random numbers in a file path to prevent caching

martincrumlish

Hi,

I have a problem with a flash file I have. The content of the flash file comes from a database and it is just text. The problem I have is that if a user visits the page and then revisits the page within a reasonably short period of time, they will see the flash file wih the old content. This is down to the SWF being cached.

I have tried several workarounds to eliminate this and have had limited success.

Here is an idea I had for a solution, I just need help wih how to do it.

I want the path to the SWf to point to a PHP file which will return filename.swf?(random number) ie: filename.swf?243467

This will be different every time a user visits and as such, the swf should not be cached.

What code would I use to achieve this?

NOTE: I cant have any PHP in the URL as it is being used on third party sites that dont use PHP.

dalecosp

Originally posted by martincrumlish

I want the path to the SWf to point to a PHP file which will return filename.swf?(random number) ie: filename.swf?243467

What code would I use to achieve this?

Look at rand(). Be sure and do this

srand(microtime()*1000000);

first.

NOTE: I cant have any PHP in the URL as it is being used on third party sites that dont use PHP.

Well, technically, isn't ?243467 a PHP variable?

G'luck,

martincrumlish

Hi,

Thanks for the reply.

The way I need the file to work is like this:

There will be the HTML code to display an SWF but instead <EMBED src="movie.swf"

I need it like this:
<EMBED src="http://www.maysite.com/script.php"

This script.php would be on my server so no actual PHP code would be used on the other site.

script.php should return movie.swf?343434

The ? isnt actually PHP code as it is also used in PERL etc and wont effect the URL that is displayed.