CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c#asp.net-mvcasp.net-web-api
Kirluu
Kirluu

Reputation: 13

Best way to store data (single object) in Web API project without database

My project group and I are to develop a generic workflow system, and have decided to implement a single Node (a task in the workflow) as a C# Visual Studio Web API project (Using the ASP.NET MVC structure).

In the process of implementing a Node's logic, we've come across the trouble of how to store data in our Node. Our Node specifically consists of a few lists of Uri's leading to other Nodes as well as some status/state boolean values. These values are currently stored in a regular class but with all the values as internal static fields.

We're wondering if there's a better way to do this? Particularly, as we'd like to later apply a locking-mechanism, it'd be prefereable to have an object that we can interact with, however we are unsure of how we can access this "common" object in various Controllers - or rather in a single controller, which takes on the HTTP requests that we receive for ou Node.

Is there a way to make the Controller class use a modified constructor which takes this object? And if so, the next step: Where can we provide that the Controller will receive the object in this constructor? There appears to be no code which instantiates Web API controllers.

Accessing static fiels in some class seems to do the trick, data-wise, but it forces us to implement our own locking-mechanism using a boolean value or similar, instead of simply being able to lock the object when it is altered.

If I am not making any sense, do tell. Any answers that might help are welcome! Thanks!

Upvotes: 1

Views: 8084

Answers (1)

NightOwl888
NightOwl888

Reputation: 56869

Based on your comments, I would say the persistence mechanism you are after is probably one of the server-side caching options (System.Runtime.Caching or System.Web.Caching).

System.Runtime.Caching is the newer of the 2 technologies and provides the an abstract ObjectCache type that could potentially be extended to be file-based. Alternatively, there is a built-in MemoryCache type.

Unlike a static method, caches will persist state for all users based on a timeout (either fixed or rolling), and can potentially have cache dependencies that will cause the cache to be immediately invalidated. The general idea is to reload the data from a store (file or database) after the cache expires. The cache protects the store from being hit by every request - the store is only hit after the timeout is reached or the cache is otherwise invalidated.

In addition, you can specify that items are "Not Removable", which will make them survive when an application pool is restarted.

More info: http://bartwullems.blogspot.com/2011/02/caching-in-net-4.html

Upvotes: 2

Related Questions