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

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

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
ASP.NET

Session
SessionState
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
ASP.NET

State Server
aspnet_state
aspnet_state
Process
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
ASP.NET

Database
Server
ASPState
ASPState
Database
Database

Created with
InstallSqlState.
sql or
InstallPersistSql
State.sql

Session Events
Session_Start event signals new
session
Session_End event signals end of
session
void Session_Start ()
{ Process with handlers in Global.asax
// 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

Profile Schema
Profiles

HttpProfileBase
HttpProfileBase

HttpProfile
HttpProfile(Autogenerated
(Autogenerated
HttpProfileBase-Derivative)
HttpProfileBase-Derivative)

HttpProfile
HttpProfile(Autogenerated
(Autogenerated
HttpProfileBase-Derivative)
HttpProfileBase-Derivative)

Profile Providers
AccessProfileProvider
AccessProfileProvider SqlProfileProvider
SqlProfileProvider

Other
OtherProviders
Providers

Profile Data
Stores
Access

SQL Server

Other
Data Stores

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

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

HttpCookie Properties
Name

Description

Name

Cookie name (e.g., "UserName=Jeffpro")

Value

Cookie value (e.g., "UserName=Jeffpro")

Values

Collection of cookie values (multivalue cookies only)

HasKeys

True if cookie contains multiple values

Domain

Domain to transmit cookie to

Expires

Cookie's expiration date and time

Secure

True if cookie should only be transmitted over HTTPS

Path

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"
...
}

 2003-2004 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

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