Session("MyVar") into objects "automatically"?

[johnfraser]

I have an application that relies on 5-6 fundementle objects to run properly. They are session level objects that are accessed through out the application.

My question is... what is the perferred method to access these throughout the application?

I could:

provide a static property which handled the "unsafe" style of (MyClass)Session("MyVar"); and return the correct type

access Session each and every time.

I'm primarily a thick app developer so this sort of thing is kind of new.

Finaly question, if I use the object on one request and modify it, do I have to reinsert the object back into session? That is, is an object stored in session a reference type?

 

[jmeckley]

session is specific to a single user for the life of there current session. that probally doesn't make much sense though. with web development each request is autonomous. they don't know about each other. Session is a simple bag to store values between requests. Session starts when the user first visits the website and ends when they either 1. logoff, 2. inactive for a period of time. 20 minutes by default

for your scenario
I would create an interface for the objects you want to return. then create a Session specific implementation.

interface Something
{
   int I {get;set;}
   string S {get;set;}
   DateTime D {get;set;}
   SomeComplexObject O {get;set;}
}

class SessionSomething : Something
{
   private HttpContext context;
   public SessionSomething(HttpContext context)
   {
      this.context = context;
   }
   public int I 
   {
      get {return (int)Context.Session["i"]; } 
      set {Context.Session["i"] = value; }
   }
   public string S
   {
      get {return (string)Context.Session["s"]; } 
      set {Context.Session["s"] = value; }
   }
   public DateTime D
   {
      get {return (DateTime)Context.Session["d"]; } 
      set {Context.Session["d"] = value; }
   }
   public SomeComplexObject O
   {
      get {return (SomeComplexObject)Context.Session["o"]; } 
      set {Context.Session["o"] = value; }
   }


}

usage

Something something = new SessionSomething(HttpContext.Current);

Jason Meckley
Programmer
Specialty Bakers, Inc.