Another Look: Cached Dynamic Modules Page 2

Manual Cache File Naming

I used a template to generate cache files on the fly, and this was based on
dates and times. The cache’s filename is generated on the value’s being passed,
but some filesystems do not allow colons that would be found in a time format. I
realized I needed to allow the developer to name the cache file manually if desired.

<my-style name="time now" time="12:32:00" cache_name="onTheAir">

Originally, this tag would have produced a cache file with a name such as,
‘style_name=time now_time=12:32:00′. Now, this module would produce a cache file
with the simpler (valid) name: ‘style_onTheAir’

‘On The Hour’ Cache Updating

JP’s system allowed the developer to set the expires delay for a cache file. For
example, if the expires delay was set to 3600 seconds, the cache file would be
regenerated subsequent to the next hit after 3600 seconds have elapsed since the
creation of the cache file.

My site needed to work a little differently. I needed the ability to automatically
have the module refresh at specific intervals, such as, on the hour, or on the
quarter-hour, or on the half-hour, etc. So I went ahead and added some functions
to perform these evaluations and return whether the module was due to be updated or not.

<my-style name=test refresh='HALFHOUR'>

(this cache file updates itself every half-hour)

The available arguments for the refresh variable are:
MINUTE, QUARTERHOUR, HALFHOUR, HOUR, HALFDAY, DAY, MONTH