Back
Apr 3, 2011

Sprite cache invalidation

When we use css-sprites it's important to make browser cache them for longest period possible. On other hand, we need to refresh them when they are updated. This is especially visible when all icons are stored in single sprite. When it's outdated - entire site becomes ugly.

To solve this task I've implemented this small script that adds file's hash to url:

background-image: url(images/icons.png);
background-image: url(images/icons.png?a3844c660);
#!/usr/bin/python

import os.path
import re
import hashlib


def file_hash(filename, block_size=2**20):
    md5 = hashlib.md5()
    with open(filename, 'rb') as f:
        for data in iter(lambda: f.read(block_size), ''):
            md5.update(data)
    return md5.hexdigest()


def find_replace(match, basedir):
    match = match.replace("'", '')
    if '?' in match or '#' in match or match.startswith('http://'):
        print 'skipping: ', match
        return None

    filename = os.path.join(basedir, match)
    return '%s?%s' % (match, file_hash(filename)[:10])


def insert_hash(filename, debug=False):
    basedir = os.path.dirname(filename)
    css = open(filename).read()
    matches = re.findall(r"url\((.*?)\)", css)
    replacements = dict([
        (match, find_replace(match, basedir))
        for match in matches
    ])

    if debug:
        for key, value in replacements.iteritems():
            print key, '    =>    ', value
    else:
        for match, repl in replacements.iteritems():
            if repl:
                css = css.replace(match, repl)

        out = open(filename, 'w')
        out.write(css)
        out.close()


if __name__ == '__main__':
    from optparse import OptionParser
    usage = 'usage: %prog filename.css'

    parser = OptionParser(usage=usage)
    parser.add_option("", "--debug", action="store_true", dest="debug", default=False,
                      help="When set, just output list of substitutions.")

    (options, args) = parser.parse_args()

    if len(args) < 1:
        print 'You must provide file name.'

    insert_hash(os.path.realpath(args[0]), options.debug)

Update

This is pretty old article. Now it's better to use something integrated to your build process - grunt, webassets, etc.

Subscribe for the news and updates

More thoughts
Mar 18, 2024Technology
From boring to exciting: turn learning to code into an adventure

Tired of boring programming courses where you're forced to read thick textbooks and write code that's never used? Need a platform that makes learning fun and exciting? Then you're in the right place!

Sep 8, 2023Technology
Smooth React virtual scroll with fixed rows/columns

One of our ongoing projects, Neptyne, introduces an Excel-like grid written in React. We used a library to apply virtual scroll to it, but we stumbled upon a problem with fixed rows and columns inside the grid. Here I would like to describe this problem, how it occurs, and how we handled it.

Apr 27, 2022TechnologyBusiness
How to Choose the Best Javascript Framework: Comparison of the Top Javascript Frameworks

In our article, you will find the best JavaScript framework comparison so that you know for sure how to choose the right one for your project.

Feb 12, 2020Technology
5 Best Payment Gateways For 2020

We reviewed the best payment gateways in 2020. Here’s our comparison of their features, advantages, and disadvantages.

May 22, 2017Technology
Web Application Security: 10 Best Practices

Protection of WEB App is of paramount importance and it should be afforded the same level of security as the intellectual rights or private property. I'm going to cover how to protect your web app.

Aug 8, 2016TechnologyBusiness
How To Add HTML5 Geolocation To Your Web App?

In this article I will describe how to integrate geolocation HTML5 function to a web app so you can then easily implement it in your apps or websites. As an example we are going to create small web app which will be able to calculate the shortest route between detected user’s location and predefined destination using Google Maps API.