Jun 30 2009

WP Ecommerce Plugin Caching Issue in IE Internet Explorer

In working with the WP Ecommerce Plugin, on Wordpress, we’ve noticed that updates to products are not reflected within the front-end when testing with Internet Explorer. We found this to be strictly an Internet Explorer “feature” in our testing. The problem here is – if most are using IE – will we be guaranteed that they’ll get the latest Shopping Cart? The answer is, unless you’ve changed your caching settings, no.

Problem: Internet Explorer Over-Caches pages

Even when the page content is obviously changed, the timestamp forcefully updated, even touching the file won’t budget IE.  There are 3 possible solutions:

Solution 1: Best Solution – Force “No Caching” in PHP

At the very top of your php page, before calling anything, add this mug:


header("Expires: Mon, 26 Jul 1997 05:00:00 GMT");
header("Last-Modified: " . gmdate("D, d M Y H:i:s") . " GMT");
header("Cache-Control: no-store, no-cache, must-revalidate");
header("Cache-Control: post-check=0, pre-check=0", false);
header("Pragma: no-cache");

Solution 2: Force No Caching in Meta Tags

Add this meta tag inside of your <head> tag:
<meta http-equiv="PRAGMA" content="NO-CACHE">

Solution 3: Quickest Way – Change your URL

When linking to your page, simply add any parameter to your url.  So, if you’re visiting “gobdg.com/about.php” now visit: “gobdg.com/about.php?somestuff=1″

** Note – This will only work one time for each parameter value – you’ll need to change the paramater of true to “somestuff=2″ on next reload.

Solution 4: Become a Fireman

Always a viable option.

IE Caching, Cache References


Sep 16 2008

Learn How to Talk Like a Pirate

With International Talk Like a Pirate Day just around the corner, that leaves little time to brush up!

Learn How to Talk Like a Pirate