Enable client side caching for "dynamic" content (asp.net mvc 3.0)

Question

Context: ASP.NET MVC 3.0, .NET 4.0, C#, IIS 7

I have a long list of names (of game realms/servers). The realms are stored in a database.
I have an Action that returns the list as a JSON code.

I reference the list in my .aspx as following:

<script type="text/javascript" src='<%= Url.Action("Realms", "Data") %>'></script>

Here is an abbreviated action itself:

    public ActionResult Realms() {
        var realms = Data.GetRealms(...);
        var json = JsonSerialize(realms);
        return Content("realms = {0};".With(json), "text/javascript", Encoding.UTF8);
    }

This list changes very seldom (once a month).

Question: how can I cause this .js file be cached client side?

Details My problem is that this "file" is being downloaded on each page refresh and accounts for 20% of the traffic.

score 4 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 27 '11 at 17:34

4

how can I cause this .js file be cached client side?

It would be more reliable to cache it on the server by decorating the action with the [OutputCache] attribute. If you want to cache it on the client you could configure the cache cache location on the client when using this attribute which will send the proper Cache-Control HTTP response header:

[OutputCache(Location = OutputCacheLocation.Client, Duration = 20)]
public ActionResult Realms()
{
    ...
}

answered Apr 27 '11 at 17:34

Darin Dimitrov

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follow up question : http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5809987/asp-net-mvc-how-do-i-return-304-not-modified-status – THX-1138 Apr 27 '11 at 20:15

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 27 '11 at 18:04

If you must cache on the client you have some options...

Use Cookies (browser or persistent) - this has issues...
Caches an ajax response (assumes you are using jQuery and are setting cache:true) - this cache likely only lives as long as the browser is open...
Persistent Client Side Cache - (persistjs) http://pablotron.org/?cid=1557 - this may work...
ajax cache response plugin for jQuery... http://plugins.jquery.com/project/ajax-cache-response and also here... https://github.com/adamayres/jqueryplugins/wiki/Ajax-Cache-Response-jQuery-Plugin

There are probably more options but these are the ones that come to mind.

Enable client side caching for "dynamic" content (asp.net mvc 3.0)

2 Answers2