How to reload/refresh an element(image) in jQuery

Question

Is it possible to reload an image with an identical file name from a server using jQuery?

For example, I have an image on a page, however, the physical image can change based on user actions. Note, this does not mean the file name changes, but the actual file itself.

ie:

• User views image on default page
• User uploads new image
• Default image on page does not change(I assume this is due to the file name being identical, the browser uses the cached version)

Regardless of how often the code below is called, the same issue persists.

$("#myimg").attr("src", "/myimg.jpg");

In the jQuery documentation, the "load" function would be perfect if it had a default method of firing the event as opposed to binding a callback function to a successful/complete load of an element.

Any assistance is greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

It sounds like it's your browser caching the image (which I now notice you wrote in your question). You can force the browser to reload the image by passing an extra variable like so:

d = new Date();
$("#myimg").attr("src", "/myimg.jpg?"+d.getTime());

Answer 2

This could be one of the two problems you mention yourself.

1. The server is caching the image
2. The jQuery does not fire or at least doesn't update the attribute

To be honest, I think it's number two. Would be a lot easier if we could see some more jQuery. But for a start, try remove the attribute first, and then set it again. Just to see if that helps:

$("#myimg").removeAttr("src").attr("src", "/myimg.jpg");

Even if this works, post some code since this is not optimal, imo :-)

Answer 3

It's probably not the best way, but I've solved this problem in the past by simply appending a timestamp to the image URL using JavaScript:

$("#myimg").attr("src", "/myimg.jpg?timestamp=" + new Date().getTime());

Next time it loads, the timestamp is set to the current time and the URL is different, so the browser does a GET for the image instead of using the cached version.

Answer 4

Have you tried resetting the image containers html. Of course if it's the browser that is caching then this wouldn't help.

function imageUploadComplete () {
    $("#image_container").html("<img src='" + newImageUrl + "'>");
}