DotNetNuke module works in "Edit" mode but not for "View": cache problem?

Question

I have a DNN task that simply runs some Javascript to compute a price based on a few input fields. This module works fine on our production site, but we had a company do a skin for us to improve the look of the site and the module fails under this new system. (DNN 05.06.00 (459) although it was 5.5 prior... I updated in a futile hope that it was a bug in the old revision.)

What is incredibly odd about this is that the module works fine when I'm logged in to DNN and using the Edit mode as an administrator. In this case the small snippet of JavaScript loads fine and filling the fields results in a price.

On the other hand it I click "View" (or more importantly, if I'm not logged in at all) the page loads a cached copy. Even odder, I have found the cache files in \Portals\2\Cache\Pages are generated and then only the cached data is being used.

When the cached copy is loaded, the JavaScript doesn't appear (it is normally created via a Page.ClientScript.RegisterClientScriptBlock(). Additionally, the button which posts the data to the server doesn't execute any of the server side code (confirmed with a debugger) but instead just reloads the cached copy.

If I manually delete the files in \Portals\2\Cache\Pages then everything works properly, but I have to do so after every page load: failing to do so simply loads the page as it was last generated repeatedly.

Resetting the application (either via the UI or editing web.config) doesn't change this and clearing the cache from the Host Settings page doesn't actually clear these cached pages.

I'm guessing that Edit mode bypasses the cache in some way, but I have gone as far as turning off all caching on the site (which is horrible for performance) and the cached version is still loaded.

Has anyone seen anything like this? Shouldn't clearing the cache clear the files (I'm using the File provider for caching)? Shouldn't even a cached page go back to the server if the user posts back?

EDIT: I should point out that permissions don't appear to be a problem on the cache directory... other pages cached output are deleted from this folder, just this page has this issue.

EDIT 2: Clarifying some settings and conditions which I didn't provide. First, this module works fine in production under DNN 5.6.0. In our test environment with the consulting company's changes it fails (the changes are skin and page layout only in theory: the module source itself verifies as unchanged). All cache settings and the like have been verified the same between the two and we only resorted to setting the module cache to 0 and -1 (and disabling the test site's cache entirely) when we couldn't find another cause for the problem. I have watched the cache work correctly on many other pages in test: there is something about this page that is causing the problem.

We have punted and are creating an installable skin based on the consultant's work as I suspect they have somehow corrupted the DNN install (database side I think).

Answer 1

On 5.6.x you want to make sure of a few things.

1. If the module must postback the Cache Duration setting in the module settings must be set to 0
2. In the page settings ensure that you do NOT have a provider or cache duration set for the Output Cache Provider