State Management

Agenda
View state Application cache Session state Profiles Cookies

View State
Mechanism for persisting relatively small pieces of data across postbacks
Used by pages and controls to persist state Also available to you for persisting state

Relies on hidden input field (__VIEWSTATE) Accessed through ViewState property Tamper-proof; optionally encryptable

Reading and Writing View State

// Write the price of an item to view state ViewState["Price"] = price; // Read the price back following a postback decimal price = (decimal) ViewState["Price"];

View State and Data Types

What data types can you store in view state?
Primitive types (strings, integers, etc.) Types accompanied by type converters Serializable types (types compatible with BinaryFormatter)

System.Web.UI.LosFormatter performs serialization and deserialization

Optimized for compact storage of strings, integers, booleans, arrays, and hash tables

Application Cache
Intelligent in-memory data store
Item prioritization and automatic eviction Time-based expiration and cache dependencies Cache removal callbacks

Application scope (available to all users) Accessed through Cache property

Page.Cache - ASPX HttpContext.Cache - Global.asax

Great tool for enhancing performance

Using the Application Cache

// Write a Hashtable containing stock prices to the cache Hashtable stocks = new Hashtable (); stocks.Add ("AMZN", 10.00m); stocks.Add ("INTC", 20.00m); stocks.Add ("MSFT", 30.00m); Cache.Insert ("Stocks", stocks); . . . // Fetch the price of Microsoft stock Hashtable stocks = (Hashtable) Cache["Stocks"]; if (stocks != null) // Important! decimal msft = (decimal) stocks["MSFT"]; . . . // Remove the Hashtable from the cache Cache.Remove ("Stocks");

Cache.Insert
public void Insert ( string key, // Key that identifies item object value, // The item itself CacheDependency dependencies, // Cache dependencies (if any) DateTime absoluteExpiration, // When should item expire (absolute)? TimeSpan slidingExpiration, // When should item expire (sliding)? CacheItemPriority priority, // Item's priority relative to other items CacheItemRemovedCallback onRemoveCallback // Removal callback delegate );

Temporal Expiration
Cache.Insert ("Stocks", stocks, null, DateTime.Now.AddMinutes (5), Cache.NoSlidingExpiration);

Expire after 5 minutes Expire if 5 minutes elapse without the item being retrieved from the cache

Cache.Insert ("Stocks", stocks, null, Cache.NoAbsoluteExpiration, TimeSpan.FromMinutes (5));

Cache Dependencies
Cache.Insert ("Stocks", stocks, new CacheDependency (Server.MapPath ("Stocks.xml")));

Expire if and when Stocks.xml changes Expire if and when the "Stocks" database's "Prices" table changes

Cache.Insert ("Stocks", stocks, new SqlCacheDependency ("Stocks", "Prices"));

Application Cache

Session State
Read/write per-user data store Accessed through Session property
Page.Session - ASPX HttpApplication.Session - Global.asax

Provider-based for flexible data storage

In-process (default) State server process SQL Server

Cookied or cookieless

Using Session State

// Write a ShoppingCart object to session state ShoppingCart cart = new ShoppingCart (); Session["Cart"] = cart; . . . // Read this user's ShoppingCart from session state ShoppingCart cart = (ShoppingCart) Session["Cart"]; . . . // Remove this user's ShoppingCart from session state Session.Remove ("Cart");

In-Process Session State

<!-- Web.config --> <configuration> <system.web> <sessionState mode="InProc" /> ... </system.web> </configuration>

Web Server
ASP.NET Session State

Session state stored inside ASP.NET's worker process

State Server Session State

<!-- Web.config --> <configuration> <system.web> <sessionState mode="StateServer" stateConnectionString="tcpip=24.159.185.213:42424" /> ... </system.web> </configuration>

Web Server
ASP.NET

State Server
aspnet_state Process

ASP.NET state service (aspnet_state.exe)

SQL Server Session State

<!-- Web.config --> <configuration> <system.web> <sessionState mode="SQLServer" sqlConnectionString="server=orion;integrated security=true" /> ... </system.web> </configuration>

Web Server
ASP.NET

Database Server
ASPState Database

Created with InstallSqlState.sql or InstallPersistSqlState.sql

Session Events
Session_Start event signals new session Session_End event signals end of session Process with handlers in Global.asax
void Session_Start () { // Create a shopping cart and store it in session state // each time a new session is started Session["Cart"] = new ShoppingCart (); } void Session_End () { // Do any cleanup here when session ends }

Session Time-Outs
Sessions end when predetermined time period elapses without any requests from session's owner Default time-out = 20 minutes Time-out can be changed in Web.config
<!-- Web.config --> <configuration> <system.web> <sessionState timeout="60" /> ... </system.web> </configuration>

Profile Service
Stores per-user data persistently
Strongly typed access (unlike session state) On-demand lookup (unlike session state) Long-lived (unlike session state) Supports authenticated and anonymous users

Accessed through dynamically compiled HttpProfileBase derivatives (HttpProfile) Provider-based for flexible data storage

Profile Schema
Profiles
HttpProfileBase HttpProfile (Autogenerated HttpProfileBase-Derivative) HttpProfile (Autogenerated HttpProfileBase-Derivative)

Profile Providers
AccessProfileProvider SqlProfileProvider Other Providers

Profile Data Stores

Other Data Stores

Access

SQL Server

Defining a Profile
<configuration> <system.web> <profile> <properties> <add name="ScreenName" /> <add name="Posts" type="System.Int32" defaultValue="0" /> <add name="LastPost" type="System.DateTime" /> </properties> </profile> </system.web> </configuration>

Using a Profile
// Increment the current user's post count Profile.Posts = Profile.Posts + 1; // Update the current user's last post date Profile.LastPost = DateTime.Now;

How Profiles Work

Autogenerated class representing the page
public partial class page_aspx : System.Web.UI.Page { ... protected ASP.HttpProfile Profile { get { return ((ASP.HttpProfile)(this.Context.Profile)); } } ... }

Autogenerated class derived from HttpProfileBase

Profile property included in autogenerated page class

Profile Groups
Properties can be grouped <group> element defines groups
<profile> <properties> <add ... /> ... <group name="..."> <add ... /> ... </group> </properties> </profile>

Defining a Profile Group

<configuration> <system.web> <profile> <properties> <add name="ScreenName" /> <group name="Forums"> <add name="Posts" type="System.Int32" defaultValue="0" /> <add name="LastPost" type="System.DateTime" /> </group> </properties> </profile> </system.web> </configuration>

Accessing a Profile Group

// Increment the current user's post count Profile.Forums.Posts = Profile.Forums.Posts + 1; // Update the current user's last post date Profile.Forums.LastPost = DateTime.Now;

Custom Data Types

Profiles support base types
String, Int32, Int64, DateTime, Decimal, etc.

Profiles also support custom types

Use type attribute to specify type Use serializeAs attribute to specify serialization mode: Binary, Xml (default), or String

serializeAs="Binary" types must be serializable serializeAs="String" types need type converters

Using a Custom Data Type

<configuration> <system.web> <profile> <properties> <add name="Cart" type="ShoppingCart" serializeAs="Binary" /> </properties> </profile> </system.web> </configuration>

Anonymous User Profiles

By default, profiles aren't available for anonymous (unauthenticated) users
Data keyed by authenticated user IDs

Anonymous profiles can be enabled

Step 1: Enable anonymous identification Step 2: Specify which profile properties are available to anonymous users

Data keyed by user anonymous IDs

Profiles for Anonymous Users

<configuration> <system.web> <anonymousIdentification enabled="true" /> <profile> <properties> <add name="ScreenName" allowAnonymous="true" /> <add name="Posts" type="System.Int32" defaultValue="0 /> <add name="LastPost" type="System.DateTime" /> </properties> </profile> </system.web> </configuration>

Profile Providers
Profile service is provider-based Beta 1 ships with two providers
AccessProfileProvider (Access)* SqlProfileProvider (SQL Server)

Use custom providers to add support for other data stores

* Will be replaced by SQL Express provider in beta 2

Using the SQL Server Provider

<configuration> <system.web> <profile defaultProvider="AspNetSqlProvider" /> </system.web> </configuration>

Profiles

Cookies
Mechanism for persisting textual data
Described in RFC 2109 For relatively small pieces of data

HttpCookie class encapsulates cookies HttpRequest.Cookies collection enables cookies to be read from requests HttpResponse.Cookies collection enables cookies to be written to responses

HttpCookie Properties
Name
Name Value Values HasKeys Domain

Description
Cookie name (e.g., "UserName=Jeffpro") Cookie value (e.g., "UserName=Jeffpro") Collection of cookie values (multivalue cookies only) True if cookie contains multiple values Domain to transmit cookie to

Expires
Secure Path

Cookie's expiration date and time

True if cookie should only be transmitted over HTTPS Path to transmit cookie to

Creating a Cookie
HttpCookie cookie = new HttpCookie ("UserName", "Jeffpro"); Response.Cookies.Add (cookie);

Cookie name Cookie value

Reading a Cookie
HttpCookie cookie = Request.Cookies["UserName"]; if (cookie != null) { string username = cookie.Value; // "Jeffpro" ... }

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This presentation is for informational purposes only. Microsoft makes no warranties, express or implied, in this summary.