I’m facing issues with my AJAX navigation where the JavaScript files persist in the browser after loading new content, even though they no longer exist in the DOM. These files appear as VM files in the browser console and continue executing their scripts. This is problematic because the JavaScript files should be replaced with new ones when content is fetched through AJAX.
Here’s the structure of my DOM:
Latest content with its own JavaScript
</main>
<footer></footer>
<script src="scripts/main.js"></script>
Each time I load a page with a specific JavaScript file, a new VM file generates, resulting in accumulated older files. How can I resolve this issue? I need to ensure that duplicated files are prevented and the previous JavaScript file is removed when a new one loads.
Hey there, have you tried manually unloading those scripts b4 injecting the new ones? sometimes when scripts r dynamically loaded, they don’t remove themselves properly. Try using $.ajaxSetup({ cache: false }); to prevent caching, also consider unbinding events attached to old scripts.
One approach I’ve found effective is to keep track of the scripts being loaded by maintaining a map or list of script references. Before injecting a new script through your AJAX call, check if a reference to the old script exists and explicitly remove it from the DOM. You could also leverage require.js or another module loader to manage dependencies and script loading more efficiently. This not only ensures the old files are removed but also makes the codebase more maintainable. Additionally, invoking delete on any associated variables or objects helps in cleaning up memory.
You might wnt to look into using jQuery.ajax with the ‘complete’ callback. Once content is loaded, remove any script tags related to old content. Also, wrapping your scripts in a function can help localize variables and prevent lingering process after content is replaced.