When building a survey or questionnaire application, it is essential to store user responses for further processing or analysis. In JavaScript, we can use the Session Storage API to store user-specific survey or questionnaire responses conveniently. In this blog post, we will explore how to use session storage to store, retrieve, and update user responses.

What is Session Storage?

Session Storage is a web storage mechanism provided by modern web browsers, allowing web applications to store data on the client-side. Unlike local storage, which persists even after the browser is closed, session storage is specific to a particular session or tab. Once the session or tab is closed, the session storage data is removed.

Storing User Responses in Session Storage

To store user responses in session storage, we will follow these steps:

1. Retrieve the user response from the survey or questionnaire input fields.
2. Convert the user response to a structured format, such as JSON, if needed.
3. Store the user response in session storage by using sessionStorage.setItem().

Here’s an example implementation:

// Retrieve user response from input field
const userInput = document.getElementById('survey-input').value;

// Convert user response to JSON, if needed
const userResponse = { answer: userInput };

// Store user response in session storage
sessionStorage.setItem('userResponse', JSON.stringify(userResponse));

In the above example, we retrieve the user response from an input field with the ID “survey-input”. We then convert the response to JSON format (if needed) and store it in session storage using sessionStorage.setItem(). The user response is stored with the key “userResponse” in session storage.

Retrieving User Responses from Session Storage

To retrieve user responses from session storage, we can use sessionStorage.getItem() and parse the response if it was stored in a structured format like JSON.

// Retrieve user response from session storage
const storedResponse = sessionStorage.getItem('userResponse');

// Parse JSON if needed
const userResponse = JSON.parse(storedResponse);

// Use the user response for further processing or display
console.log(userResponse.answer);

In the above code snippet, we retrieve the user response from session storage using sessionStorage.getItem('userResponse'). If the response was stored as JSON, we parse it using JSON.parse(). Finally, we can use the user response for further processing or display.

Updating User Responses in Session Storage

If you want to update the user response in session storage, you can follow these steps:

1. Retrieve the user response from the updated input field.
2. Convert the updated response to a structured format, if needed.
3. Update the user response in session storage using sessionStorage.setItem().

Here’s an example implementation:

// Retrieve updated user response from input field
const updatedUserInput = document.getElementById('updated-survey-input').value;

// Convert updated user response to JSON, if needed
const updatedUserResponse = { answer: updatedUserInput };

// Update user response in session storage
sessionStorage.setItem('userResponse', JSON.stringify(updatedUserResponse));

In the above code snippet, we retrieve the updated user response from an input field, convert it to JSON format (if needed), and then update the user response in session storage using sessionStorage.setItem().

Conclusion

Using session storage in JavaScript is a powerful tool for storing user-specific survey or questionnaire responses. With session storage, we can easily store, retrieve, and update user responses during a specific session or tab. Incorporating session storage into your survey or questionnaire application allows for a more dynamic and user-friendly experience.

#TechBlog #JavaScript