What is the process for clearing the cache of a specific URL?

As stated in http://www.w3.org/Protocols/rfc2616/rfc2616-sec13.html#sec13.10, clients are required to invalidate the cache linked with a URL following a POST, PUT, or DELETE request.

Is there a way to command a web browser to invalidate the cache of any given URL without initiating an HTTP request to it?

For illustration:

  1. PUT /companies/Nintendo initiates a new company listing for "Nintendo"
  2. GET /companies displays all current companies
  3. Whenever I add a new company, I aim to invalidate the cache connected to GET /companies. This isn't done automatically by the browser because they operate on distinct URLs.

Would using the Cache-Control mechanism be unsuitable in this scenario? Is it better to utilize no-cache combined with ETag instead? What is the recommended approach in such circumstances?

I am aware that I can incorporate no-cache the next time I execute GET /companies, but this would require the application to monitor URL invalidation rather than delegating the responsibility to the browser. To clarify, I wish to invalidate the URL post step 1 instead of maintaining and applying this information at step 2. Any suggestions?

ajaxhttprestcache-control

Answer №1

Absolutely, you have the ability to do so (within the same domain). According to information sourced from this response (somewhat reworded):

If following a PUT or POST request, where the URI specified in the Content-Location header differs from the request URI, it results in invalidation of the cache for the Content-Location URI.

Therefore, in your specific case, make sure to include a Content-Location: /companies header when responding to your POST request. This action will invalidate the cached version of /companies stored by the browser.

Please note that this method is not effective for GET requests.

Answer №2

According to HTTP/1.1 protocol, the only way to invalidate a client's cache for a resource is by responding to a request for that specific resource. This response can be triggered by a PUT, POST, or DELETE method instead of a GET. Referencing RFC 7234, section 4.4 will provide more information on this topic.

If there is a need for clients to confirm they have the latest version of a resource, utilizing no-cache along with an entity tag would be a suitable solution.

In contrast, HTTP/2 introduces the capability of pushing a cache clear mechanism, as mentioned in Nine Things to Expect from HTTP/2 - 4. Cache Pushing.

Answer №3

When a link refers to the phrase "invalidate an entity," it means that the cache will either delete all instances of that entity from its storage or mark them as "invalid," requiring mandatory revalidation before they can be returned in response to a subsequent request. The question then arises, where are these caches located? It is believed that the cache being discussed in the article refers to server cache.

In a project worked on in VC++, whenever a model changes, the cache gets updated with the help of programming logic implementation. As mentioned in the article, there is no way for the HTTP protocol to ensure that all cache entries are marked invalid since HTTP Protocol cannot invalidate cache on its own.

In our project example, we utilized a publish-subscribe mechanism. Whenever an object of Class A is updated/inserted, it is published to a bus, and controllers register to listen to objects on the Bus. This way, only relevant controllers get notified when their subscribed Object changes.

There is also a browser cache, where ETAGs are used for validation. An ETAG is the checksum of the resource, and the client should maintain the old ETAG value to determine if the resource has changed or not.

[Update]

PUT /companies/Nintendo

GET /companies

are considered two different resources. When executing a PUT request for /companies/Nintendo, only the cache for that specific resource should be updated instead of /companies (client-side cache). Each new GET request points to a distinct resource.

As for the HTTP headers, it is entirely application-specific. Depending on the nature of the content, caching decisions may vary. The reference links provided have detailed information on Cache HTTP headers, with ETag usage serving as a key component for determining resource validity.

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