speed

Before all, PEAR::Cache_Lite has to be extremely fast. That returns the use of PEAR possible on sites with high traffic without falling in hi-level hardware solutions.

You can find more details about cache_lite technical choices on the this document. but the main idea is to include PEAR.php file ONLY when an error occurs (very rare).

simplicity

Because the cache system is often embedded in the application layer, PEAR::Cache_Lite kernel has to be small and flexible with an adapted licence (LGPL). Advanced functionnalities can be found in files that extends the core.

security

On high traffic websites, the cache system has to be really protected against cache files corruptions (because of concurrent accesses in read/write mode). Very few cache systems offer a protection against this problem.

File locking is not a perfect solution because it is useless with NFS or multithreaded servers. So in addition to it, PEAR::Cache_Lite offers two fully transparent mechanisms (based on hash keys) to guarantee the security of the data in all circumstances. Just have a look at the link given in the previous paragraph for more details.

general usage

Every module of Cache_Lite follows the same philosophy.

Parameters (others than default ones) are passed to the constructor by using an associative array.

A cache file is identified by a cache ID (and eventually a group). For obvious flexibility reasons, the logic of IDs choice is left to the developer.

In the following, we will use the term "group" as a pool of cache files and the term "block" as a piece of an HTML page.

core

Let's start with a simple example : the page is built then recovered in an unique variable (string):

<?php

// Include the package
require_once('Cache/Lite.php');

// Set a id for this cache
$id = '123';

// Set a few options
$options = array(
    'cacheDir' => '/tmp/',
    'lifeTime' => 3600
);

// Create a Cache_Lite object
$Cache_Lite = new Cache_Lite($options);

// Test if thereis a valide cache for this id
if ($data = $Cache_Lite->get($id)) {

    // Cache hit !
    // Content is in $data
    // (...)

} else { // No valid cache found (you have to make the page)

    // Cache miss !
    // Put in $data datas to put in cache
    // (...)
    $Cache_Lite->save($data);

}

?>

If you wish use a cache per block and not a global cache, take as example the following script:

<?php
require_once('Cache/Lite.php');

$options = array(
    'cacheDir' => '/tmp/',
    'lifeTime' => 3600
);

// Create a Cache_Lite object
$Cache_Lite = new Cache_Lite($options);

if ($data = $Cache_Lite->get('block1')) {
    echo($data);
} else {
    $data = 'Data of the block 1';
    $Cache_Lite->save($data);
}

echo('<br><br>Non cached line !<br><br>');

if ($data = $Cache_Lite->get('block2')) {
    echo($data);
} else {
    $data = 'Data of the block 2';
    $Cache_Lite->save($data);
}

?>

core

However, it is not always possible to recover all the contents of a page in a single string variable. Thus Cache_Lite_Output comes to our help :

<?php

require_once('Cache/Lite/Output.php');

$options = array(
    'cacheDir' => '/tmp/',
    'lifeTime' => 10
);

$cache = new Cache_Lite_Output($options);

if (!($cache->start('123'))) {
    // Cache missed...
    for($i=0;$i<1000;$i++) { // Making of the page...
        echo('0123456789');
    }
    $cache->end();
}

?>

The idea is the same for a per block usage :

<?php

require_once('Cache/Lite/Output.php');

$options = array(
    'cacheDir' => '/tmp/',
    'lifeTime' => 10
);

$cache = new Cache_Lite_Output($options);

if (!($cache->start('block1'))) {
    // Cache missed...
    echo('Data of the block 1 !');
    $cache->end();
}

echo('Non cached line !');

if (!($cache->start('block2'))) {
    // Cache missed...
    echo('Data of the block 2 !');
    $cache->end();
}

?>

IMPORTANT NOTE

For a maximum efficiency with Cache_Lite, do not systematically include every package the page needs. ONLY load the modules you need when the page is not in the cache (and has to be recomputed) by using a conditionnal inclusion.

The BAD way :

<?php
   require_once("Cache/Lite.php");
   require_once("...")
   require_once("...")
   // (...)
   $cache = new Cache_Lite();
   if ($data = $Cache_Lite->get($id)) { // cache hit !
       echo($data);
   } else { // page has to be (re)constructed in $data
       // (...)
       $Cache_Lite->save($data);
   }
?>

Here is the good way (often more than twice faster) :

<?php
   require_once("Cache/Lite.php");
   // (...)
   $cache = new Cache_Lite();
   if ($data = $Cache_Lite->get($id)) { // cache hit !
       echo($data);
   } else { // page has to be (re)constructed in $data
       require_once("...")
       require_once("...")
       // (...)
       $Cache_Lite->save($data);
   }
?>