JavaScript cookie value can't be retrieved in Django

Question

I am trying to build a web site in both English and Bulgarian using the Django framework. My idea is the user should click on a button, the page will reload and the language will be changed. This is how I am trying to do it:

In my html I hava a the button tag <button id='btn' onclick="changeLanguage();" type="button"> ... </button>

An excerpt from cookies.js:

function changeLanguage() {
    if (getCookie('language') == 'EN') {
        document.getElementById('btn').innerHTML = getCookie('language');
        setCookie("language", 'BG');
    } else {
        document.getElementById('btn').innerHTML = getCookie('language');
        setCookie("language", 'EN');
    }
}

function setCookie(sName, sValue, oExpires, sPath, sDomain, bSecure) {
    var sCookie = sName + "=" + encodeURIComponent(sValue);
    if (oExpires) {
        sCookie += "; expires=" + oExpires.toGMTString();
    }
    if (sPath) {
        sCookie += "; path=" + sPath;
    }
    if (sDomain) {
        sCookie += "; domain=" + sDomain;
    }
    if (bSecure) {
        sCookie += "; secure";
    }
    document.cookie = sCookie;
}

And in my views.py file this is the situation

@base
def index(request):
    if request.session['language'] == 'EN':
        return """<b>%s</b>""" % "Home" 
    else request.session['language'] == 'BG':
        return """<b>%s</b>""" % "Начало"

So I know that my JS changes the value of the language cookie but I think Django doesn't get that. On the other hand when I set and get the cookie in my Python code again the cookie is set. My question is whether there is a way to make JS and Django work together - JavaScript sets the cookie value and Python only reads it when asked and takes adequate actions?

Thank you.

Answer 1

The session is not the same as a cookie.

Sessions are an internal Django database table, the key to which is stored in a cookie. However the rest of the data apart from the key is stored in the database.

If you want to access an actual cookie that's been set by the client, you need to use the request.COOKIES dictionary:

if request.COOKIES['language'] == 'EN':
    return """<b>%s</b>""" % "Home"