Here is a simple implementation of storing the cookie and retrieving it:
function getCookie(c_name) {
var i, x, y, ARRcookies = document.cookie.split(";");
for (i = 0; i < ARRcookies.length; i++) {
x = ARRcookies[i].substr(0, ARRcookies[i].indexOf("="));
y = ARRcookies[i].substr(ARRcookies[i].indexOf("=") + 1);
x = x.replace(/^\s+|\s+$/g, "");
if (x == c_name) {
return unescape(y);
}
}
}
function setCookie(c_name, value, exdays) {
var exdate = new Date();
exdate.setDate(exdate.getDate() + exdays);
var c_value = escape(value) + ((exdays == null) ? "" : "; expires=" + exdate.toUTCString());
document.cookie = c_name + "=" + c_value;
}
Then, to save/retrieve cookie data with jQuery UI Tabs:
$(function() {
// retrieve cookie value on page load
var $tabs = $('ul.tabs').tabs();
$tabs.tabs('select', getCookie("selectedtab"));
// set cookie on tab select
$("ul.tabs").bind('tabsselect', function (event, ui) {
setCookie("selectedtab", ui.index + 1, 365);
});
});
Of course, you'll probably want to test if the cookie is set and return 0 or something so that getCookie
doesn't return undefined.
On a side note, your selector of ul.tabs
may be improved by specifying the tabs by id instead. If you truly have a collection of tabs on the page, you will need a better way of storing the cookie by name - something more specific for which tab collection has been selected/saved.
UPDATE
Ok, I fixed the ui.index usage, it now saves with a +1 increment to the tab index.
Here is a working example of this in action: http://jsbin.com/esukop/7/edit#preview
UPDATE for use with jQuery Tools
According the jQuery Tools API, it should work like this:
$(function() {
//instantiate tabs object
$("ul.tabs").tabs("div.panes > div");
// get handle to the api (must have been constructed before this call)
var api = $("ul.tabs").data("tabs");
// set cookie when tabs are clicked
api.onClick(function(e, index) {
setCookie("selectedtab", index + 1, 365);
});
// retrieve cookie value on page load
var selectedTab = getCookie("selectedtab");
if (selectedTab != "undefined") {
api.click( parseInt(selectedTab) ); // must parse string to int for api to work
}
});
function getCookie(c_name) {
var i, x, y, ARRcookies = document.cookie.split(";");
for (i = 0; i < ARRcookies.length; i++) {
x = ARRcookies[i].substr(0, ARRcookies[i].indexOf("="));
y = ARRcookies[i].substr(ARRcookies[i].indexOf("=") + 1);
x = x.replace(/^\s+|\s+$/g, "");
if (x == c_name) {
return unescape(y);
}
}
}
function setCookie(c_name, value, exdays) {
var exdate = new Date();
exdate.setDate(exdate.getDate() + exdays);
var c_value = escape(value) + ((exdays === null) ? "" : "; expires=" + exdate.toUTCString());
document.cookie = c_name + "=" + c_value;
}
Here is a working (unstyled) example: http://jsbin.com/ixamig/12/edit#preview
Here is what I see in Firefox when inspecting the cookie from the jsbin.com example: