Question about the iOS app reload: drop cache after update installation

[nikDemyankov]

@dongdh wrote in #18:

It's a great plugin,

I just have one question, is it possible to restart app automatically and apply the new code.

Because it seems I need to restart app 2 times before seeing changes (I did changes in some html template)

Or am I using this wrong.

[nikDemyankov]

Are you using local development add-on, or you are testing with the real server?

[dongdh]

I am testing with real server, I have tried different configurations

1. with auto-load set to true or false
2. manually call fetch and install update
3. different settings with start, resume and now

[nikDemyankov]

Is it Cordova or Ionic project? And on what platform you are testing: iOS or Android?

[dongdh]

I tested on iOS only, I have some own code build between cordova and ionic. the update works after I restart app 2 times, seems its not applied before I manually restart the app.

[nikDemyankov]

That's strange. Will try to reproduce that.

Just of curiosity: if you will try to use local development add-on - problem remains, or everything works? Let him do all the work. You can look into the docs on how to use it.

[dongdh]

I set "update": "now" in chip.json, set in config.xml, reload index.html when updateInstalled event is triggered.
document.addEventListener('chcp_updateInstalled', function() {
document.location.href = 'index.html?var='+new Date().getTime();
}, false);
I need to manually close the app, and start it again to get the effect of the new change. maybe this is the way it intends to work.

A question would be is it possible to apply the change directly, or restart the app automatically, (what I did to restart is just reload index.html, maybe its not enough.)

[dongdh]

the change I did is just a very minor text change on one of the ionic page template.

[nikDemyankov]

Well, it should reload the page automatically when the update is installed. But for some weird reason, in your case, it doesn't... Will investigate.

[dongdh]

I tried both iOS emulator and IOS phone, I run 8.4
Here id my config.xml that has to do with chcp

my chcp.json
{
"name": "xxxx",
"s3bucket": "xxxxx",
"s3region": "eu-west-1",
"ios_identifier": "id123456789",
"android_identifier": "xx.xxx.xxxx",
"update": "now",
"content_url": "xxxxxxxxx",
"release": "2015.11.27-15.25.57"
}

[dongdh]

Can someone guide me what is the correct configuration if expect app to reload with new update without manually restart app?

[dongdh]

Hello, I am looking through some code and try to understand, can you give me a guide on where the app is reloaded after installation success? do you restart the web view or? I was thinking if there is some cache involved when do a refresh of the url in cordova.

[dongdh]

Ok, found where it reloads the page.

[dongdh]

Tested some more, it seem the file in Library/Application support is updated, but in the running instance of the app, it still loads the old file.

[dongdh]

I read somewhere iOS has trouble clean cache for web view for local html. this doesn't sounds good:(

[dongdh]

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2523435/how-to-clear-uiwebview-cache

don't know if this link helps, but it does seem there are no really good solution to this...

[dongdh]

Well, I am temporary solving it by always load js and html with timestamps, but it will be really nice if somehow the web view cache can be totally cleaned.

[tmchng]

+1 I also encountered the same problem.

Steps:

1. Create a mock server serving www using http-server
2. Deploy the same www content onto an emulator. Now the server and device have the same content
3. Make an edit in www. Generate new config/manifest without deploying
4. Try relaunching the app on emulator. I had to do it twice before I saw the change

[dongdh]

I think the problem is based on all js, css, img resources is still cached when you reload web view, so a workaround will be always load resources with timestamp. example src="xxxx.js?23948uioew098"

If you are using requirejs, there is a parameter you can set in config that always load files with an extra param,

[nikDemyankov]

Yes, the problem is with iOS and how WebView caches css and js files. I use one dirty hack to solve it, it worked before. But for some reason it's not working for you... As a workaround - yes, you can add some random query parameter to the js and css files, as you showed.

I read http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2523435/how-to-clear-uiwebview-cache before, tried hacks from there, but didn't really helped.

Will continue to search for better solution on that.

[nikDemyankov]

In v1.2.0 I have changed the way on how web files are stored. Now each release has it's own www folder. Because of that after the update css files will have a new absolute path, and WebView will use the new version, instead of the cached one. As a result - no need for timestamp hack in the file path.