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Cookies: Key/Value pairs vs separate cookies

Can anyone tell me what the pros/cons are of using a single cookie with multiple key/value pairs vs using multiple cookies with a single value? I'm wondering if there are performance benefits or issues, or other programming pros/cons for one or the other.

Paul MacDonald

I don't think there's a performance difference. The only issue I can think of is keeping track of the different names.

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Nasir Razzaq

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nzinsli

ASKER

Is the 4k limit per cookie, or as a total for all cookies for the domain?

SOLUTION

Paul MacDonald

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Nasir Razzaq

That is a cookie size limit.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms178194.aspx

nzinsli

ASKER

Thanks.

Is there any real performance concerns in .Net with the code needed to retrieve a cookie value vs parsing the key/value pairs?

Paul MacDonald

Retrieving a cookie requires a round trip to the client. That's subject to the vagarities of the network. Parsing key/values will be done as fast as the local machine can make it happen.

Nasir Razzaq

> Retrieving a cookie requires a round trip to the client. That's subject to the vagarities of the network. Parsing key/values will be done as fast as the local machine can make it happen.

@paulmacd

It does not work that way. The cookies are posted to the server along the request by the client and are parsed on the server.

"When a browser makes a request to the server, it sends the cookies for that server along with the request."

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa289495%28v=vs.71%29.aspx#vbtchaspnetcookies101anchor8

Paul MacDonald

Hey, I learned something!

In any case, having fewer cookies means less overhead.

nzinsli

ASKER

Thanks!