How to cache data in a MVC application

Question

I have read lots of information about page caching and partial page caching in a MVC application. However, I would like to know how you would cache data.

In my scena

Answer 1

Reference the System.Web dll in your model and use System.Web.Caching.Cache

    public string[] GetNames()
    {
      string[] names = Cache["names"] as string[];
      if(names == null) //not in cache
      {
        names = DB.GetNames();
        Cache["names"] = names;
      }
      return names;
    }

A bit simplified but I guess that would work. This is not MVC specific and I have always used this method for caching data.

Answer 2

Here's an improvement to Hrvoje Hudo's answer. This implementation has a couple of key improvements:

• Cache keys are created automatically based on the function to update data and the object passed in that specifies dependencies
• Pass in time span for any cache duration
• Uses a lock for thread safety

Note that this has a dependency on Newtonsoft.Json to serialize the dependsOn object, but that can be easily swapped out for any other serialization method.

ICache.cs

public interface ICache
{
    T GetOrSet<T>(Func<T> getItemCallback, object dependsOn, TimeSpan duration) where T : class;
}

InMemoryCache.cs

using System;
using System.Reflection;
using System.Runtime.Caching;
using Newtonsoft.Json;

public class InMemoryCache : ICache
{
    private static readonly object CacheLockObject = new object();

    public T GetOrSet<T>(Func<T> getItemCallback, object dependsOn, TimeSpan duration) where T : class
    {
        string cacheKey = GetCacheKey(getItemCallback, dependsOn);
        T item = MemoryCache.Default.Get(cacheKey) as T;
        if (item == null)
        {
            lock (CacheLockObject)
            {
                item = getItemCallback();
                MemoryCache.Default.Add(cacheKey, item, DateTime.Now.Add(duration));
            }
        }
        return item;
    }

    private string GetCacheKey<T>(Func<T> itemCallback, object dependsOn) where T: class
    {
        var serializedDependants = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(dependsOn);
        var methodType = itemCallback.GetType();
        return methodType.FullName + serializedDependants;
    }
}

Usage:

var order = _cache.GetOrSet(
    () => _session.Set<Order>().SingleOrDefault(o => o.Id == orderId)
    , new { id = orderId }
    , new TimeSpan(0, 10, 0)
);

Answer 3

For .NET 4.5+ framework

add reference: System.Runtime.Caching

add using statement: using System.Runtime.Caching;

public string[] GetNames()
{ 
    var noms = System.Runtime.Caching.MemoryCache.Default["names"];
    if(noms == null) 
    {    
        noms = DB.GetNames();
        System.Runtime.Caching.MemoryCache.Default["names"] = noms; 
    }

    return ((string[])noms);
}

In the .NET Framework 3.5 and earlier versions, ASP.NET provided an in-memory cache implementation in the System.Web.Caching namespace. In previous versions of the .NET Framework, caching was available only in the System.Web namespace and therefore required a dependency on ASP.NET classes. In the .NET Framework 4, the System.Runtime.Caching namespace contains APIs that are designed for both Web and non-Web applications.

More info:

• https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd997357(v=vs.110).aspx

• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/framework/performance/caching-in-net-framework-applications

Answer 4

HttpContext.Current.Cache.Insert("subjectlist", subjectlist);

Answer 5

public sealed class CacheManager
{
    private static volatile CacheManager instance;
    private static object syncRoot = new Object();
    private ObjectCache cache = null;
    private CacheItemPolicy defaultCacheItemPolicy = null;

    private CacheEntryRemovedCallback callback = null;
    private bool allowCache = true;

    private CacheManager()
    {
        cache = MemoryCache.Default;
        callback = new CacheEntryRemovedCallback(this.CachedItemRemovedCallback);

        defaultCacheItemPolicy = new CacheItemPolicy();
        defaultCacheItemPolicy.AbsoluteExpiration = DateTime.Now.AddHours(1.0);
        defaultCacheItemPolicy.RemovedCallback = callback;
        allowCache = StringUtils.Str2Bool(ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["AllowCache"]); ;
    }
    public static CacheManager Instance
    {
        get
        {
            if (instance == null)
            {
                lock (syncRoot)
                {
                    if (instance == null)
                    {
                        instance = new CacheManager();
                    }
                }
            }

            return instance;
        }
    }

    public IEnumerable GetCache(String Key)
    {
        if (Key == null || !allowCache)
        {
            return null;
        }

        try
        {
            String Key_ = Key;
            if (cache.Contains(Key_))
            {
                return (IEnumerable)cache.Get(Key_);
            }
            else
            {
                return null;
            }
        }
        catch (Exception)
        {
            return null;
        }
    }

    public void ClearCache(string key)
    {
        AddCache(key, null);
    }

    public bool AddCache(String Key, IEnumerable data, CacheItemPolicy cacheItemPolicy = null)
    {
        if (!allowCache) return true;
        try
        {
            if (Key == null)
            {
                return false;
            }

            if (cacheItemPolicy == null)
            {
                cacheItemPolicy = defaultCacheItemPolicy;
            }

            String Key_ = Key;

            lock (Key_)
            {
                return cache.Add(Key_, data, cacheItemPolicy);
            }
        }
        catch (Exception)
        {
            return false;
        }
    }

    private void CachedItemRemovedCallback(CacheEntryRemovedArguments arguments)
    {
        String strLog = String.Concat("Reason: ", arguments.RemovedReason.ToString(), " | Key-Name: ", arguments.CacheItem.Key, " | Value-Object: ", arguments.CacheItem.Value.ToString());
        LogManager.Instance.Info(strLog);
    }
}

Answer 6

Here's a nice and simple cache helper class/service I use:

using System.Runtime.Caching;  

public class InMemoryCache: ICacheService
{
    public T GetOrSet<T>(string cacheKey, Func<T> getItemCallback) where T : class
    {
        T item = MemoryCache.Default.Get(cacheKey) as T;
        if (item == null)
        {
            item = getItemCallback();
            MemoryCache.Default.Add(cacheKey, item, DateTime.Now.AddMinutes(10));
        }
        return item;
    }
}

interface ICacheService
{
    T GetOrSet<T>(string cacheKey, Func<T> getItemCallback) where T : class;
}

Usage:

cacheProvider.GetOrSet("cache key", (delegate method if cache is empty));

Cache provider will check if there's anything by the name of "cache id" in the cache, and if there's not, it will call a delegate method to fetch data and store it in cache.

Example:

var products=cacheService.GetOrSet("catalog.products", ()=>productRepository.GetAll())