The following example shows that you can store simple objects, such as a Date object, in a SharedObject object without having to manually serialize and deserialize those objects.

The following example begins by welcoming you as a first-time visitor. When you click Log Out, the application stores the current date in a shared object. The next time you launch this application or refresh the page, the application welcomes you back with a reminder of the time you logged out.

To see the application in action, launch the application, click Log Out, and then refresh the page. The application displays the date and time that you clicked the Log Out button on your previous visit. At any time, you can delete the stored information by clicking the Delete LSO button.

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!-- lsos/WelcomeMessage.mxml -->
<mx:Application xmlns:mx="http://www.adobe.com/2006/mxml" initialize="initApp()">
  <mx:Script><![CDATA[
  public var mySO:SharedObject;
  [Bindable]
  public var welcomeMessage:String;

  public function initApp():void {
     mySO = SharedObject.getLocal("mydata");
     if (mySO.data.visitDate==null) {
        welcomeMessage = "Hello first-timer!"
     } else {
        welcomeMessage = "Welcome back. You last visited on " +
           getVisitDate();
     }
  }

  private function getVisitDate():Date {
     return mySO.data.visitDate;
  }

  private function storeDate():void {
     mySO.data.visitDate = new Date();
     mySO.flush();
  }
  
  private function deleteLSO():void {
     // Deletes the SharedObject from the client machine.
     // Next time they log in, they will be a 'first-timer'.
     mySO.clear();
  }
  
  ]]></mx:Script>
  <mx:Label id="label1" text="{welcomeMessage}"/>
  <mx:Button label="Log Out" click="storeDate()"/>
  <mx:Button label="Delete LSO" click="deleteLSO()"/>
</mx:Application>
The executing SWF file for the previous example is shown below:

For more examples of using shared objects, see the Flex example applications in the samples.war file.