Best way to store lookup variables?

[john_c]

I'd like to store information for roles in Session variables. RoleA
has a specific set of values, RoleB has a specific set and so one.
When I access values for RoleA, it looks like this:

Session[Utils.RoleA_MBc ount] = "30"
Session[Utils.RoleA_Ban dwidthLimit] = "1000"
Session[Utils.RoleA_Fea tureBcountLimit] = "5"
Session[Utils.RoleA_Fea tureCcountLimit] = "10"

and similar for the other roles. Those values are initially loaded
from a database. Each role is actually a purchased plan. Similar to
various hosting plans that give you more the more you pay. Once the
roles are initialized into Session variables, I just access the
Session variable to check user limits.

Each of the above properties in Utils is a static string reference.
They're just nice ways to give me intellisense and avoid hard coding
strings everywhere. The problem is that I'll have to hit the Utils.cs
file everytime I want to use these lookup values. If there are four
roles and each one has 10 properties that could be a lot of hits
(especially with more roles) depending on how grouped the lookups are
through out the app.

Is this a concern or is there a better way?

Thanks,
John

[Mark Rae]

"john_c" <jo***@bigstrin g.comwrote in message
news:11******** **************@ a75g2000cwd.goo glegroups.com.. .

The problem is that I'll have to hit the Utils.cs file everytime I want to
use these lookup values.

In fact, you don't... The Utils.cs file, like all your other C# code files,
is compiled up into your web app's DLL when you rebuild the app, which is
loaded into memory when the app starts...

Is this a concern or is there a better way?

I wouldn't have thought it was a concern...

As for a better way, that's a little difficult to say... There are certainly
other ways - you could use one of the Collection objects (e.g. ArrayList) or
Generics objects (e.g. Dictionary) if you're using ASP.NET v2, or you could
hold each element separately in Session - if there are any performance
differences, we're probably looking at nanoseconds...

[john_c]

On Feb 20, 3:34 pm, "Mark Rae" <m...@markNOSPA Mrae.comwrote:

"john_c" <j...@bigstring .comwrote in message

news:11******** **************@ a75g2000cwd.goo glegroups.com.. .

The problem is that I'll have to hit the Utils.cs file everytime I want to
use these lookup values.

In fact, you don't... The Utils.cs file, like all your other C# code files,
is compiled up into your web app's DLL when you rebuild the app, which is
loaded into memory when the app starts...

You're right Mark. Thanks. I guess the "static" accessor threw me
off. Do these static properties stay in memory for the length of the
user session or app session?

>

Is this a concern or is there a better way?

I wouldn't have thought it was a concern...

As for a better way, that's a little difficult to say... There are certainly
other ways - you could use one of the Collection objects (e.g. ArrayList) or
Generics objects (e.g. Dictionary) if you're using ASP.NET v2, or you could
hold each element separately in Session - if there are any performance
differences, we're probably looking at nanoseconds...

I am using ASP.NET 2.0. A collection could be used but I think a
better way is to group each role by static class in the Utils class,
which is also static. This just gives a nice intellisense layout. So
you would have

Session[Utils.Roles.Rol eA.MBcount]
Session[Utils.Roles.Rol eA.BandwidthLim it]
Session[Utils.Roles.Rol eA.FeatureBcoun tLimit]
Session[Utils.Roles.Rol eA.FeatureCcoun tLimit]

[john_c]

Also, there will be corresponding Application cache for each plan.
The user Session values are compared against it. This means the
database only needs to be hit when the app loads and for each new user
(session).

[Mark Fitzpatrick]

John,
Do you really need it as a session variable? Will it be the same
values for each session? If so then you're going to end up with a lot of
useless memory usage. You could put the values into the cache object. You
could do a check every so often, such as when a request starts, and check to
see if the cache is empty. If so then load the object/array/etc. through
some function and put it into the cache. This would give you a good bit of
control as well since you could determine how much time should occur to
cause the items to fall out of the cache.

--

Hope this helps,
Mark Fitzpatrick
Former Microsoft FrontPage MVP 199?-2006

"john_c" <jo***@bigstrin g.comwrote in message
news:11******** **************@ a75g2000cwd.goo glegroups.com.. .

I'd like to store information for roles in Session variables. RoleA
has a specific set of values, RoleB has a specific set and so one.
When I access values for RoleA, it looks like this:

Session[Utils.RoleA_MBc ount] = "30"
Session[Utils.RoleA_Ban dwidthLimit] = "1000"
Session[Utils.RoleA_Fea tureBcountLimit] = "5"
Session[Utils.RoleA_Fea tureCcountLimit] = "10"

and similar for the other roles. Those values are initially loaded
from a database. Each role is actually a purchased plan. Similar to
various hosting plans that give you more the more you pay. Once the
roles are initialized into Session variables, I just access the
Session variable to check user limits.

Each of the above properties in Utils is a static string reference.
They're just nice ways to give me intellisense and avoid hard coding
strings everywhere. The problem is that I'll have to hit the Utils.cs
file everytime I want to use these lookup values. If there are four
roles and each one has 10 properties that could be a lot of hits
(especially with more roles) depending on how grouped the lookups are
through out the app.

Is this a concern or is there a better way?

Thanks,
John

[=?Utf-8?B?TWlsb3N6IFNrYWxlY2tpIFtNQ0FEXQ==?=]

Hi there John and Mark,

You could go even further and create a base page class with properties you
want. this approach gives you possiblity to get already casted and defaulted
values with great support from intelli sense:

-- begin rolebasepage.cs code --

public class RoleBasePage : System.Web.UI.P age
{
public RoleBasePage() : base()
{
}

private RoleAProperties roleA;
public RoleAProperties RoleA
{
get
{
if (this.roleA == null)
this.roleA = new RoleAProperties (Session);
return this.roleA;
}
}

public sealed class RoleAProperties
{
private System.Web.Sess ionState.HttpSe ssionState session;

public RoleAProperties (System.Web.Ses sionState.HttpS essionState session)
{
if (session == null)
throw new NullReferenceEx ception("sessio n");
this.session = session;
}

public int MBCount
{
get
{
object value = this.session["RoleAMBCou nt"];
return value == null ? 0 /* default value */ : (int) value;
}
set
{
this.session["RoleAMBCou nt"] = value;
}
}
}
}
-- end rolebasepage.cs --

-- begin any aspx page code behind --
public partial class MyAnyPage : RoleBasePage
{
protected void Page_Load(objec t sender, EventArgs e)
{
if (RoleA.MBCount < 10)
{
// do something -
// not enough MB allowance to approve the invoice
// or whatsoever
}
}
}

-- end any aspx page code behind --

Milosz
"Mark Rae" wrote:

"john_c" <jo***@bigstrin g.comwrote in message
news:11******** **************@ a75g2000cwd.goo glegroups.com.. .

The problem is that I'll have to hit the Utils.cs file everytime I want to
use these lookup values.

In fact, you don't... The Utils.cs file, like all your other C# code files,
is compiled up into your web app's DLL when you rebuild the app, which is
loaded into memory when the app starts...

Is this a concern or is there a better way?

I wouldn't have thought it was a concern...

As for a better way, that's a little difficult to say... There are certainly
other ways - you could use one of the Collection objects (e.g. ArrayList) or
Generics objects (e.g. Dictionary) if you're using ASP.NET v2, or you could
hold each element separately in Session - if there are any performance
differences, we're probably looking at nanoseconds...

[Mark Rae]

"john_c" <jo***@bigstrin g.comwrote in message
news:11******** *************@a 75g2000cwd.goog legroups.com...

You're right Mark. Thanks. I guess the "static" accessor threw me
off. Do these static properties stay in memory for the length of the
user session or app session?

See the other replies - you need to be *very* careful with statics in
ASP.NET... They can very easily become common across all sessions which,
depending on what they're used for, could be the absolute last thing you
want...

[john_c]

Hi Milosz,

I like this approach but could you do it without inheritence?

[john_c]

No, it doesn't need to be in a session variable. I just need to load
the cache with values for each plan. Then I can check the User object
to find out which role/plan the user is in. From there I have the
values for the plan associated with the user in the Cache and can take
action to display something or not. But how could I cleanly
associate "yes, I know the user's role" with "in the Cache are all of
the values for that role/plan". I need some sort of constuct that
allows me to put those two things together initially. Then when I
need to check the MegaBytes of space a user has, I can just say
User.MBcount or something similar.

Thanks.

On Feb 20, 4:22 pm, "Mark Fitzpatrick" <markf...@fitzm e.comwrote:

John,
Do you really need it as a session variable? Will it be the same
values for each session? If so then you're going to end up with a lot of
useless memory usage. You could put the values into the cache object. You
could do a check every so often, such as when a request starts, and check to
see if the cache is empty. If so then load the object/array/etc. through
some function and put it into the cache. This would give you a good bit of
control as well since you could determine how much time should occur to
cause the items to fall out of the cache.

[=?Utf-8?B?TWlsb3N6IFNrYWxlY2tpIFtNQ0FEXQ==?=]

Yes, but ypu need to code quite a lot and you need to spend some time to
familirize youself with custom proofile providers. i'll perape a simple
example but tomorrow (wed late afternoon CET)

Regards

--
Milosz
"john_c" wrote:

Hi Milosz,

I like this approach but could you do it without inheritence?