Question

Possible Duplicate:
How do I force the refresh of javascript files in a browser?

My application in ASP.NET MVC based and javascript files are included in .csHtml file.

I require this so that the user do not have to do a [Ctrl+F5] or manually clear cache and the most recent version of javascript file is loaded everytime in the browser.

I appreciate if some examples can be provided.

Primary technique suggested is to use a dummy paramater while including the file.
Also I do not what to change the parameter manually every time I modify a js file. Need some examples if this can be done automatically.

EDIT 1:
Please provide solution to this with ASP.NET MVC prospective.

Answer 1

You want to use Bundling and Minification. Depending on your version of MVC, the implementation is slightly different. In the newest version, it is used by default.

Bundling and Minification will combine and minify all your scripts (and styles sheets) into one file (or multiple, depending on how you use it) and serve them up with a unique parameter. Any time a file changes in that particular bundle (and thus the user would require to download the new files) the parameter automatically changes.

For MVC3, you’ll need to install Microsoft Web Optimization.

Then in your global.ascx, you’d do something like this and call it from Application_Start:

private static void SetupBundling()
{
     var jsBundle = new Bundle("~/Scripts/js", typeof(JsMinify));
     jsBundle.AddDirectory("~/Scripts/", "*.js", false);
     jsBundle.AddDirectory("~/Scripts/anothr-good-folder/", "*.js", false);
     BundleTable.Bundles.Add(jsBundle);

     var randomBundle = new Bundle("~/Scripts/random", typeof(JsMinify));
     randomBundle.AddFile("~/Scripts/random/main.js");
     randomBundle.AddFile("~/Scripts/random/cool.js");
     BundleTable.Bundles.Add(randomBundle);

     var cssBundle = new Bundle("~/Content/css", typeof(CssMinify));
     cssBundle.AddDirectory("~/Content/", "*.css", false);
     BundleTable.Bundles.Add(cssBundle);
}

So that first bundle will bundle every .js file in your ~/Scripts folder. In your head file you can reference it like:

<script src="@Microsoft.Web.Optimization.BundleTable.Bundles.ResolveBundleUrl("~/Scripts/js")" type="text/javascript"></script>

And it will be rendered like:

<script src="/Scripts/js?v=-2573834892993289" type="text/javascript"></script>

And any time one of your .js files change (or .css), so will the parameter.

Similar implementation for the CSS bundle, and also if you want to reference the randomBundle only on certain pages.