Updated February 27, 2023
Introduction to Rails Cache
A cache is a process that involves temporarily making a store of the content generated. These are contents that are mostly created during the request-response scenario. So when an HTTP request is being raised and a corresponding response is generated, that is the point at which the Rails cache process will be coming into play. The cache intends that the cached information will respond to similar requests. One considerable aspect of cache services is that these cache services will enhance the performance of the application. So the major use of cache services is such that it can catch and sustain a load of a large set of concurrent users irrespective of the system being mounted on a single system on a single server.
Why Use Rails Cache?
A cache is a part of almost all web technologies. When the term web technologies come into play, the caching process will be considered. As discussed before, the key advantage of the cache that must be used in an application is its high capability of incrementing or boosting the system’s overall performance. This is the primary advantage of cache systems. In all aspects, the cache system will increase the capability of an application system. The major aspect of the technique through which the performance is incremented is such that the cache system will help keep a good store of the previous requests, which will be received back when subsequent requests are made. This is the biggest advantage of these cache systems. From a rails perspective, there are several ways in which cache systems are induced into play. We will discuss the methods through which cache systems have been used in the upcoming section of the article.
Types of Rails Cache
There are several ways in which the rails cache can be divided; the different types of rails cache are as follows,
1. Page Caching
Here the caching process will be carried out at a page level. So the entire page will be considered in this kind of caching process. So, page-level caching is a process where the action performed on a specific page will be entirely stored as an HTML file. So when a similar operation has been raised further, the entire stored page can be retrieved and processed. So this process will involve dynamic content generation. The paging level cache process is a level of granularity that can be more suitable for pages that are not very different between application users.
2. Action Caching
Action caching is a process where the caching will be performed at the action level. They are very similar to the page-level caching process. The major difference between page-level and action-level caching is that the caching calls will be routed to a controller, and the controller will decide what filters can be applied. The action chain process can be performed for any method in the controller level class. The action caching can be implied just with a one-line syntax on to your code,
Syntax:
caches_action :<action_name>Example:
class ElementsController < ActionController
before_filter :authenticate
caches_action :page_index3. Fragment Caching
Fragment level caching is the next section of caching service offered by rails. This is a caching technique that is considered the most granular one. Fragment caching is a considerably granular caching service. The fragment-level caching process is useful when only a few action sections must be changed widely. So, fragment-level caching will come into play whenever something has to be frequently changed. The major distinguishment of fragment caching is that it can be done only on the template level and cannot be performed on the controller level. This is the premier advantage of fragment-level cache services. The fragment caching is very considerable for caching widgets in the application. Below is an example of how caching can be performed at the fragment level. In the below example, the products are listed at the division level, and encapsulating the products within the cache tag will allow the rails to take care of the fragment caching processes.
Example:
# _elements.html.erb
<% cache(element) do %>
<div><%= link_to element, element.name %>: <%= element.price%></div>
<div><%= perform the intended operation%></div>
<% end %>Other Caching Techniques in Rails
Apart from the above-discussed types, there are also several other ways through which cache can be performed in rails; they have been discussed below,
HTTP caching can be performed, which involves minimum involvement of changes to the application and caching the cache data at the HTTP level.
Low-level caching is where the cache process rolls through the object of rails directly. It can be used to store any data that is very costly to be retrieved. These data can be considered to be somewhat out of date. This caching technique is widely used for items involving database level calls and API level calls. The major aspect or technique through which the performance is incremented is that the cache system will help keep a good store of the previous requests, which will be received back when subsequent requests are made.
Rails Cache Clear
Clearing the cache associated with rails cache services can be performed at the command level. To perform this operation, the rails cache clear command has been used.
Command:
Rails.cache.clearThis command is so useful in such a way that all contents in the cache stores, irrespective of what system they are, can be cleared. More specifically, to denote the cache stored in the file store and the cache stored in mem_cache_store, both these caches will be cleared when the clear cache command has been used in the console.
Conclusion
The various techniques and necessities of caching are discussed very briefly in this article. This article indicates why cache services are used in web-based technologies and how the performance of applications can be upscaled with the help of rails cache services.
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