Clearing Cache issue [1.6.1.6]

[4thbasement]

Hi all,

 

I have problems with css/cache and I can't figure out the correlation between the two or why this happens or if this is the problem in the first place.

 

Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

 

In back-office Performance, clearing cache seems to mess up the site every time, usually it "fixes itself" within 20minutes but it's still a big issue as it seems totally unpredictable. Theme used is the default-bootstrap with minor modifications to the css files.  

 

By "mess up" I mean, the site looks as if there is no CSS; images are gone (except the logo ;S), categories and subcategories are spread out vertically as are all other links on the site.

 

What is really puzzling is that some links work properly: e.g., there are  3 categories under Home that are displayed in the Top Horizontal menu. Clicking one of them leads to that categories page and everything looks as intended, whereas the other 2 maintain the "broken" looking page. 

 

I am trying to customize the looks of the site and it requires editing a lot of different css files. The problem is, with every CSS change, I have to clear cache and/or recompile and/or turn cache on/off and/or what exactly? Unless I clear the cache no changes are made, and when I clear the cache, everything gets messed up for a while. 

 

Additionally, when I looked at the site this morning and nothing got changed since yesterday, the home page was missing the slider module (or just the image) and the logo used was an old one from about a month ago (!??) which led me to clearing the cache in this case. Any idea why this happened?

 

Thank you

 

 

[rocky]

Are you using CloudFlare or any other caching method on your server? You may have to disable all the "Caching" and "CCC" options on the Advanced Parameters > Performance tab until you've finished editing your CSS, then you can enable them again.

[4thbasement]

Hi rocky, 

 

Thanks for replying. 

 

I'm using a test site which should be exactly the same as the live one. I disabled every cache option I could see and that fixed the biggest issue - site getting all messed up. I assume I can safely turn everything back on and all should be normal? I will test this of course anyway . 

 

EDIT: I think I spoke too soon. I just copied some css files from the main site to the test site (files were changed and I thought I lost track of the changes), and it worked, but by the time I wrote this post, it just reverted back to how it was.

 

There is no CloudFare, but the main site does use all the cache options. I was trying to make single changes on the test site and if it works, use it on the main, but if it requires disabling cache every time then it makes more sense to do a bunch of changes at once? or is there another way to handle this without messing up the site / having to disable cache constantly which I assume slows the site down?

 

Also, I tried searching but there doesn't seem to be a collective answer to this and the individual ones are hit n' miss for me: After upgrading from 1.5 to 1.6 with 1-click, there are tons of sql errors that pop up when debugging is enabled. I managed to get rid of them somehow on the test site but noticed there was a side effect, specifically changing product details (like tags) didn't work anymore. My question is, is there a proper way (a guide or documentation) to fix up the database ? The alternative at this point would be to fix each error that pops up and then test every single aspect of BO and FO just to make sure something didn't break. -.-

 

Thank you very much for the assistance!

Edited July 15, 2016 by 4thbasement (see edit history)

[rocky]

I suggest that you leave all the caching options disabled on your test site while you are making changes, then turn on the caching options when you're finished to make sure nothing is broken, then copy your changes to the live site that has the caching options enabled all the time.

 

Unfortunately, there's no documentation I'm aware of to fix a database affected by upgrade errors.

[4thbasement]

rocky, see the edit above -.-

 

That's basically what I have been doing, except not all cache options were turned off on the test site. The problem is, the live site acts unpredictably when I make changes to it, even if they were verified on the test site. I figured it has to be disabling/enabling caches but you suggest I leave them on? 

[rocky]

I don't understand why you're having trouble. I've never had any trouble with the caching options on my own websites. You can disable them on the live site too, but then it will be slower. I guess working slower is better than not working at all.

 

What version of PrestaShop are you using? Have you tried talking to your host about it?

[4thbasement]

Yes, that is part of the problem, not understanding why it's a problem ^^. And until I figure it out, i don't want to play with cache settings on the live site because there's simply no way of knowing what can go wrong. 

 

I haven't asked my hosting about this, as I'm not even sure what to ask exactly.. 

 

I will keep testing changes with different cache settings until I find some correlation that makes sense. 

 

Thanks for the help, if you think of something else that makes sense please let me know.

[4thbasement]

I simply don't understand this.. 

 

I just deleted every file for the test site and copied everything back from the live site and there still is a difference how some things are displayed.

 

Specifically for the Layered Navigation Module, I added a line in the css that shows each filter's attribute in 2 columns instead of 1. This works on the live site but not on the test site, and the files are the same... Any thoughts anybody? How is this possible?  

[Costantini]

i have the same problem... the customers has to make an hard refresh to show the modify but i cant ask to every customers to do it...