understanding jQuery $.getScript()

Question

I use getScript to load dynamically my plugin:

$.getScript('js/code.photoswipe.jquery-3.0.4.min.js', function () {
   //do magic
});

1. How do I disable caching busting? At the moment it generates numbers at the end: js/code.photoswipe.jquery-3.0.4.min.js?_=1326992601415 I saw this, but not sure how to use it in my case:

   $.getScript = function (url, callback, cache) {
      $.ajax({
         type: "GET",
         url: url,
         success: callback,
         dataType: "script",
         cache: cache
      });
   };
   

2. If I call $.getScript multiple times adding the same js file, does it do request each time to get that file? If so, is there a way to check if we already imported that script, so we could avoid calling getScript again for the same file?

Answer 1

The jQuery docs for $.getScript say that getScript is shorthand for:

$.ajax({
  url: url,
  dataType: "script",
  success: success
});

http://api.jquery.com/jQuery.getScript/

This means that you just need to add a cache : true parameter to that.

$.ajax({
  url: url,
  cache : true,
  dataType: "script",
  success: success
});

Simple as that. The getScript function is nothing special, just shorthand.

Answer 2

1 . jQuery 1.12.0 and later supports the options object signature:

$.getScript({
    url: "foo.js",
    cache: true
})

2 . Assuming you set cache:true the file will be loaded from the browser cache (unless browser cache is disabled or expired, for example when devtools is open)