JavaScript file not reloading in browser when modified on server

Question

So I have this ASP.Net 2.0 website that uses functions contained within a JS file. When a webpage loads the js file loads fine. But when I change something in that file on the server the changes are not propagated to user's browser. It keeps working according to the out dated file. How can I force the browser to reload the modified file from the server?

Answer 1

One rather common solution (that is also used here at SO I think) is to add a query string to the url of the javascript file, containing a version number. When you change the query string, the browser will treat it as a new file and download it rather than picking it from the cache.

<script type="text/javascript" src="http://example.com/file.js?v=2"></script> 

In the above example, changing file.js?v=2 to file.js?v=3 would force the browser to download the file, instead of loading the cached file.js?v=2.

Answer 2

In general, the quickest way to force update is to press CTRL+F5 in the browser.

Otherwise you need to empty the browser's cache.

If you are using Firefox I'd recommend the plugin Web Developer Toolbar, where you easily can just click "Misc -> Clear Private Data -> Cache".