Most Browsers are configured to cache HTML pages, images, javascript and css files for performance reasons. This does deliver improved performance, but as WebMaker Studio is a Web Application, sometimes the Browsers don't pickup changes to various files shipped in the patches or new releases.
Hyfinity recommends that developers should look to clear the temporary cache files stored by the various Browsers if the option is available to them. This will ensure the correct versions of files are picked up when a new release is installed. It may also be sensible to perform the same steps when installing patches.
The following instructions examine the specific Browser setting changes that need to be applied in order to ensure WebMaker Studio and runtime web applications will run correctly, and that the user can continue to maintain the general browsing experience.
Note: Most of the Browser cache deletion options can be brought up with the keyboard shortcut: Ctrl+Shift+Delete
Microsoft Internet Explorer 9
Version 7 - Select the Tools >> Delete Browsing History+?+?-? option. You should click the "Delete Files+?+?-? " button to remove the "Temporary Internet files".
Version 8 - Select the Safety >> Delete Browsing History+?+?-? option. You should tick only the "Temporary Internet files" option. All others should be un-ticked if you wish to maintain those details. Click on the "Delete" button to remove the cached files.
Version 9 - Select the Tools (cog icon) >> Safety >> Delete Browsing History+?+?-? option. You should tick only the "Temporary Internet files" option. All others should be un-ticked if you wish to maintain those details. Click on the "Delete" button to remove the cached files.
Mozilla FireFox
Version 3 - Select the Tools (menu option) >> Clear Recent History+?+?-? option. You should tick the "Cache" option and un-tick all the other options if you wish to maintain those details. Click on the "Clear Now" button to remove the cached files.
Version 4 - Select the Firefox button >> History >> Clear Recent History+?+?-? option. You should set the "Time range to clear" to cover the last time you used the WebMaker Studio, however the safest option is "Everything". You should tick the "Cache" option and un-tick all the other options if you wish to maintain those details. Click on the "Clear Now" button to remove the cached files.
Google Chrome
Select the Customise and Control Google Chrome (spanner icon) >> Tools >> Clear browsing data+?+?-? option. You should set the "Obliterate the following items from:" to cover the last time you used the WebMaker Studio, however the safest option is "the beginning of time". Then tick the "Empty the cache" option only. All others should be un-ticked if you wish to maintain those details. Click on the "Clear browsing data" button to remove the cached files.
Hyfinity recommends that developers should look to clear the temporary cache files stored by the various Browsers if the option is available to them. This will ensure the correct versions of files are picked up when a new release is installed. It may also be sensible to perform the same steps when installing patches.
The following instructions examine the specific Browser setting changes that need to be applied in order to ensure WebMaker Studio and runtime web applications will run correctly, and that the user can continue to maintain the general browsing experience.
Note: Most of the Browser cache deletion options can be brought up with the keyboard shortcut: Ctrl+Shift+Delete
Microsoft Internet Explorer 9
Version 7 - Select the Tools >> Delete Browsing History+?+?-? option. You should click the "Delete Files+?+?-? " button to remove the "Temporary Internet files".
Version 8 - Select the Safety >> Delete Browsing History+?+?-? option. You should tick only the "Temporary Internet files" option. All others should be un-ticked if you wish to maintain those details. Click on the "Delete" button to remove the cached files.
Version 9 - Select the Tools (cog icon) >> Safety >> Delete Browsing History+?+?-? option. You should tick only the "Temporary Internet files" option. All others should be un-ticked if you wish to maintain those details. Click on the "Delete" button to remove the cached files.
Mozilla FireFox
Version 3 - Select the Tools (menu option) >> Clear Recent History+?+?-? option. You should tick the "Cache" option and un-tick all the other options if you wish to maintain those details. Click on the "Clear Now" button to remove the cached files.
Version 4 - Select the Firefox button >> History >> Clear Recent History+?+?-? option. You should set the "Time range to clear" to cover the last time you used the WebMaker Studio, however the safest option is "Everything". You should tick the "Cache" option and un-tick all the other options if you wish to maintain those details. Click on the "Clear Now" button to remove the cached files.
Google Chrome
Select the Customise and Control Google Chrome (spanner icon) >> Tools >> Clear browsing data+?+?-? option. You should set the "Obliterate the following items from:" to cover the last time you used the WebMaker Studio, however the safest option is "the beginning of time". Then tick the "Empty the cache" option only. All others should be un-ticked if you wish to maintain those details. Click on the "Clear browsing data" button to remove the cached files.
RE: Clearing the Browser Cache - WebMaker Patches and Releases
Thanks
RE: Clearing the Browser Cache - WebMaker Patches and Releases
I think the best approach for published applications may depend on a number of things, such as the type of application, how often it is being updated, how often users access it, which application servers are being used, etc.
Generally you will want the browser to be able to cache resource files for performance, but this can mean that any recently published changes are not picked up straight away. Getting users to clear their cache resolves this issue, but as you indicate this is not an ideal solution.
If your user's do not use the site very regularly, you may find it is enough to just adjust the Expires headers sent to the browser indicating how long a resource can be cached for. For example, Tomcat provides an Expires Filter to do this, or if you are using Apache you can use mode_expires.
A more complete solution is to add a version number of other indicator into the URLs for the resources (eg as a query param, mystyle.css?v=123, or by changing the name, mystyle.1234.css, etc), and update this value accordingly when a new release is published.
If you are using Apache, one option that should hangle this automatically is to use the PageSpeed module (https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/module/).
If you are just using a Java server (eg Tomcat) then you could setup a Servlet Filter to perform this type of processing on the HTML being returned, and apply this filter to the published WebMaker application.
I hope this gives you some useful pointers.
Regards,
Gerard