I was creating a simple Wordpress plugin which uses a javascript file. Although the PHP edits did not need a server refresh and were reflected immediately on page reload, the javascript edits were not reflected until I restarted the server (they did not work even on a hitting "Refresh" on xampp).

What I would like to know:
1. How are Javascript files are loaded in Apache?
2. Is there anyway to configure it so that the files are loaded everytime I reload the page? ( I will be editing the Javascript files a lot. I do not want to be restarting the server everytime!)

I was creating a simple Wordpress plugin which uses a javascript file. Although the PHP edits did not need a server refresh and were reflected immediately on page reload, the javascript edits were not reflected until I restarted the server (they did not work even on a hitting "Refresh" on xampp).

What I would like to know:
1. How are Javascript files are loaded in Apache?
2. Is there anyway to configure it so that the files are loaded everytime I reload the page? ( I will be editing the Javascript files a lot. I do not want to be restarting the server everytime!)

• javascript
• apache

4 Answers 4

How are Javascript files are loaded in Apache?

Ans: It is the same with your html file or other static contents.

Is there anyway to configure it so that the files are loaded everytime I reload the page?

Ans: This is not the problem of Apache, It is mostly because your browser caches your javascript file. Simply clear your browser caches.

A nice trick you can do is to append a random string to the resource that you want to keep up to date every pageload. Ex.:

<script type='text/javascript' src='/myScript.js?p=<?php print sha1(time()); ?>'>
</script>

In the same way, if you want to always refresh an image, just append it a random parameter:

<img src='/images/myImage.png?p=<?php print sha1(time()); ?>' />

You can do this with CSS files too.

Appending a random parameter to a resource will make the browser treat this resource as a new one, so it can't be loaded from cache.

I use a Firefox add on called "Web Developer" to temporarily disable the browser cache when I am working on web pages. You can toggle the cache on and off with it, amongst other things. I still think Beto Aveiga's plan is very interesting, I am thinking of a scheme to put it to use right now.

GET requests are cached in the browser. Clear your browsers cache and set it to check for new files every time in the browser's settings.