docs.sheetjs.com/docz/docs/03-demos/07-data/02-storageapi.md

---
title: Local Storage API
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---

The Storage API, encompassing `localStorage` and `sessionStorage`, describes
simple key-value stores that only support string values and keys.

This demo covers two common use patterns:

- "Row Objects" shows a simple convention for loading and storing row objects
- "Simple Strings" discusses how to persist and recover a raw Storage

## Row Objects

Consider the following array of objects of data:

```js
[
  { Name: "Barack Obama", Index: 44 },
  { Name: "Donald Trump", Index: 45 },
  { Name: "Joseph Biden", Index: 46 }
]
```

Storage API expects values to be strings. The simplest approach is to stringify
row objects using `JSON.stringify` and store using the row index as a key:

| Key | Value                                |
|:---:|:-------------------------------------|
|  0  | `{"Name":"Barack Obama","Index":44}` |
|  1  | `{"Name":"Donald Trump","Index":45}` |
|  2  | `{"Name":"Joseph Biden","Index":46}` |

#### Importing Data

Starting from a worksheet, `XLSX.utils.sheet_to_json` generates an array of row
objects.  `localStorage.setItem` will store data in Local Storage:

```js
function sheet_to_localStorage(worksheet) {
  const aoo = XLSX.utils.sheet_to_json(worksheet);
  for(let i = 0; i < aoo.length; ++i) {
    localStorage.setItem(i, JSON.stringify(aoo[i]));
  }
}
```

#### Exporting Data

`localStorage.length` returns the total number of entries. A simple `for` loop
can cover the keys (integers from `0` to `localStorage.length - 1` inclusive)

`localStorage.getItem` will load the stringified data from the Local Storage. A
new array of objects can be constructed by using `JSON.parse` and pushing to an
array.  `XLSX.utils.json_to_sheet` can create a new worksheet from that array:

```js
function localStorage_to_sheet() {
  const aoo = [];
  for(let i = 0; i < localStorage.length; ++i) {
    aoo.push(JSON.parse(localStorage.getItem(i)));
  }
  return XLSX.utils.json_to_sheet(aoo);
}
```

### Live Demo

:::note

This demo was last tested on 2023 February 26.

:::

This example will fetch <https://sheetjs.com/pres.numbers>, fill `localStorage`
with rows, then generate a worksheet from the rows and write to a new file.

After saving the exported file, the Local Storage can be inspected in the
"Local Storage" section of the "Application" Tab of Developer Tools:

![Local Storage view in Developer Tools](pathname:///storageapi/lstorage.png)

:::caution

This example is for illustration purposes. If array of objects is available, it
is strongly recommended to convert that array to a worksheet directly.

:::

```jsx live
function SheetJStorage() {
  const [url, setUrl] = React.useState("https://sheetjs.com/pres.numbers");
  const set_url = React.useCallback((evt) => setUrl(evt.target.value));
  const [out, setOut] = React.useState("");
  const xport = React.useCallback(async() => {
    // get first worksheet data as array of objects
    const wb = XLSX.read(await (await fetch(url)).arrayBuffer());
    const aoo = XLSX.utils.sheet_to_json(wb.Sheets[wb.SheetNames[0]]);

    // reset and populate localStorage
    localStorage.clear();
    for(var i = 0; i < aoo.length; ++i) localStorage.setItem(i, JSON.stringify(aoo[i]));

    // create new array of objects from localStorage
    const new_aoo = [];
    for(var i = 0; i < localStorage.length; ++i) {
      const row = JSON.parse(localStorage.getItem(i));
      new_aoo.push(row);
    }

    setOut(`Number of rows in LocalStorage: ${localStorage.length}`);

    // create and export workbook
    const new_ws = XLSX.utils.json_to_sheet(new_aoo);
    const new_wb = XLSX.utils.book_new();
    XLSX.utils.book_append_sheet(new_wb, new_ws, "Sheet1");
    XLSX.writeFile(new_wb, "SheetJStorage.xlsx");
  });

  return ( <>
    {out && ( <><a href={url}>{url}</a><pre>{out}</pre></> )}
    <b>URL: </b><input type="text" value={url} onChange={set_url} size="50"/>
    <br/><button onClick={xport}><b>Fetch!</b></button>
  </> );
}
```

## Simple Strings

The ["Row Objects" approach](#row-objects) is strongly recommended when trying
to store or recover arrays of row objects.

When the goal is to save an existing Storage, the general representation is an
array of pairs.  Consider the following data in Local Storage:

| Key | Value     |
|:---:|:----------|
| "b" | "Logical" |
| "n" | "Numeric" |
| "s" | "Textual"  |

The natural representation is an array of arrays:

```js
[
  [ "b", "Logical" ],
  [ "n", "Numeric" ],
  [ "s", "Textual" ]
]
```

#### Exporting Storage

In modern browsers, `Object.entries` will generate an array of key/value pairs.
`XLSX.utils.aoa_to_sheet` will interpret that array as a worksheet with 2 cols:

```js
function localStorage_to_ws() {
  const aoa = Object.entries(localStorage);
  return XLSX.utils.aoa_to_sheet(aoa);
}
```

#### Importing Storage

In the other direction, the worksheet is assumed to store keys in column A and
values in column B.  `XLSX.utils.sheet_to_json` with the `header: 1` option
will generate key/value pairs that can be assigned to a storage:

```js
function ws_to_localStorage(ws) {
  const aoa = XLSX.utils.sheet_to_json(ws, { header: 1 });
  aoa.forEach(([key, val]) => localStorage.setItem(key, val));
}
```