Force browser to clear cache

Question

Is there a way I can put some code on my page so when someone visits a site, it clears the browser cache, so they can view the changes?

Languages used: ASP.NET, VB.N

Answer 1

I implemented this simple solution that works for me (not yet on production environment):

function verificarNovaVersio() {
    var sVersio = localStorage['gcf_versio'+ location.pathname] || 'v00.0.0000';
    $.ajax({
        url: "./versio.txt"
        , dataType: 'text'
        , cache: false
        , contentType: false
        , processData: false
        , type: 'post'
     }).done(function(sVersioFitxer) {
        console.log('Versió App: '+ sVersioFitxer +', Versió Caché: '+ sVersio);
        if (sVersio < (sVersioFitxer || 'v00.0.0000')) {
            localStorage['gcf_versio'+ location.pathname] = sVersioFitxer;
            location.reload(true);
        }
    });
}

I've a little file located where the html are:

"versio.txt":

v00.5.0014

This function is called in all of my pages, so when loading it checks if the localStorage's version value is lower than the current version and does a

location.reload(true);

...to force reload from server instead from cache.

(obviously, instead of localStorage you can use cookies or other persistent client storage)

I opted for this solution for its simplicity, because only mantaining a single file "versio.txt" will force the full site to reload.

The queryString method is hard to implement and is also cached (if you change from v1.1 to a previous version will load from cache, then it means that the cache is not flushed, keeping all previous versions at cache).

I'm a little newbie and I'd apreciate your professional check & review to ensure my method is a good approach.

Hope it helps.