How can I force [removed] to make an HTTP request instead of using the cache?

Question

In my web application I am setting window.location to navigate to a different page, but for some reason Firefox shows an old version of that page.

Usin

Answer 1

You could just add a random parameter to the page URL in order to have the browser issue a new request.

So instead of using

 window.location = "my.url/index.html";

use

 window.location = "my.url/index.html?nocache=" + (new Date()).getTime();

Answer 2

You can use location.reload with a true argument, which will always bypass the cache.

window.location.reload(true);

Answer 3

You have to validate if there is any existing query parameter in the url. If any query parameter exist, you should append the timestamp using "&". I have written a quick snippet that might be of your help.

window.newLocation = function( location ) {
    var newLocation = ( typeof location === "string" ) ? location : window.location.href,
       appendType = ( newLocation.indexOf("?") < 0 ) ? "?" : "&";
    window.location = newLocation + appendType + "_t=" + (new Date()).getTime();
}

Usage:

newLocation("index.html") or window.newLocation("index.html") 
// opens "index.html?_t=<timstamp>"

newLocation("index.html?existingQuery=true") or window.newLocation("index.html?existingQuery=true") 
// opens "index.html?existingQuery=true&_t=<timstamp

newLocation() or window.newLocation() 
// opens existing window location with a timestamp

You could further modify the snippet to remove exiting timestamp in the query parameter to avoid duplication

Answer 4

just need to tell your download function (in the controller, in case of Laravel) do not cache it by setting the headers, used the following code for Laravel:

$headers =[
            'Content-Type' => 'application/text',
            'Cache-Control' => 'no-store, no-cache, must-revalidate, max-age=0',
            'Cache-Control' => 'post-check=0, pre-check=0, false',
             'Pragma' => 'no-cache',  ];
return response()->file($pathToFile, $headers);

This code is very much true for PhP as well just need transferring the code accordingly. By adding new dates may invalidate a link especially if you are using a temporarySignedLink etc.

Cheers

Answer 5

Add some time specific or random querystring value to the url. This will force the page to be reloaded.

var yourNewLoc = "http://newlocation.com/";
document.location = yourNewLoc + "?c=" + (new Date()).valueOf();