Which is the best way to save favorite items?

Hi Chris,

Hope things are going well with you.

Many thanks! It is now working seamlessly

I have another question:
Regarding method of saving. (List Save Method)

What are the implications of saving via cookies as compared to via database?

Which is more secure for my site?

Which allows cloud access across devices?

Best Regards,
Nev

Hi again Nev.

I have opened a new topic for this question. Please make sure that questions posted on the forum are separate, so that other users may browse them.

If you choose to save the lists in cookies, they will not be available in any other computer, except the one created from. Even if the user changes browsers, they will lose their favorites. They will also lose them, if they (or some software on their computer) clean their cookies. So, cookies are lighter, but they get easily lost. Database is slightly "heavier", if we could say that, but it allows logged-in users to maintain their lists.
So, here is the point. If your site visitors are not logged-in, there is practically no way to save the list in the database and recognize them, without using a cookie. So, even if database is enabled, your non-registered users will get their lists saved in cookies.

Regarding security, both are very secure for your website. The cookie method does not affect your site at all, since cookies are saved on the client computer. As for the database, it is safe because all input is properly escaped, and MyShortlist does not save lists based on item titles, or URLs, but article (or other item) IDs. Those should not be confused with the menu ItemIds. MyShortlist saves an item ID (again, that means article IDs or other item IDs, like K2, Virtuemart, etc) combined with a unique code for its component, so that it can recognize which of the saved IDs applies to each component, and thus re-creates the URL.
No security risk with either method.

The only way to get favorites across devices is to use the database, and that only works for logged-in users.
If you (or anyone reading this post) have any idea on other ways that MyShortlist could allow for cloud favorites, you are very welcome to post it.
Thanks again.

Many thanks!