How to cache data in a MVC application

Coolcoder_42434 0
Viewed 227569

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 scenario I will be using LINQ to Entities (entity framework). On the first call to GetNames (or whatever the method is) I want to grab the data from the database. I want to save the results in cache and on the second call to use the cached version if it exists.

Can anyone show an example of how this would work, where this should be implemented (model?) and if it would work.

I have seen this done in traditional ASP.NET apps , typically for very static data.

caching asp.net-mvc database
14 Answers

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())
Hrvoje_14070

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.

TT_295190

I'm referring to TT's post and suggest the following approach:

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

public string[] GetNames()
{ 
    var noms = Cache["names"];
    if(noms == null) 
    {    
        noms = DB.GetNames();
        Cache["names"] = noms; 
    }

    return ((string[])noms);
}

You should not return a value re-read from the cache, since you'll never know if at that specific moment it is still in the cache. Even if you inserted it in the statement before, it might already be gone or has never been added to the cache - you just don't know.

So you add the data read from the database and return it directly, not re-reading from the cache.

Oli_152960

I have used it in this way and it works for me. https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.web.caching.cache.add(v=vs.110).aspx parameters info for system.web.caching.cache.add.

public string GetInfo()
{
     string name = string.Empty;
     if(System.Web.HttpContext.Current.Cache["KeyName"] == null)
     {
         name = GetNameMethod();
         System.Web.HttpContext.Current.Cache.Add("KeyName", name, null, DateTime.Noew.AddMinutes(5), Cache.NoSlidingExpiration, CacheitemPriority.AboveNormal, null);
     }
     else
     {
         name = System.Web.HttpContext.Current.Cache["KeyName"] as string;
     }

      return name;

}
user_37766450

You can also try and use the caching built into ASP MVC:

Add the following attribute to the controller method you'd like to cache:

[OutputCache(Duration=10)]

In this case the ActionResult of this will be cached for 10 seconds.

More on this here

user_31930
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