Output caching

[christo]

Hi

What is the best way to handle simple output caching with OJS? I am looking to achieve something similar to what can be done with PEAR::CACHE_LITE. I've had a look at the FileCache object, but am not 100% sure that i have got it correctly. Could anyone give me a short example of how to go about output caching with the OJS 2 framework?

Thanks in advance.

[asmecher]

Hi christo,

I'd suggest having a look at the current CVS version (which will be released as OJS 2.2) -- there is simple output caching implemented in it. Have a look at the web_cache and web_cache_hours settings in config.inc.php. Only certain pages are cached, e.g. the home page and a few others that are most frequently accessed.

Keep in mind, of course, that this will only work for sites that aren't using dynamic content such as banner ads on those pages.

Regards,
Alec Smecher
Public Knowledge Project Team

[christo]

Here is some code if there is anyone else wanting to do this. It is based on the slightly OJS 2.1 codebase.

Code: Select all

import('cache.CacheManager');
$cacheManager =& CacheManager::getManager();

$cache = $cacheManager->getFileCache('page', /* this is the name of the group of items you want to cache - existing examples are 'journalSettings' and 'country'*/
                                                           $cacheId . "-" . Locale::getLocale() , /* this is specific to this particular instance which you are caching */
                                                           array('this','_cacheMiss') ); /* this is a function which is called to populate your cache. I cheated because i wasnt quite sure how to pass arguments to this function, so i just handled the caching procedurally below (this is probably not the best way to do it! */

if(is_null($cache->cache)){   //we don't have an existing cache, we need to renew it.
   //handle caching
   $contents = time(); //for the case of this example lets just use the timestamp...
   $cache->setEntireCache($contents);
}
echo $cache->getContent(); //spit out the result.


You can flush/clear the cache with $cache->flush() (this will only delete the cache for the file with the specific cacheId)

Notes:
- have a look at Classes/User/CountryDAO.inc.php for a more in-depth example.
- As you will see in that example, the CacheManager can cache objects as well as variables. (which is useful).

..hope that helps someone....