logging in again and again.

Why I Made the Software

I made the software because I got tired of the 1001 clicks it takes to find the cookies in the various browsers I use to test with.

Edge isn't my primary browser and it seems every time I need to see what cookies it's holding I have to re-learn how to find them.

Firefox isn't too bad. Especially with the Web Developer plugin. But deleting is a several-step process for each cookie.

The latest versions of Safari won't reveal cookies anymore. You can see the domains that set cookies but not the cookie names are or their content.

Opera and Chrome aren't too bad, either. But still lots more clicks than when using the Cookie Control for Site Developers software downloadable from this article (link further below).

None of the browsers let you set new cookies from their cookie viewing area. But Cookie Control will.

Downloading the Software

Click this link to download Cookie Control for Site Developers.

It's a ZIP file. Uncompress it. You'll end up with file CookieControl.php

Upload CookieControl.php into the directory on your server where the web page or software for testing is installed. When in the same directory, Cookie Control for Site Developers will have access to the same cookies as the web page or software – assuming the web page or software is tested with the same browser used to run Cookie Control.

Type the URL of CookieControl.php into your browser. Instructions are available in the software control panel.

About Cookies

The Cookie Control for Site Developers control panel has important information to know about cookies. It can be frustrating when it seems it should work one way but it really works a different way.

The Cookie Control for Site Developers software is intended as a tool for site developers to view, delete, and set cookies in conjunction with testing other web pages or software.

Cookies are browser specific. They are stored with the browser, not with web pages.

Cookies aren't shared between browsers. Thus, cookies available by one browser will not be available to other browsers – unless the same cookies are added to other browsers so they have their own copy.

Use Cookie Control for Site Developers to:

1. View cookies  

   Which cookies apply to a web page depend on where the web page is located.

   Every cookie has directory path information associated with it. The path determines where the cookie is available. Cookies are available only in the specified directory path and its subdirectories.

   If the directory path is /books/sale, then web pages in /books/sale and in /books/sale/subdirectories have access to the cookie. If the directory path were / (denotes the document root directory), all web pages would have access to the cookie.

   The CookieControl.php software is treated as a web page by your web browser because its content is composed of HTML elements and is viewed in the browser. The directory location of the web page determines what cookies will be available.

2. Delete cookies  
   

   Cookies can be deleted for testing web pages and software. As an example, to test behavior of a membership page when the login cookie is suddenly unavailable.

   In the software control panel, the available cookies are listed in a table where each has a checkbox that may be checked to delete the cookie.

3. Set cookies  
   

   Cookies can be set for testing web pages and software. As an example, to bypass the normal log-in procedure's time-consuming nature while testing software or web pages.

   To set a cookie, the cookie name, the cookie value, and whether the cookie shall be set for the document root or for the directory where Cookie Control for Site Developers is installed.

(Cookie Control for Site Developers download link.)

The browser receives only unexpired and valid cookie names and values from the server, not exact expiration information.

Cookie Control for Site Developers software lists each cookie available at the instant the software is loaded.

Will Bontrager