Add a means of disabling cache in development mode, cache docs

[jywarren]

I've continued having some issues with the cache, but it's hard to tell if I am seeing correct behaviors. I'd like to propose a few things, first that of the title - a way to disable the cache if it's running locally in development, to speed up local development.

(could relate to #544, #605)

Next (we can break out a new issue for this), I'd like to add more documentation about the cache, such as:

1. where cache is stored and how to clear it from the javascript console in a browser window
2. what sw.js is and what it does exactly
3. documentation of this type of caching overall (MDN?) and it's purpose
4. relation to Empty Cache and Hard Reload in Chrome; does this reload the cache?
5. if the cache means we should be able to access Image Sequencer while not connected to the internet (this doesn't seem to work for me)
6. the exact steps for updating the cache version (i see v3 cited in the gh-pages footer, but it never changes)
7. what updating the cache version does

Thanks everyone, i think the cache is a little bit mysterious and we could do better on documenting its usage!

[jywarren]

@publiclab/is-reviewers what do you think of this? Any input on the cache in general? Thank you!!!

[Mridul97]

@jywarren It's a great idea. Clearing cache everytime to see changes during development slows the process.

[tech4GT]

@Mridul97 @jywarren you can disable it in your devtools.

[jywarren]

oh really? Can you screenshot this so it's easy to do? This'll really speed things up!

…

On Tue, Feb 12, 2019 at 8:24 AM Varun Gupta ***@***.***> wrote: @Mridul97 <https://github.com/Mridul97> @jywarren <https://github.com/jywarren> you can disable it in your devtools. — You are receiving this because you were mentioned. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#761 (comment)>, or mute the thread <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AABfJ1qwePXaDaxXKFgOjiPv9x3QhS6-ks5vMsBbgaJpZM4a1UsU> .

[tech4GT]

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/5690269/disabling-chrome-cache-for-website-development

[jywarren]

OK, awesome:

I still wonder if there is a way to do it in the code too, and leave it that way for development?

[VladimirMikulic]

@tech4GT it doesn't work anymore. Probably there is a bug with the service worker that handles it.

[VladimirMikulic]

The cache from a few days ago was as big as 712 megabytes from the image-sequencer in development mode! Unfortunately, I forgot to take a screenshot of it before I cleared it.
Not to mention high CPU usage, DevTools RAM usage exceeded 2GB of RAM!

This project has some huge issues in the development mode.