Cache

Introduction

To help improve system response and minimize bandwidth usage, e107 has a built-in cache system.

A cache could be described as a temporary memory. Each time a page is accessed, the database is queried (information is looked up or stored for example). The results of a query to the database are held in a temporary file for re-use rather than constantly looking up the results from the database. This will vastly improve speed on your site and minimize the number of calls to the database.

The cache system settings can be accessed by going Admin Area > Settings > Cache.

When the cache is enabled, major changes to your website may not be visibly reflected immediately. In this case, to see the changes instantly, clear and disable the cache before you start your changes.

For developers: if you are developing your own theme or plugin, it is best to turn caching off. Otherwise any changes you make will not be reflected immediately.

Caches

There are five different caches:

Cache name	Description
Content Cache	The Content Cache contains page rendered content. This includes any content (html) that you see rendered on your website.
System Cache	The system Cache contains system configuration information. This includes site preferences, currently active menus, and so on. No actual content will be contained here.
JS/CSS Cache	The JS/CSS Cache contains Javascript en CSS files.
DB Structure Cache	The Database Structure Cache contains system information about database tables structure, needed by various core routines. No actual content will be contained here.
Thumbnail Cache	The Thumbnail Cache contains binary image data. This way the webserver is not required to process as much upon every page load (and thus lowers the impact on the performance of the webserver).

Cache management

Enabling and/or disabling caches

You can enable or disable the Content Cache, the System Cache and the JS/CSS Cache by using the switches and clicking the "Set cache status" button.

The DB Structure Cache and Thumbnail Cache cannot be disabled as this would impact the performance of the webserver too severely.

Clearing caches

You can clear individual caches or all caches at once, by selecting the appropriate option for the dropdown menu and clicking the "Delete" button.