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Let me begin by saying I do not want to "disable" or otherwise prevent the proper usage of the browser history buttons.

What I need is a javascript-based procedure (cross-browser compatible, hopefully) to refresh a webpage (staying on the same URL) after navigating to it using the back/forward buttons. This is necessary because during this process the server keeps track of the user's position/page, and if the user wants to jump back 3 pages I need to "inform" the server of the new location by reloading the page (or is there a better way to do it?) I already disabled caching through HTTP headers but this doesn't work for back/forward history, at least in Firefox 7.

Using jQuery is of course acceptable and desirable. I looked around a bit and found out about $(document).ready(). Now, please keep in mind I'm a complete javascript noob. I have zero experience, and the same goes for jQuery (I know what it does, I've looked at the docs, but that's about it). So I'm trying to understand how this works, but pages that mention this method seem to assume that the webdeveloper wants to modify the DOM from it, and there are a few quirks when you want to do that (load order and stuff). Since in my case I only need to refresh, it should hopefully be easier. So:

  • I understand this doesn't only run when you browse back, it also runs every time you load the page. How can I make sure I don't end up with an infinite loop? I want it to run once when I browse back, but not on load, after the automated refresh or otherwise. On a normal load I'd rather not have it running because the user would have to download each page twice, which is stupid!

  • Or is there a better way to do this? Any other ideas? Care to explain or point me in the right direction?

EDIT: I only need compatibility with:
Internet Explorer 8 or higher
Firefox 4 or higher
Recent-ish Chrome/Safari (I don't keep track of version numbers but why would someone not use up to date Chrome anyway?)

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  • PHP pages are never cached, not even with back button. Commented Sep 30, 2011 at 16:42
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    Really? So how can the browser even tell it's a PHP page? X-Powered-By? Commented Sep 30, 2011 at 16:45
  • @Rikudo, PHP pages can be cached, it all depends on the caching headers and browser settings. Commented Sep 30, 2011 at 16:45
  • that, and the fact that is (should) end with a .php, that usually helps. Commented Sep 30, 2011 at 16:45
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    @Rikudo the browser will cache any resource if you tell it to. The server side language choice is inconsequential. Also the browser is in no way concerned whether the page is processed by PHP, it renders content based on the value of the content type HTTP header Commented Sep 30, 2011 at 16:51

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The best workaround I ever found for this problem is to use location.replace(), like so.

It does not directly address the problem from my original question; however, since that seems not to have a solution (for now), I recommend that everyone uses this client side function to protect the server side pages they do not wish to have executed again by a client using the back button. I'm sure this is better explained elsewhere on stackoverflow, but for the few people using my convoluted way of thinking to look the problem up, there you have it.

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Its a bit of an abuse, but one of the ways of doing this would be to have your "proceed to next step" button as a form which POSTs. For example;

instead of 

<a href = "#foo">Proceed to next Page</a>

you have

<form action = "foo" method = "POST"><input type = "submit" value = "Proceed to next page" /></form>

If the user hits back, they'll be forced to re-send their data to the server and your page would be refreshed. This would probably be really annoying to the user though!

But as i mentioned, major abuse of forms!

EDIT: This abuse will only work for certain scenarios though, you'll be the best judge of whether it's appropriate.

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Any way to do this without annoying the user?

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