Clear cache

[lukeis]

Originally reported on Google Code with ID 40

In order to facilitate re-using an instance of a WebDriver (such as the
Firefox one) it would be useful to be able to clear the cache, history and
cookies. Could this be added to the API?

Reported by simon.m.stewart on 2007-11-05 16:51:55

[lukeis]

Just FTR about this: http://groups.google.com/group/webdriver/browse_thread/thread/843c99c02508455a/409cd62d813de648?hl=en&lnk=gst&q=Clearing+cache+in+IE#409cd62d813de648
mentions the "RunDll32.exe InetCpl.cpl,ClearMyTracksByProcess 4351" trick (hack?),
see e.g. http://stackoverflow.com/questions/825144/how-to-clear-msie-wininet-cache-programatically/3725274#3725274
and http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows/clear-ie7-browsing-history-from-the-command-line/,
which is... good enough for us as start (and has been integrated into our in-house
InternetExplorerDriver wrapper - until available via WebDriver API.  Just thought I'd
add this here for the record for others (16 people starred this issue).

PS: http://groups.google.com/group/webdriver/browse_thread/thread/f0c1c83f091bf408/e70fdf5ee521cd4c?hl=en&lnk=gst&q=Clearing+cache+in+IE#e70fdf5ee521cd4c
says "But when 
you start a new Firefox Driver it creates a new profile (don't have to 
clear cache since it's a brand new profile)." which may be of interest to those using
FirefoxDriver (if it's correct? I'm just quoting from the list).

Reported by michael.vorburger on 2010-09-16 09:26:31

[lukeis]

Or you can just create a custom firefox profile with options 

in pref.js add this : 

user_pref("browser.cache.disk.enable", false);
user_pref("browser.cache.memory.enable", false);
user_pref("browser.cache.offline.enable", false);
user_pref("network.http.use-cache", false);

Here is the other pref I also have : 

user_pref("app.update.auto", false);
user_pref("app.update.lastUpdateTime.addon-background-update-timer", 1280826385);
user_pref("app.update.lastUpdateTime.background-update-timer", 1280826385);
user_pref("app.update.lastUpdateTime.blocklist-background-update-timer", 1280826385);
user_pref("app.update.lastUpdateTime.microsummary-generator-update-timer", 1280502030);
user_pref("app.update.lastUpdateTime.places-maintenance-timer", 1280826385);
user_pref("app.update.lastUpdateTime.search-engine-update-timer", 1280826385);
user_pref("browser.EULA.3.accepted", true);
user_pref("browser.EULA.override", true);
user_pref("browser.allowpopups", true);
user_pref("browser.bookmarks.restore_default_bookmarks", false);
user_pref("browser.download.manager.showWhenStarting", false);
user_pref("browser.history_expire_days.mirror", 180);
user_pref("browser.link.open_external", 2);
user_pref("browser.migration.version", 1);
user_pref("browser.places.smartBookmarksVersion", 1);
user_pref("browser.preferences.advanced.selectedTabIndex", 2);
user_pref("browser.privatebrowsing.autostart", true);
user_pref("browser.rights.3.shown", true);
user_pref("browser.safebrowsing.enabled", false);
user_pref("browser.search.update", false);
user_pref("browser.sessionstore.resume_session_once", true);
user_pref("browser.startup.homepage", "about:blank");
user_pref("browser.startup.homepage_override.mstone", "rv:1.9.1.11");
user_pref("browser.startup.page", 0);
user_pref("browser.tabs.warnOnClose", false);
user_pref("browser.tabs.warnOnOpen", false);
user_pref("browser.urlbar.autocomplete.enabled", false);
user_pref("dom.disable_open_during_load", false);
user_pref("dom.max_chrome_script_run_time", 1800);
user_pref("dom.max_script_run_time", 1800);
user_pref("extensions.lastAppVersion", "3.5.11");
user_pref("extensions.update.enabled", false);
user_pref("extensions.update.notifyUser", false);
user_pref("idle.lastDailyNotification", 1280826384);
user_pref("intl.charsetmenu.browser.cache", "UTF-8, ISO-8859-1");
user_pref("network.cookie.prefsMigrated", true);
user_pref("network.dns.disableIPv6", true);
user_pref("network.http.phishy-userpass-length", 255);
user_pref("pref.browser.homepage.disable_button.bookmark_page", false);
user_pref("pref.browser.homepage.disable_button.current_page", false);
user_pref("pref.browser.homepage.disable_button.restore_default", false);
user_pref("privacy.sanitize.migrateFx3Prefs", true);
user_pref("privacy.sanitize.timeSpan", 0);
user_pref("security.warn_entering_weak", false);
user_pref("security.warn_entering_weak.show_once", false);
user_pref("security.warn_viewing_mixed", false);
user_pref("security.warn_viewing_mixed.show_once", false);
user_pref("signon.rememberSignons", false);
user_pref("spellchecker.dictionary", "en_US");
user_pref("startup.homepage_welcome_url", "");
user_pref("urlclassifier.keyupdatetime.https://sb-ssl.google.com/safebrowsing/newkey",
1287053252);
user_pref("xpinstall.whitelist.required", false);

Reported by filirom1 on 2010-09-16 09:41:29

[lukeis]

user_pref("browser.cache.disk.enable", false);
user_pref("browser.cache.memory.enable", false);
user_pref("browser.cache.offline.enable", false);
user_pref("network.http.use-cache", false);

Expect tests that use these settings to run at a snails pace :)

Reported by antlong on 2010-10-12 14:23:39

[lukeis]

Any info on whether this made it in to the API?

Reported by antlong on 2010-11-16 15:51:33

[lukeis]

Bump. 

Clearing all cookies is very important for starting each test with a clean slate.
Right now we can only delete cookies of current page.

Thanks!

Reported by streetcat on 2010-12-14 11:20:14

[lukeis]

Also nice to have clearing cookies/cache on remote machine using RemoteWebDriver.

Reported by slava.markovski on 2011-08-02 07:36:25

[lukeis]

Issue 548 has been merged into this issue.

Reported by david.burns@theautomatedtester.co.uk on 2011-08-31 14:47:11

[lukeis]

Reported by barancev on 2011-10-12 18:04:59

• Labels added: Component-WebDriver

[lukeis]

IE: http://blog.patrickmeenan.com/2012/11/clearing-ies-caches-not-as-simple-as-it.html

Reported by klm@google.com on 2012-12-17 19:14:59