(Rails, Flash) Why would my updated Flash chart not be refreshing in Internet Explorer?

Question

Hi All,

I've got a bit of an odd issue here. Basically it only occurs in IE. Safari, Firefox, and Opera work just fine.

FYI, I am using XMLCharts (http://www.maani.us/xml%5Fcharts/) to display chart data. Basically I have a library that generates up-to-the-minute data on the fly based on selected date ranges. Well, for whatever reason, IE refuses to show the updated chart after changing the date range. I've confirmed that the server is actually generating the renewed data in the background (as I can see the raw data file that is output), but IE seems to cache the previous Flash chart for display instead of displaying a fresh one.

For the record, I am keeping the name of the chart the same between refreshes, so that may be part of the IE issue. Still, the other browsers refresh and show up-to-date info as necessary, I'm not sure why IE doesn't display the chart with the updated data.

Any ideas? Can I force a refresh of some sort?

Best.

Answer 1

I don't know the library, but most of the flash charts libraries use an XML or JSON data file, and loading them trough http request. Try adding a random parameter to the url of the data file, for example: instead of "/data.xml" try "/data.xml?tmp=327932423487"