Preference Caching
From MemberPlugin
Contents |
When they're read
When the extension runs on a group, and has determined where the preferences are located (either by finding the tag on the description or by looking in the files section), it will then decide whether to read them.
It reads them if
- it has been at least 24 hours since they were last read
- you move your mouse over (but don't click) the disable button and then reload the page
- you've just disabled/enabled the plugin using the button.
If it attempts to read them and fails, it will continue with the existing settings. The effect of this is to:
- Speed up the browser because it has fewer requests to make.
- Make it resilient to problems - for example, if you store your preferences on My Freecycle, and that's down, then your members won't be affected except once every 24 hours, when it will take a little longer to load the page.
- Decrease the load on wherever the preferences are stored.
Where they're stored
They're stored on the machine the plugin is installed on.
Internet Explorer
In the registry, under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\FreecyclePlugin, there are two fields for each group:
- lastcheck.URL is the number of seconds since 1970 at which the preferences were last read.
- prefs.URL is the contents of the preferences file
Firefox
In the preferences, under extensions.freecycleedinburgh. There are lastcheck and prefs entries as above.
Modifying them
This is dangerous. Don't do it for fun. Plus, it's not actually fun.
If you're familiar with the tool regedit (for IE) or about:config (for Firefox), you can play with these:
- Edit the time to force a reload, for example by decrementing the first digit.
- Delete both. Don't delete just one of these, otherwise you'll break it.
