[Plugin: W3 Total Cache] Editing css and syncing cdn files

I’m having a similar problem with Amazon Cloudfront. When I modify CSS or try to replace an image attachment, the original file refuses to update on the distribution. I’m not sure whether this is an Amazon issue or a W3 Total Cache issue I’m having…

I came across this thread on ServerFault.com that suggest the issue is with Cloudfront not updating the files.

https://serverfault.com/questions/205111/css-files-not-getting-updated-on-cloudfront

It claims you need to run an invalidation request through AWS to tell Cloudfront to update files sooner. Another possibility suggested in the thread is to delete and recreate the Cloudfront distribution. But that seems like an awfully heavy-handed solution.

It would be terrific if w3 Total Cache could somehow handle this automatically — if it is indeed the problem.

Another bit of information: I updated my CSS files directly through the Amazon AWS console yesterday. It didn’t change immediately, but does seem to have updated finally.

So, I’m guessing this means that the distribution does take a while to update – I’ve read 24 hours.

I’m still tweaking a recent re-design of my site, so this isn’t fast enough. My solution for CSS has been to list my main style sheet in the Reject Files field of the W3 Total Cache CDN management screen. Perhaps I’ll include it in the CDN once things are more stable. Maybe minifying would help…?

If there is no way to update image revisions faster – I’m guessing the answer is to make sure images are correct to begin with (goodbye sweet compulsion) or change the image name if something faster is required.

When you edit your css files, go the Minify page and hit Save Changes then clear the cache.

You don’t need to invalidate that cache with AWS. @klark0 is right, simply empty the cache and new files will be uploaded to S3 automatically (and empty the page cache for good measure).

Frederick, What if your not using minify for css? As stated above, emptying the cache doesn’t seem to sync the css files. Unfortunately, I ended up using cemery’s solution above…”list my main style sheet in the Reject Files ”

Then the paths to theme/plugin files in question should be specified in the custom files field on the CDN settings tab.