diff --git a/media/js/jquery.dataTables.js b/media/js/jquery.dataTables.js
index 07448d0a..366782fc 100644
--- a/media/js/jquery.dataTables.js
+++ b/media/js/jquery.dataTables.js
@@ -1215,6 +1215,13 @@
 			 */
 			this.sCookiePrefix = "SpryMedia_DataTables_";
 			
+			/*
+			 * Variable: fnCookieCallback
+			 * Purpose:  Callback function for cookie creation
+			 * Scope:    jQuery.dataTable.classSettings
+			 */
+			this.fnCookieCallback = null;
+			
 			/*
 			 * Variable: sAjaxSource
 			 * Purpose:  Source url for AJAX data for the table
@@ -5628,7 +5635,7 @@
 			sValue += '"aaSorting": [ ';
 			for ( i=0 ; i<oSettings.aaSorting.length ; i++ )
 			{
-				sValue += "["+oSettings.aaSorting[i][0]+",'"+oSettings.aaSorting[i][1]+"'],";
+				sValue += '['+oSettings.aaSorting[i][0]+',"'+oSettings.aaSorting[i][1]+'"],';
 			}
 			sValue = sValue.substring(0, sValue.length-1);
 			sValue += "],";
@@ -5636,8 +5643,8 @@
 			sValue += '"aaSearchCols": [ ';
 			for ( i=0 ; i<oSettings.aoPreSearchCols.length ; i++ )
 			{
-				sValue += "['"+oSettings.aoPreSearchCols[i].sSearch.replace("'","\'")+
-					"',"+!oSettings.aoPreSearchCols[i].bRegex+"],";
+				sValue += '["'+oSettings.aoPreSearchCols[i].sSearch.replace('"','\\"')+
+					'",'+!oSettings.aoPreSearchCols[i].bRegex+'],';
 			}
 			sValue = sValue.substring(0, sValue.length-1);
 			sValue += "],";
@@ -5652,7 +5659,7 @@
 			
 			sValue += "}";
 			_fnCreateCookie( oSettings.sCookiePrefix+oSettings.sInstance, sValue, 
-				oSettings.iCookieDuration, oSettings.sCookiePrefix );
+				oSettings.iCookieDuration, oSettings.sCookiePrefix, oSettings.fnCookieCallback );
 		}
 		
 		/*
@@ -5673,22 +5680,13 @@
 			var sData = _fnReadCookie( oSettings.sCookiePrefix+oSettings.sInstance );
 			if ( sData !== null && sData !== '' )
 			{
-				/* Try/catch the JSON eval - if it is bad then we ignore it */
+				/* Try/catch the JSON eval - if it is bad then we ignore it - note that 1.7.0 and before
+				 * incorrectly used single quotes for some strings - hence the replace below
+				 */
 				try
 				{
-					/* Use the JSON library for safety - if it is available */
-					if ( typeof JSON == 'object' && typeof JSON.parse == 'function' )
-					{
-						/* DT 1.4.0 used single quotes for a string - JSON.parse doesn't allow this and throws
-						 * an error. So for now we can do this. This can be removed in future it is just to
-						 * allow the tranfrer to 1.4.1+ to occur
-						 */
-						oData = JSON.parse( sData.replace(/'/g, '"') );
-					}
-					else
-					{
-						oData = eval( '('+sData+')' );
-					}
+					oData = (typeof $.parseJSON == 'function') ? 
+						$.parseJSON( oData.replace(/'/g, '"') ) : eval( '('+sData+')' );
 				}
 				catch( e )
 				{
@@ -5750,8 +5748,9 @@
 		 *           string:sValue - the value the cookie should take
 		 *           int:iSecs - duration of the cookie
 		 *           string:sBaseName - sName is made up of the base + file name - this is the base
+		 *           function:fnCallback - User definable function to modify the cookie
 		 */
-		function _fnCreateCookie ( sName, sValue, iSecs, sBaseName )
+		function _fnCreateCookie ( sName, sValue, iSecs, sBaseName, fnCallback )
 		{
 			var date = new Date();
 			date.setTime( date.getTime()+(iSecs*1000) );
@@ -5764,9 +5763,20 @@
 			 */
 			var aParts = window.location.pathname.split('/');
 			var sNameFile = sName + '_' + aParts.pop().replace(/[\/:]/g,"").toLowerCase();
-			var sFullCookie = sNameFile + "=" + encodeURIComponent(sValue) +
-				"; expires=" + date.toGMTString() +
-				"; path=" + aParts.join('/') + "/";
+			var sFullCookie;
+			
+			if ( fnCallback != null )
+			{
+				var oData = (typeof $.parseJSON == 'function') ? 
+					$.parseJSON( sValue ) : eval( '('+sData+')' );
+				sFullCookie = fnCallback( sNameFile, oData, date.toGMTString(),
+					aParts.join('/')+"/" );
+			}
+			else
+			{
+				sFullCookie = sNameFile + "=" + encodeURIComponent(sValue) +
+					"; expires=" + date.toGMTString() +"; path=" + aParts.join('/')+"/";
+			}
 			
 			/* Are we going to go over the cookie limit of 4KiB? If so, try to delete a cookies
 			 * belonging to DataTables. This is FAR from bullet proof
@@ -6195,6 +6205,7 @@
 				_fnMap( oSettings, oInit, "fnRowCallback" );
 				_fnMap( oSettings, oInit, "fnHeaderCallback" );
 				_fnMap( oSettings, oInit, "fnFooterCallback" );
+				_fnMap( oSettings, oInit, "fnCookieCallback" );
 				_fnMap( oSettings, oInit, "fnInitComplete" );
 				_fnMap( oSettings, oInit, "fnServerData" );
 				_fnMap( oSettings, oInit, "fnFormatNumber" );
diff --git a/media/unit_testing/tests_onhold/1_dom/fnCookieCallback.js b/media/unit_testing/tests_onhold/1_dom/fnCookieCallback.js
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..d3ae1cdf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/media/unit_testing/tests_onhold/1_dom/fnCookieCallback.js
@@ -0,0 +1,96 @@
+// DATA_TEMPLATE: dom_data
+oTest.fnStart( "Cookie callback" );
+
+
+$(document).ready( function () {
+	var mPass;
+	/* Note that in order to be fully effective here for saving state, there would need to be a
+	 * stringify function to serialise the data array
+	 */
+	
+	oTest.fnTest( 
+		"null by default",
+		function () {
+			$('#example').dataTable();
+		},
+		function () { return $('#example').dataTable().fnSettings().fnCookieCallback == null; }
+	);
+	
+	oTest.fnTest( 
+		"Number of arguments",
+		function () {
+			$('#example').dataTable( {
+				"bDestroy": true,
+				"bStateSave": true,
+				"fnCookieCallback": function (sName, oData, sExpires, sPath) {
+					mPass = arguments.length;
+					return sName + "=; expires=" + sExpires +"; path=" + sPath;
+				}
+			} );
+		},
+		function () { return mPass == 4; }
+	);
+	
+	oTest.fnTest( 
+		"Name",
+		function () {
+			$('#example').dataTable( {
+				"bDestroy": true,
+				"bStateSave": true,
+				"fnCookieCallback": function (sName, oData, sExpires, sPath) {
+					mPass = sName=="SpryMedia_DataTables_example_dom_data.php";
+					return sName + "=; expires=" + sExpires +"; path=" + sPath;
+				}
+			} );
+		},
+		function () { return mPass; }
+	);
+	
+	oTest.fnTest( 
+		"Data",
+		function () {
+			$('#example').dataTable( {
+				"bDestroy": true,
+				"bStateSave": true,
+				"fnCookieCallback": function (sName, oData, sExpires, sPath) {
+					mPass = typeof oData.iStart != 'undefined';
+					return sName + "=; expires=" + sExpires +"; path=" + sPath;
+				}
+			} );
+		},
+		function () { return mPass; }
+	);
+	
+	oTest.fnTest( 
+		"Expires",
+		function () {
+			$('#example').dataTable( {
+				"bDestroy": true,
+				"bStateSave": true,
+				"fnCookieCallback": function (sName, oData, sExpires, sPath) {
+					mPass = sExpires.match(/GMT/);
+					return sName + "=; expires=" + sExpires +"; path=" + sPath;
+				}
+			} );
+		},
+		function () { return mPass; }
+	);
+	
+	oTest.fnTest( 
+		"Path",
+		function () {
+			$('#example').dataTable( {
+				"bDestroy": true,
+				"bStateSave": true,
+				"fnCookieCallback": function (sName, oData, sExpires, sPath) {
+					mPass = sPath.match(/media\/unit_testing\/templates/);
+					return sName + "=; expires=" + sExpires +"; path=" + sPath;
+				}
+			} );
+		},
+		function () { return mPass; }
+	);
+	
+	
+	oTest.fnComplete();
+} );
\ No newline at end of file