HTTP Caching
============

Besides server-side caching that we have described in the previous sections, Web applications may
also exploit client-side caching to save the time for generating and transmitting the same page content.

To use client-side caching, you may configure [[yii\filters\HttpCache]] as a filter for controller
actions whose rendering result may be cached on the client side. [[yii\filters\HttpCache|HttpCache]]
only works for `GET` and `HEAD` requests. It can handle three kinds of cache-related HTTP headers for these requests:

* [[yii\filters\HttpCache::lastModified|Last-Modified]]
* [[yii\filters\HttpCache::etagSeed|Etag]]
* [[yii\filters\HttpCache::cacheControlHeader|Cache-Control]]


## `Last-Modified` Header <a name="last-modified"></a>

The `Last-Modified` header uses a timestamp to indicate if the page has been modified since the client caches it.

You may configure the [[yii\filters\HttpCache::lastModified]] property to enable sending
the `Last-Modified` header. The property should be a PHP callable returning a UNIX timestamp about
the page modification time. The signature of the PHP callable should be as follows,

```php
/**
 * @param Action $action the action object that is being handled currently
 * @param array $params the value of the "params" property
 * @return integer a UNIX timestamp representing the page modification time
 */
function ($action, $params)
```

The following is an example of making use of the `Last-Modified` header:

```php
public function behaviors()
{
    return [
        [
            'class' => 'yii\filters\HttpCache',
            'only' => ['index'],
            'lastModified' => function ($action, $params) {
                $q = new \yii\db\Query();
                return $q->from('post')->max('updated_at');
            },
        ],
    ];
}
```

The above code states that HTTP caching should be enabled for the `index` action only. It should
generate a `Last-Modified` HTTP header based on the last update time of posts. When a browser visits
the `index` page for the first time, the page will be generated on the server and sent to the browser;
If the browser visits the same page again and there is no post being modified during the period,
the server will not re-generate the page, and the browser will use the cached version on the client side.
As a result, server-side rendering and page content transmission are both skipped.


## `ETag` Header <a name="etag"></a>

The "Entity Tag" (or `ETag` for short) header use a hash to represent the content of a page. If the page
is changed, the hash will be changed as well. By comparing the hash kept on the client side with the hash
generated on the server side, the cache may determine whether the page has been changed and should be re-transmitted.

You may configure the [[yii\filters\HttpCache::etagSeed]] property to enable sending the `ETag` header.
The property should be a PHP callable returning a seed for generating the ETag hash. The signature of the PHP callable
should be as follows,

```php
/**
 * @param Action $action the action object that is being handled currently
 * @param array $params the value of the "params" property
 * @return string a string used as the seed for generating an ETag hash
 */
function ($action, $params)
```

The following is an example of making use of the `ETag` header:

```php
public function behaviors()
{
    return [
        [
            'class' => 'yii\filters\HttpCache',
            'only' => ['view'],
            'etagSeed' => function ($action, $params) {
                $post = $this->findModel(\Yii::$app->request->get('id'));
                return serialize([$post->title, $post->content]);
            },
        ],
    ];
}
```

The above code states that HTTP caching should be enabled for the `view` action only. It should
generate an `ETag` HTTP header based on the title and content of the requested post. When a browser visits
the `view` page for the first time, the page will be generated on the server and sent to the browser;
If the browser visits the same page again and there is change to the title and content of the post,
the server will not re-generate the page, and the browser will use the cached version on the client side.
As a result, server-side rendering and page content transmission are both skipped.

ETags allow more complex and/or more precise caching strategies than `Last-Modified` headers.
For instance, an ETag can be invalidated if the site has switched to another theme.

Expensive ETag generation may defeat the purpose of using `HttpCache` and introduce unnecessary overhead,
since they need to be re-evaluated on every request. Try to find a simple expression that invalidates
the cache if the page content has been modified.


> Note: In compliant to [RFC 2616, section 13.3.4](http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2616#section-13.3.4),
  `HttpCache` will send out both `ETag` and `Last-Modified` headers if they are both configured.
  Consequently, both will be used for cache validation if sent by the client.


## `Cache-Control` Header <a name="cache-control"></a>

The `Cache-Control` header specifies the general caching policy for pages. You may send it by configuring
the [[yii\filters\HttpCache::cacheControlHeader]] property with the header value. By default, the following
header will be sent:

```
Cache-Control: public, max-age=3600
```

## Session Cache Limiter <a name="session-cache-limiter"></a>

When a page uses session, PHP will automatically send some cache-related HTTP headers as specified in
the `session.cache_limiter` PHP INI setting. These headers may interfere or disable the caching
that you want from `HttpCache`. To prevent this problem, by default `HttpCache` will disable sending
these headers automatically. If you want to change this behavior, you should configure the
[[yii\filters\HttpCache::sessionCacheLimiter]] property. The property can take a string value, including
`public`, `private`, `private_no_expire`, and `nocache`. Please refer to the PHP manual about
[session_cache_limiter()](http://www.php.net/manual/en/function.session-cache-limiter.php)
for explanations about these values.


## SEO Implications <a name="seo-implications"></a>

Search engine bots tend to respect cache headers. Since some crawlers have a limit on how many pages
per domain they process within a certain time span, introducing caching headers may help indexing your
site as they reduce the number of pages that need to be processed.

