Prevent IE caching

Question

I am developing a Java EE web application using Struts. The problem is with Internet Explorer caching. If an user logs out he can access some pages because they are cached a

Answer 1

Rather set the following headers on the HttpServletResponse of the page(s) in question so that you don't need to copypaste it over all pages manually:

response.setHeader("Cache-Control", "no-cache, no-store, must-revalidate"); // HTTP 1.1.
response.setHeader("Pragma", "no-cache"); // HTTP 1.0.
response.setDateHeader("Expires", 0); // Proxies.

This is equivalent to setting the following meta headers in the page(s) manually:

<meta http-equiv="Cache-Control" content="no-cache, no-store, must-revalidate">
<meta http-equiv="Pragma" content="no-cache">
<meta http-equiv="Expires" content="0">

Also see this answer. Don't forget to clear browser cache before testing ;)

Answer 2

I've found the following to work well:

response.setHeader("Cache-Control", "no-cache, no-store, must-revalidate, max-age=0, proxy-revalidate, no-transform, pre-check=0, post-check=0, private");
response.setHeader("Pragma", "no-cache");
response.setDateHeader("Expires", 0);

From the tags on this question it looks like you are using Struts. Struts 1.x allows you to do this through configuration in struts-config.xml by setting nocache="true" on the controller element:

<controller processorClass="org.apache.struts.tiles.TilesRequestProcessor" nocache="true" />

Mark Nottingham's caching tutorial is the best resource I've seen on the web about HTTP and caching if you are looking to understand more.

That being said, depending on the problem you are seeing it might be a browser history issue. See here for more information about that.

Answer 3

Add tag type="button" into actual action button.

The default value of the type attribute depends on the current document compatibility mode. The default value is submit. In other compatibility modes the default value is button. When the BUTTON element is submitted in a form, the value depends on the current document compatibility mode. Windows Internet Explorer 8 and later. The default value of the type attribute depends on the current document compatibility mode. In IE8 Standards mode, the default value is submit. In other compatibility modes and earlier versions of Windows Internet Explorer, the default value is button. Internet Explorer 8 and later. When the BUTTON element is submitted in a form, the value depends on the current document compatibility mode. In IE8 mode, the value attribute is submitted. In other document modes and earlier versions of Internet Explorer, the innerText value is submitted.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ie/ms535211(v=vs.85).aspx

Answer 4

Modify the headers with no-cache etc. It is the usual way.

Answer 5

Looks like IE < 9 will still cache even if you have pragma: no-cache in the head and set browser to refresh on each page load. You need to add the meta tags again in a second head section before close of the html. This is right from MS itself.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/222064/

little better explanation here

http://www.htmlgoodies.com/beyond/reference/article.php/3472881/So-You-Dont-Want-To-Cache-Huh.htm

From testing you also need the Expires: -1 meta tag to make it work. It is recommended to use Expires: -1 and not 0.