Cache Control?

Server Config
1

Hi,

I’m very new to using the Cache Control in PHP.

I’m keen to see what others typically use in their PHP Applications.
I suppose it depends on what the site is about and what kind of files are delivered.

Typically I use the following for most of my sites:


# 480 weeks
<FilesMatch "\\.(ico|pdf|flv|jpg|jpeg|png|gif|js|css|swf)$">
Header set Cache-Control "max-age=290304000, public"
</FilesMatch>
 
# 2 DAYS
<FilesMatch "\\.(xml|txt)$">
Header set Cache-Control "max-age=172800, public, must-revalidate"
</FilesMatch>
 
# 2 HOURS
<FilesMatch "\\.(html|htm)$">
Header set Cache-Control "max-age=7200, must-revalidate"
</FilesMatch>

I got it from here: http://www.askapache.com/htaccess/apache-speed-cache-control.html

Also, how does the user retrieve a NEW version of a PDF of the same file name? If, say, a new PDF was uploaded with the same file name as a previous one, how do you force the user to view the new version?

Thanks for your thoughts.

2

i2,

Well, you’ve hit on the reason NOT to use LONG cache numbers! IMHO, you can’t go crazy with this stuff or you’ll shoot yourself in the foot!

I HAVE used caching but only with the OUTPUT of a long page (client control and I couldn’t control the client) when the contents of that page were updated.

Browsers do cache files and, unless there is a GOOD reason to cache, it’s not worth the additional effort and problems (especially in this world of broadband).

Regards,

DK