save restore local storage to a local file
I probably would have just tacked this on as a comment to Nathaniel Johnson's answer, but I don't have the reputation yet! With regard with those methods, here are some more simple versions of his functions:
function getLocalStorage() {
return JSON.stringify(localStorage)
}
function writeLocalStorage(data) {
Object.keys(data).forEach(function(key) { localStorage.setItem(key, data[key])})
}
The process for saving and retrieving local storage has two parts.
First you must be able to retrieve the contents of local storage in a form that is manageable in javascript. Since local storage is a map of key-value pairs the easiest way to this is to turn local storage into a javascript object. Then take this object and turn it into a JSON string. What you do with this string is up to you but I find it easiest to just have the user copy the string into an email.
function getLocalStorage() {
var a = {};
for (var i = 0; i < localStorage.length; i++) {
var k = localStorage.key(i);
var v = localStorage.getItem(k);
a[k] = v;
}
var s = JSON.stringify(a);
return s;
}
When I get the string, I use the following function to turn my local storage into a copy of their local storage. Remember to wipe your local storage clean before duplicating their data with a call to localStorage.clear()
function writeLocalStorage(data) {
var o = JSON.parse(data);
for (var property in o) {
if (o.hasOwnProperty(property)) {
localStorage.setItem(property, o[property]);
}
}
}
The last part of your question is how to protect the data from overwriting. You can't write to a local file, however, you can have copy the data into <textarea>
and tell the user how to copy and paste the data into a email or a more direct approach.
This javascript below works for me:
function getLocalstorageToFile(fileName) {
/* dump local storage to string */
var a = {};
for (var i = 0; i < localStorage.length; i++) {
var k = localStorage.key(i);
var v = localStorage.getItem(k);
a[k] = v;
}
/* save as blob */
var textToSave = JSON.stringify(a)
var textToSaveAsBlob = new Blob([textToSave], {
type: "text/plain"
});
var textToSaveAsURL = window.URL.createObjectURL(textToSaveAsBlob);
/* download without button hack */
var downloadLink = document.createElement("a");
downloadLink.download = fileName;
downloadLink.innerHTML = "Download File";
downloadLink.href = textToSaveAsURL;
downloadLink.onclick = function () {
document.body.removeChild(event.target);
};
downloadLink.style.display = "none";
document.body.appendChild(downloadLink);
downloadLink.click();
}