feat: add settings file and update caching policies for Tips page

Author: csharpfritz

.aspire/settings.json

@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+{
+  "appHostPath": "../AppHost/AppHost.csproj"
+}

Web/Pages/Tips/Index.cshtml.cs

@@ -6,12 +6,15 @@
 
 namespace Web.Pages.Tips;
 
-[OutputCache(PolicyName = "SearchResults")]
+// Disable output caching for this page to prevent form state caching issues
+// We'll implement data-level caching in the service layer instead
 public class IndexModel : BasePageModel
 {
     private readonly IContentService _contentService;
-    private readonly ILogger<IndexModel> _logger;      // Use default cache duration for tips list (6 hours) since new tips are added infrequently
-    // protected override int CacheDurationSeconds => base.CacheDurationSeconds; // 6 hours default
+    private readonly ILogger<IndexModel> _logger;
+    
+    // Disable page-level caching to prevent form state issues
+    protected override bool AllowCaching => false;
 
     public IndexModel(IContentService contentService, ILogger<IndexModel> logger)
     {
@@ -36,13 +39,9 @@ public IndexModel(IContentService contentService, ILogger<IndexModel> logger)
 
     public async Task<IActionResult> OnGetAsync()
     {
-        // For search results, prevent aggressive browser caching
-        if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(Search) || !string.IsNullOrEmpty(Category) || 
-            !string.IsNullOrEmpty(Tag) || !string.IsNullOrEmpty(Difficulty) || PageNumber > 1)
-        {
-            Response.Headers.CacheControl = "no-cache, must-revalidate";
-            Response.Headers.Pragma = "no-cache";
-        }
+        // Set cache headers to prevent browser caching of the HTML form state
+        Response.Headers.CacheControl = "no-cache, must-revalidate";
+        Response.Headers.Pragma = "no-cache";
 
         try
         {
@@ -56,6 +55,8 @@ public async Task<IActionResult> OnGetAsync()
                 PageSize = 12
             };
 
+						Console.WriteLine($"Searching tips with: Category={Category}, Tag={Tag}, Search={Search}, Difficulty={Difficulty}, Page={PageNumber}");
+
             var searchResult = await _contentService.SearchTipsAsync(request);
 
             // Get filter options

Web/Program.cs

@@ -111,12 +111,12 @@
 						 .Expire(TimeSpan.FromDays(3))        // Cache tips for 3 days
 						 .Tag("outputcache", "tips", "content")); // Add tags for better organization
 
-	// Policy for search results - shorter cache for dynamic filtering
+	// Policy for search results - varies by all filter parameters for proper form state
 	options.AddPolicy("SearchResults", builder =>
 			builder.Cache()
 						 .SetVaryByHost(true)
 						 .SetVaryByQuery("category", "tag", "search", "difficulty", "pageNumber")
-						 .Expire(TimeSpan.FromMinutes(5))     // Cache search results for 5 minutes
+						 .Expire(TimeSpan.FromSeconds(30))    // Very short cache for better user experience
 						 .Tag("outputcache", "search", "tips")); // Add tags for better organization
 
 	// Policy for frequently updated content - extended to 6 hours minimum
@@ -160,7 +160,7 @@
 app.UseRewriter(options);
 
 // Configure the HTTP request pipeline.
-if (!app.Environment.IsDevelopment())
+if (true || !app.Environment.IsDevelopment())
 {
 	app.UseExceptionHandler("/Error");
 	app.UseHsts();