What are the Manifest File?

Answer

The manifest file is a simple text file, which tells the browser what to cache (and what to never cache).

The manifest file has three sections:

• CACHE MANIFEST - Files listed under this header will be cached after they are downloaded for the first time
• NETWORK - Files listed under this header require a connection to the server, and will never be cached
• FALLBACK - Files listed under this header specifies fallback pages if a page is inaccessible

CACHE MANIFEST

The first line, CACHE MANIFEST, is required:

The manifest file above lists three resources: a CSS file, a GIF image, and a JavaScript file. When the manifest file is loaded, the browser will download the three files from the root directory of the web site. Then, whenever the user is not connected to the internet, the resources will still be available.

NETWORK

The NETWORK section below specifies that the file "login.asp" should never be cached, and will not be available offline:

An asterisk can be used to indicate that all other resources/files require an internet connection:

FALLBACK

The FALLBACK section below specifies that "offline.html" will be served in place of all files in the /html/ catalog, in case an internet connection cannot be established: