Magic Bean Dip

cache_page uses php output buffering to capture the output of phpWebSite and store it in a cache in the files/cache_page/cache directory. Pages are identified based on the request_uri. The next time the same request_uri is received, the stored page will be served from the cache instead of being dynamically generated by phpwebsite.

See a working installation of cache_page at the City of Rolfe website. Use ‘view source’ to see the page generation times appended to the end of each web page.

The speed increase received by using cache_page varies based on the modules being used. Pagemaster pages were served an average of 4 times faster on my development server. The full year calender view was a considerably larger speed increase.

The cache is completely cleared each time a POST or PUT http method is received by the server. This should catch most of the instances where the cache needs to be cleared. It also clears the cache at unnecessary times like when someone logs on or when someone uses the search box.

Pages served to logged on users are always dynamically generated and never saved to cache.

To allow for the calendar module, the cache is completely cleared whenever a page is retrieved from the cache that wasn’t generated on todays date. In effect, the cache is cleared at midnight.

I have tested cache_page on phpwebsite versions 0.10.1 and 0.9.3-4. The announcements and pagemaster modules appear to work fine. The calendar module works fine after a few simple modifications. (see INSTALL.txt)

Modules that generate unique session output are not compatible with cache_page. That means that the ‘You have x items in your cart’ box of the kcart module is not compatible. In many cases it should be simple to remove the unique session output, such as converting the ‘x items in your cart’ to a simple ‘View Cart’ button.

11/9/05
Updated release available Cache Page phpWebSite module 0.0.3

This entry was posted on Monday, April 18th, 2005 at 4:05 pm and is filed under General, Internet, Software, phpWebSite. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.