Server Cache

The cache is populated the first time any user accesses a page that contains cached information. For example, consider a control table whose contents appear in a dropdown on various pages. When a user opens one of these pages, the system verifies that the list of records exists in the cache. If so, it uses the values in the cache. If not, it accesses the database to retrieve the records and saves them in the cache. In other words, the records for this control table are put into the cache the first time they are used by any user. The next user who opens one of these pages will have the records for this control table retrieved from the cache (thus obviating the database access).

The following points describe the type of data that is cached on the web server:

• Field labels. This portion of the cache contains the labels that prefix fields on the various pages in the system.
• System information. This portion of the cache contains installation and basic information about the various application services (e.g., the URL's that are associated with the various pages).
• Menu items. This portion of the cache contains the menu items.
• Dropdown contents. This portion of the cache contains the contents of the various dropdowns that appear throughout the system.
• XSL documents. This portion of the cache contains each page's static HTML.
• Portal information. This portion of the cache contains information about which zones are shown on the various pages.

The contents of the cache are cleared whenever the web server is "bounced". This means that fresh values are retrieved from the database after the application server software is restarted.

If you change the database after the cache is built and the information you changed is kept in the cache, users may continue to see the old values. If you don't want to bounce your web server, you can issue one of the following commands in your browser's URL to immediately clear the contents of the cache (a separate command exists for each type of data that is held in the cache):

• flushAll.jsp?language=<language code>. This command flushes every cache described below.
• flushMessageCatalog.jsp. This command flushes the field labels. Use this whenever you add or change any labels (this is typically only done by implementers who have rights to introduce new pages).
• flushSystemLoginInfo.jsp. This command flushes the system information cache. Use this whenever you change navigation options, cached information from the installation record, or if you change an application service's URL.
• flushMenu.jsp. This command flushes the menu cache. Use this command if you change menu data.
• flushDropdownCache.jsp?language=<language code>. This command flushes ALL objects in the dropdown contents associated with a given language (note, the language code is defined on the Language control table). Use this whenever you change, add or delete values to/from control tables that appear in dropdowns. Unlike the above caches, the objects in the dropdown cache are flushed automatically every 30 minutes from the time they are first built.
• flushDropDownField.jsp?language=<language code>&key=<field> If you want to flush the values in a specific drop-down field in the cache, specify the <field> using this command.
• flushUI_XSLs.jsp. This command flushes the XSL document cache. Use this command if you change user interface meta-data. Also use this command whenever you change or introduce new zones.
• flushXMLMetaInfo.jsp. This command flushes the XML repository of the XML Application Interface. Use this command when your site's XAI configuration data needs to be updated, which should be a very rare occurrence.
• flushPortalMetaInfo.jsp. This command flushes the portal information cache. Use this command whenever you change any portal zone meta-data.

For example, assume the following:

• the web server and port on which you work is called CD-Production:7500
• you add a new record to a control table and you want it to be available on the appropriate transactions immediately (i.e., you cannot wait for 30 minutes)

You would issue the following command in your browser's address bar: http://CD-Production:7500/flushDropdownCache.jsp?language=ENG. Notice that the command replaces the typical cis.jsp that appears after the port number (this is because these commands are simply different JSP pages that are being executed on the web server).