# hs.webview.datastore

Provides methods to list and purge the various types of data used by websites visited with hs.webview.

This module is only available under OS X 10.11 and later.

This module allows you to list and selectively purge the types of data stored locally for the websites visited with the hs.webview module. It also adds support for non-persistent datastores to hs.webview (private browsing) and allows a non-persistent datastore to be shared among multiple instances of hs.webview objects.

The datastore for a webview contains various types of data including cookies, disk and memory caches, and persistent data such as WebSQL, IndexedDB databases, and local storage. You can use methods in this module to selectively or completely purge the common datastore (used by all Hammerspoon hs.webview instances that do not use a non-persistent datastore).


# API Overview

Functions - API calls offered directly by the extension

  • websiteDataTypes

Constructors - API calls which return an object, typically one that offers API methods

  • default
  • fromWebview
  • newPrivate

Methods - API calls which can only be made on an object returned by a constructor

  • fetchRecords
  • persistent
  • removeRecordsAfter
  • removeRecordsFor

# API Documentation

# Functions

# websiteDataTypes

Signature hs.webview.datastore.websiteDataTypes() -> table
Type Function
Description Returns a list of the currently available data types within a datastore.
Parameters
  • None
Returns
  • a list of strings where each string is a specific data type stored in a datastore.
Notes
  • As of the writing of this module, the following data types are defined and returned by this function:
  • WKWebsiteDataTypeDiskCache - On-disk caches.
  • WKWebsiteDataTypeOfflineWebApplicationCache - HTML offline web application caches.
  • WKWebsiteDataTypeMemoryCache - In-memory caches.
  • WKWebsiteDataTypeLocalStorage - HTML local storage.
  • WKWebsiteDataTypeCookies - Cookies.
  • WKWebsiteDataTypeSessionStorage - HTML session storage.
  • WKWebsiteDataTypeIndexedDBDatabases - WebSQL databases.
  • WKWebsiteDataTypeWebSQLDatabases - IndexedDB databases.
Examples None
Source extensions/webview/libwebview_datastore.m line 20

# Constructors

# default

Signature hs.webview.datastore.default() -> datastoreObject
Type Constructor
Description Returns an object representing the default datastore for Hammerspoon hs.webview instances.
Parameters
  • None
Returns
  • a datastoreObject
Notes
  • this is the datastore used unless otherwise specified when creating an hs.webview instance.
Examples None
Source extensions/webview/libwebview_datastore.m line 47

# fromWebview

Signature hs.webview.datastore.fromWebview(webview) -> datastoreObject
Type Constructor
Description Returns an object representing the datastore for the specified hs.webview instance.
Parameters
  • webview - an hs.webview instance (webviewObject)
Returns
  • a datastoreObject
Notes
  • When running on a system with OS X 10.11 or later, this method will also be added to the metatable for hs.webview objects so that you can retrieve a webview's datastore with hs.webview:datastore().
  • This method can be used to identify the datastore in use for a webview if you wish to create a new instance using the same datastore.
Examples None
Source extensions/webview/libwebview_datastore.m line 87

# newPrivate

Signature hs.webview.datastore.newPrivate() -> datastoreObject
Type Constructor
Description Returns an object representing a newly created non-persistent (private) datastore for use with a Hammerspoon hs.webview instance.
Parameters
  • None
Returns
  • a datastoreObject
Notes
  • The datastore represented by this object will be initially empty. You can use this function to create a non-persistent datastore that you wish to share among multiple hs.webview instances. Once a datastore is created, you assign it to a hs.webview instance by including the datastore key in the hs.webview.new constructor's preferences table and setting it equal to this key. All webview instances created with this datastore object will share web caches, cookies, etc. but will still be isolated from the default datastore and it will be purged from memory when the webviews are deleted, or Hammerspoon is restarted.
  • Using the datastore key in the webview's constructor differs from the private key -- use of the private key will override the datastore key and will create a separate non-persistent datastore for the webview instance. See hs.webview.new for more information.
Examples None
Source extensions/webview/libwebview_datastore.m line 66

# Methods

# fetchRecords

| | | | --------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Signature | hs.webview.datastore:fetchRecords([dataTypes], callback) -> datastoreObject | | Type | Method | | Description | Generates a list of the datastore records of the specified type, and invokes the callback function with the list. | | Parameters |

  • dataTypes - an optional string or table specifying the data types to fetch from the datastore. If this parameter is not specified, it defaults to the list returned by hs.webview.datastore.websiteDataTypes.
  • callback - a function which accepts as it's argument an array-table containing tables with the following key-value pairs: displayName - a string containing the site's display name. Typically, the display name is the domain name with suffix taken from the resource’s security origin (website name). dataTypes - a table containing strings representing the types of data stored for the website specified by displayName.
| | Returns |
  • the datastore object
| | Notes |
  • only those sites with one or more of the specified data types are returned
  • for the sites returned, only those data types that were present in the query will be included in the list, even if the site has data of another type in the datastore.
| | Examples | None | | Source | extensions/webview/libwebview_datastore.m line 117 |


# persistent

Signature hs.webview.datastore:persistent() -> bool
Type Method
Description Returns whether or not the datastore is persistent.
Parameters
  • None
Returns
  • a boolean value indicating whether or not the datastore is persistent (true) or private (false)
Notes
  • Note that this value is the inverse of hs.webview:privateBrowsing(), since private browsing uses a non-persistent datastore.
Examples None
Source extensions/webview/libwebview_datastore.m line 381

# removeRecordsAfter

Signature hs.webview.datastore:removeRecordsAfter(date, dataTypes, [callback]) -> datastoreObject
Type Method
Description Removes the specified types of data from the datastore if the data was added or changed since the given date.
Parameters
  • date - an integer representing seconds since 1970-01-01 00:00:00 +0000 (e.g. os.time()), or a string containing a date in RFC3339 format (YYYY-MM-DD[T]HH:MM:SS[Z]).
  • dataTypes - a string or array of strings specifying the types of data to remove from the datastore for the specified sites.
  • callback - an optional function, which should expect no arguments, that will be called when the specified items have been removed from the datastore.
Returns
  • the datastore object
Notes
  • Yes, you read the description correctly -- removes data newer then the date specified. I've not yet found a way to remove data older then the date specified (to expire old data, for example) but updates or suggestions are welcome in the Hammerspoon Google group or GitHub web site.
  • to specify that all data types that qualify should be removed, specify the function hs.webview.datastore.websiteDataTypes(). as the second argument.
  • For example, to purge the Hammerspoon default datastore of all data, you can do the following:
  • hs.webview.datastore.default():removeRecordsAfter(0, hs.webview.datastore.websiteDataTypes())
Examples None
Source extensions/webview/libwebview_datastore.m line 287

# removeRecordsFor

Signature hs.webview.datastore:removeRecordsFor(displayNames, dataTypes, [callback]) -> datastoreObject
Type Method
Description Remove data from the datastore of the specified type(s) for the specified site(s).
Parameters
  • displayNames - a string or array of strings specifying the display names (sites) to remove records for.
  • dataTypes - a string or array of strings specifying the types of data to remove from the datastore for the specified sites.
  • callback - an optional function, which should expect no arguments, that will be called when the specified items have been removed from the datastore.
Returns
  • the datastore object
Notes
  • to specify that all data types that qualify should be removed, specify the function hs.webview.datastore.websiteDataTypes(). as the second argument.
Examples None
Source extensions/webview/libwebview_datastore.m line 186