Working Around the Extension-less Cache
Saturday, 21. June 2008, 03:27:53
For Opera 9.50, the cache management was changed so that the stored files had no extensions. While I've lost track of the precise reasons (an Opera employee made a statement early on in the beta tests), I have to conclude that it was done for a very good reasons and won't be changed.
Dare I point out that Firefox does the exact same thing? Or that Safari doesn't even make the individual files available AT ALL? Safari puts everything inside a single database file!
For three independent browser developers to arrive at the same solution, indicates to me there is a common problem, and that none of them will be reverting to their previous behavior.
Given that, what can be done to improve your cache-diving expeditions? Opera makes it really quite simple:
What would also be nice, and doesn't seem like a lot of work on Opera's part, would be to enhance the cache display page a bit. Two new columns to show the MIME type and download date/time would be very useful. Furthermore, since it's web-based, and that there are many drop-in solutions for sortable tables on the web, sorting the table by clicking the headings sounds like an almost trivial enhancement.
Dare I point out that Firefox does the exact same thing? Or that Safari doesn't even make the individual files available AT ALL? Safari puts everything inside a single database file!
For three independent browser developers to arrive at the same solution, indicates to me there is a common problem, and that none of them will be reverting to their previous behavior.
Given that, what can be done to improve your cache-diving expeditions? Opera makes it really quite simple:
- Go to Tools -> Advanced -> Cache (shortcut: opera:cache ).
- Open the Links panel.
- Optionally expand the panel to the full page.
- Use the Quick Find field to search for file extensions, eg ".gif".
- Use standard list selection techniques (Shift/Ctrl+click for multiple selections).
- Right-click and "Save Linked Content As..." or "Save to Download Folder" (your Download Folder is specified under Tools -> Preferences -> Advanced -> Downloads).
What would also be nice, and doesn't seem like a lot of work on Opera's part, would be to enhance the cache display page a bit. Two new columns to show the MIME type and download date/time would be very useful. Furthermore, since it's web-based, and that there are many drop-in solutions for sortable tables on the web, sorting the table by clicking the headings sounds like an almost trivial enhancement.
WIDGETIZE