Caching

mFilter uses a multi-level caching system for performance.

Cache types

1. Filter cache (DB)

Stored in table mfl_cache. Cached data:

• suggestions — available filter values with counts
• filter_values — values for building the form

Key format:

suggestions_{resourceId}_{filterHash}
filter_values_{resourceId}_{depth}

2. Router cache (file)

Stored in core/cache/mfilter/filter_pages.cache.php.

Contains URI → resource ID mapping for fast detection of filter pages.

<?php
// mFilter filter pages cache
return [
    'catalog/' => 5,
    'catalog/phones/' => 12,
    'catalog/tablets/' => 15,
];

3. Slug cache (memory)

Held in memory during the request:

• slugCache — value → slug
• valueCache — slug → value

Preloaded when parsing the URL to minimize DB queries.

System settings

Setting	Description	Default
mfilter.cache_enabled	Enable caching	true
mfilter.cache_lifetime	Filter cache lifetime (sec)	3600
mfilter.cache_router_lifetime	Router cache lifetime (sec)	86400

Clearing cache

From the admin

Maintenance → Clear cache

Clears:

• All rows from table mfl_cache
• File filter_pages.cache.php

Programmatically

$mfilter = $modx->services->get('mfilter');

// Clear all cache
$mfilter->clearCache();

// Clear cache for a specific page
$mfilter->invalidatePageCache($resourceId);

// Rebuild router cache
$mfilter->rebuildRouterCache();

Via Filter service

$filter = $mfilter->getFilter();

// Clear cache for a resource
$filter->clearCache($resourceId);

// Clear all filter cache
$filter->clearCache(0);

Automatic invalidation

Cache is cleared automatically when:

Event	What is cleared
Filter set saved	Cache for pages in that set
Filter set deleted	Cache for all pages
Set bindings changed	Router cache

Manual invalidation when products change

When updating products in bulk, clear the cache:

// After product import
$mfilter = $modx->services->get('mfilter');
$mfilter->clearCache();

Scheduler (background tasks)

With Scheduler installed, a cache rebuild task is available.

Running the task

$mfilter = $modx->services->get('mfilter');
$taskId = $mfilter->scheduleCacheRebuild();

Task parameters

Parameter	Description	Default
clear_first	Clear cache before rebuild	true
rebuild_router	Rebuild router cache	true
rebuild_filters	Rebuild filter cache	true

Disabling cache

Globally

System settings → mfilter.cache_enabled → No

For debugging

With the profiler on (mfilter.debug_profiler) you will see in logs:

• suggestions.cacheHit — cache hit
• suggestions.cacheCheck — cache check time

Cache size

Check in the admin

mFilter → Maintenance → System status

Shows:

• Number of cache entries
• Number of cache files

Programmatically

// Row count in DB
$count = $modx->getCount('MFilter\\Model\\MflCache');

// Cache files
$cachePath = MODX_CORE_PATH . 'cache/mfilter/';
$files = glob($cachePath . '*');

Recommendations

Small catalogs (up to 1000 products)

• Use default settings
• Cache will refresh automatically when TTL expires

Medium catalogs (1000–10000 products)

• Increase cache_lifetime to 7200–14400
• Clear cache after import

Large catalogs (10000+ products)

• Use Scheduler for background rebuild
• Schedule a cron job for off-peak hours:

// Scheduler task
$mfilter->scheduleCacheRebuild();

When products update often

If products change frequently (prices, stock), lower TTL:

mfilter.cache_lifetime = 1800

When products rarely change

Increase TTL for maximum performance:

mfilter.cache_lifetime = 86400
mfilter.cache_router_lifetime = 604800

mfl_cache table structure

Column	Type	Description
id	int	Primary key
cache_key	varchar(255)	Unique cache key
cache_value	mediumtext	Serialized data (JSON)
created_at	datetime	Creation time
expires_at	datetime	Expiration time

Indexes:

• uk_cache_key — unique index on key
• idx_expires — index for purging expired rows