Develop Reference

How to pass the current Session object to a method in a C# class [duplicate]

We can access session data in controllers and views like this:
Session["SessionKey1"]
How do you access Session values from a class other than a controller or view?

I'd use dependency injection and pass the instance of the HttpContext (or just the session) to the class that needs access to the Session. The other alternative is to reference HttpContext.Current, but that will make it harder to test since it's a static object.
public ActionResult MyAction()
{
var foo = new Foo( this.HttpContext );
...
}
public class Foo
{
private HttpContextBase Context { get; set; }
public Foo( HttpContextBase context )
{
this.Context = context;
}
public void Bar()
{
var value = this.Context.Session["barKey"];
...
}
}

You just need to call it through the HttpContext like so:
HttpContext.Current.Session["MyValue"] = "Something";

Here is my version of a solution for this problem. Notice that I also use a dependency injection as well, the only major difference is that the "session" object is accessed through a Singleton
private iSession _Session;
private iSession InternalSession
{
get
{
if (_Session == null)
{
_Session = new SessionDecorator(this.Session);
}
return _Session;
}
}
Here is the SessionDecorator class, which uses a Decorator pattern to wrap the session around an interface :
public class SessionDecorator : iSession
{
private HttpSessionStateBase _Session;
private const string SESSIONKEY1= "SESSIONKEY1";
private const string SESSIONKEY2= "SESSIONKEY2";
public SessionDecorator(HttpSessionStateBase session)
{
_Session = session;
}
int iSession.AValue
{
get
{
return _Session[SESSIONKEY1] == null ? 1 : Convert.ToInt32(_Session[SESSIONKEY1]);
}
set
{
_Session[SESSIONKEY1] = value;
}
}
int iSession.AnotherValue
{
get
{
return _Session[SESSIONKEY2] == null ? 0 : Convert.ToInt32(_Session[SESSIONKEY2]);
}
set
{
_Session[SESSIONKEY2] = value;
}
}
}`
Hope this helps :)

Haven't done it myself, but this sample from Chad Meyer's blog might help (from this post: http://www.chadmyers.com/Blog/archive/2007/11/30/asp.net-webforms-and-mvc-in-the-same-project.aspx)
[ControllerAction]
public void Edit(int id)
{
IHttpSessionState session = HttpContext.Session;
if (session["LoggedIn"] == null || ((bool)session["LoggedIn"] != true))
RenderView("NotLoggedIn");
Product p = SomeFancyDataAccess.GetProductByID(id);
RenderView("Edit", p);
}

I would also wrap all session variables into a single class file. That way you can use intelliSense to select them. This cuts down on the number of paces in code where you need to specify the "strings" for the session.

Nhibernate Lazy Load exception after a view exception

I get a weird behavior with NHibernate with Fluent Configuration.
Whenever a generic exception unrelated to the NHibernate occurs i.e. in the view a DivideByZeroException every request after the exception throws.
An exception of type 'NHibernate.LazyInitializationException' occurred in NHibernate.dll but was not handled in user code. Additional information: Initializing[Entity]-Could not initialize proxy - no Session.
Due to nature of the bug the bug is critical due to the fact that 1 user can make the whole website dead if he generates an exception
Following it is my HttpModule for Nhibernate with Asp.Net MVC 5 that takes care of sessions.
NHibernateSessionPerRequest.cs
public class NHibernateSessionPerRequest : IHttpModule
{
private static readonly ISessionFactory SessionFactory;
// Constructs our HTTP module
static NHibernateSessionPerRequest()
{
SessionFactory = CreateSessionFactory();
}
// Initializes the HTTP module
public void Init(HttpApplication context)
{
context.BeginRequest += BeginRequest;
context.EndRequest += EndRequest;
}
// Disposes the HTTP module
public void Dispose() { }
// Returns the current session
public static ISession GetCurrentSession()
{
return SessionFactory.GetCurrentSession();
}
// Opens the session, begins the transaction, and binds the session
private static void BeginRequest(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
ISession session = SessionFactory.OpenSession();
session.BeginTransaction();
CurrentSessionContext.Bind(session);
}
// Unbinds the session, commits the transaction, and closes the session
private static void EndRequest(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
ISession session = CurrentSessionContext.Unbind(SessionFactory);
if (session == null) return;
try
{
session.Transaction.Commit();
}
catch (Exception)
{
session.Transaction.Rollback();
throw;
}
finally
{
session.Close();
session.Dispose();
}
}
// Returns our session factory
private static ISessionFactory CreateSessionFactory()
{
if (HttpContext.Current != null) //for the web apps
_configFile = HttpContext.Current.Server.MapPath(
string.Format("~/App_Data/{0}", CacheFile)
);
_configuration = LoadConfigurationFromFile();
if (_configuration == null)
{
FluentlyConfigure();
SaveConfigurationToFile(_configuration);
}
if (_configuration != null) return _configuration.BuildSessionFactory();
return null;
}
// Returns our database configuration
private static MsSqlConfiguration CreateDbConfigDebug2()
{
return MsSqlConfiguration
.MsSql2008
.ConnectionString(c => c.FromConnectionStringWithKey("MyConnection"));
}
// Updates the database schema if there are any changes to the model,
// or drops and creates it if it doesn't exist
private static void UpdateSchema(Configuration cfg)
{
new SchemaUpdate(cfg)
.Execute(false, true);
}
private static void SaveConfigurationToFile(Configuration configuration)
{
using (var file = File.Open(_configFile, FileMode.Create))
{
var bf = new BinaryFormatter();
bf.Serialize(file, configuration);
}
}
private static Configuration LoadConfigurationFromFile()
{
if (IsConfigurationFileValid == false)
return null;
try
{
using (var file = File.Open(_configFile, FileMode.Open))
{
var bf = new BinaryFormatter();
return bf.Deserialize(file) as Configuration;
}
}
catch (Exception)
{
return null;
}
}
private static void FluentlyConfigure()
{
if (_configuration == null)
{
_configuration = Fluently.Configure()
.Database(CreateDbConfigDebug2)
.CurrentSessionContext<WebSessionContext>()
.Cache(c => c.ProviderClass<SysCacheProvider>().UseQueryCache())
.Mappings(m => m.FluentMappings.AddFromAssemblyOf<EntityMap>()
.Conventions.Add(DefaultCascade.All(), DefaultLazy.Always()))
.ExposeConfiguration(UpdateSchema)
.ExposeConfiguration(c => c.Properties.Add("cache.use_second_level_cache", "true"))
.BuildConfiguration();
}
}
private static bool IsConfigurationFileValid
{
get
{
var ass = Assembly.GetAssembly(typeof(EntityMap));
var configInfo = new FileInfo(_configFile);
var assInfo = new FileInfo(ass.Location);
return configInfo.LastWriteTime >= assInfo.LastWriteTime;
}
}
private static Configuration _configuration;
private static string _configFile;
private const string CacheFile = "hibernate.cfg.xml";
}
Edit
The Repository Implementation i use
public class Repository<T> : IIntKeyedRepository<T> where T : class
{
private readonly ISession _session;
public Repository()
{
_session = NHibernateSessionPerRequest.GetCurrentSession();
}
#region IRepository<T> Members
public bool Add(T entity)
{
_session.Save(entity);
return true;
}
public bool Add(System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable<T> items)
{
foreach (T item in items)
{
_session.Save(item);
}
return true;
}
public bool Update(T entity)
{
_session.Update(entity);
return true;
}
public bool Delete(T entity)
{
_session.Delete(entity);
return true;
}
public bool Delete(System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable<T> entities)
{
foreach (T entity in entities)
{
_session.Delete(entity);
}
return true;
}
#endregion
#region IIntKeyedRepository<T> Members
public T FindBy(int id)
{
return _session.Get<T>(id);
}
#endregion
#region IReadOnlyRepository<T> Members
public IQueryable<T> All()
{
return _session.Query<T>();
}
public T FindBy(System.Linq.Expressions.Expression<System.Func<T, bool>> expression)
{
return FilterBy(expression).Single();
}
public IQueryable<T> FilterBy(System.Linq.Expressions.Expression<System.Func<T, bool>> expression)
{
return All().Where(expression).AsQueryable();
}
#endregion
}
Edit 2
The base controller class I use
public class BaseController : Controller
{
private readonly IRepository<UserEntity> _userRepository;
public BaseController()
{
_userRepository = new Repository<UserEntity>();
BaseModel = new LayoutModel {Modals = new List<string>()};
}
public UserEntity LoggedUser { get; set; }
public LayoutModel BaseModel { get; set; }
protected override void OnActionExecuting(ActionExecutingContext ctx)
{
base.OnActionExecuting(ctx);
if (HttpContext.User.Identity.IsAuthenticated)
{
if (Session != null && Session["User"] != null)
{
LoggedUser = (User) Session["User"];
}
var curUsername = HttpContext.User.Identity.Name;
if (LoggedUser == null || LoggedUser.Entity2.un!= curUsername)
{
LoggedUser = _userRepository.FindBy(u => u.Entity2.un== curUsername);
Session["User"] = LoggedUser;
}
BaseModel.LoggedUser = LoggedUser;
BaseModel.Authenticated = true;
}
else
{
LoggedUser = new UserEntity
{
Entity= new Entity{un= "Guest"},
};
BaseModel.LoggedUser = LoggedUser;
}
}
}

The extended question and all the snippets - are finally helping to find out where is the issue.
There is a really big issue: Session["User"] = LoggedUser;
This would hardly work. Why?
because we place into long running object (Web Session)
an instance loaded via very shortly lasting Web Request
Not all its properties will/could be loaded, When we place LoggedUser into session. It could be just a root entity with many proxies representing references and collections. These will NEVER be loaded later, because its Mather session is closed... gone
Solution?
I would use .Clone() of the User object. In its implementation we can explicitly load all needed references and collections and clone them as well. Such object could be placed into the Web Session
[Serializable]
public class User, ICloneable, ...
{
...
public override object Clone()
{
var entity = base.Clone() as User;
entity.Role = Role.Clone() as Role;
...
return entity;
}
So, what would be placed into session?
Session["User"] = LoggedUser.Clone();

As Radim Köhler noted i was saving a lazy-loaded object in Session that caused the problem.
But i wanted to avoid the Serilization of all objects and i fixed it as follows.
I added the following method to eager-load an entity instead of lazy
public T FindByEager(int id)
{
T entity = FindBy(id);
NHibernateUtil.Initialize(entity);
return entity;
}
And changed BaseController to
if (Session != null) Session["User"] = userRepository.FindByEager(LoggedUser.Id);

Using Session out of the Controller class

I am thinking to implement something like a static SessionHelper class where I would like to keep some data in Session.
But it seems like is impossible to use Session object out of the Controller class. Right?
Or may be I am wrong... I.e. is this link a solution ASP.NET MVC - How to access Session data in places other than Controller and Views
Let me know, please!
Anyway for now I cannot refer to Session object in that class which lives in Models folder.
public static class SessionHelper
{
public static bool ShowSuccessPopup
{
get
{
if (Session["ShowSuccessPopup"] == null)
{
Session["ShowSuccessPopup"] = false;
return false;
}
else
{
var result = (bool)Session["ShowSuccessPopup"].ToString();
return result;
}
}
set {Session["ShowSuccessPopup"] = value; }
}
}

The Session object is only set in the request-cycle, so anything outside the request-cycle won't have access to it (i.e. Controllers and Views are fine, but models no). If you need to work with the session in something outside of the request-cycle, then you must inject the Session object as a dependency. However, you're not going to be able to accomplish that with a static class. So you might instead try something like:
public class SessionHelper
{
private HttpSessionState session;
public SessionHelper (HttpSessionState session)
{
this.session = session;
}
public bool ShowSuccessPopup { ... }
}
Alternatively, you may be able to get by with merely injecting the session into your actual methods individually, but you wouldn't be able to continue using a property:
public static bool ShowSuccessPopup (HttpSessionState session)
{
// do something with session
}

Thanks to Chris Pratt!
Just like an alternative I am gonna share my approach.
public partial class BaseController : Controller
{
public SessionBox SessionBox;
protected override void OnActionExecuting(ActionExecutingContext filterContext)
{
SessionBox = new SessionBox(filterContext.HttpContext);
base.OnActionExecuting(filterContext);
}
}
public class SessionBox
{
private HttpContextBase context { get; set; }
public SessionBox(HttpContextBase context)
{
this.context = context;
}
public bool ShowSuccessPopup
{
get
{
if (context.Session["ShowSuccessPopup"] == null)
{
context.Session["ShowSuccessPopup"] = false;
return false;
}
else
{
var result = Convert.ToBoolean(context.Session["ShowSuccessPopup"].ToString());
return result;
}
}
set { context.Session["ShowSuccessPopup"] = value; }
}
}
Notice that you should inheritine Controller class on BaseController class
and later in the Controller class you can do like
if (SessionBox.ShowSuccessPopup)
{
SessionBox.ShowSuccessPopup = false;
Here are extra links that demonstrate difference between
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.web.sessionstate.httpsessionstate.aspx
and
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.web.httpcontextbase.aspx

How can Ninject be configured to always deactivate pooled references?

We're using a library that uses pooled objects (ServiceStack.Redis's PooledRedisClientManager). Objects are created and reused for multiple web requests. However, Dispose should be called after each use to release the object back into the pool.
By default, Ninject only deactivates an object reference if it has not been deactivated before.
What happens is that the pool instantiates an object and marks it as active. Ninject then runs the activation pipeline. At the end of the request (a web request), Ninject runs the deactivation pipeline which calls Dispose (and thus the pool marks the object as inactive). The next request: the first pooled instance is used and the pool marks it as active. However, at the end of the request, Ninject does not run its deactivation pipeline because the ActivationCache has already marked this instance as deactivated (this is in the Pipeline).
Here's a simple sample that we've added in a new MVC project to demonstrate this problem:
public interface IFooFactory
{
IFooClient GetClient();
void DisposeClient(FooClient client);
}
public class PooledFooClientFactory : IFooFactory
{
private readonly List<FooClient> pool = new List<FooClient>();
public IFooClient GetClient()
{
lock (pool)
{
var client = pool.SingleOrDefault(c => !c.Active);
if (client == null)
{
client = new FooClient(pool.Count + 1);
client.Factory = this;
pool.Add(client);
}
client.Active = true;
return client;
}
}
public void DisposeClient(FooClient client)
{
client.Active = false;
}
}
public interface IFooClient
{
void Use();
}
public class FooClient : IFooClient, IDisposable
{
internal IFooFactory Factory { get; set; }
internal bool Active { get; set; }
internal int Id { get; private set; }
public FooClient(int id)
{
this.Id = id;
}
public void Dispose()
{
if (Factory != null)
{
Factory.DisposeClient(this);
}
}
public void Use()
{
Console.WriteLine("Using...");
}
}
public class HomeController : Controller
{
private IFooClient foo;
public HomeController(IFooClient foo)
{
this.foo = foo;
}
public ActionResult Index()
{
foo.Use();
return View();
}
public ActionResult About()
{
return View();
}
}
// In the Ninject configuration (NinjectWebCommon.cs)
private static void RegisterServices(IKernel kernel)
{
kernel.Bind<IFooFactory>()
.To<PooledFooClientFactory>()
.InSingletonScope();
kernel.Bind<IFooClient>()
.ToMethod(ctx => ctx.Kernel.Get<IFooFactory>().GetClient())
.InRequestScope();
}
The solutions that we've come up with thus far are:
Mark these objects as InTransientScope() and use other deactivation mechanism (like an MVC ActionFilter to dispose of the object after each request). We'd lose the benefits of Ninject's deactivation process and require an indirect approach to disposing of the object.
Write a custom IActivationCache that checks the pool to see if the object is active. Here's what I've written so far, but I'd like some one else's eyes to see how robust it is:
public class PooledFooClientActivationCache : DisposableObject, IActivationCache, INinjectComponent, IDisposable, IPruneable
{
private readonly ActivationCache realCache;
public PooledFooClientActivationCache(ICachePruner cachePruner)
{
realCache = new ActivationCache(cachePruner);
}
public void AddActivatedInstance(object instance)
{
realCache.AddActivatedInstance(instance);
}
public void AddDeactivatedInstance(object instance)
{
realCache.AddDeactivatedInstance(instance);
}
public void Clear()
{
realCache.Clear();
}
public bool IsActivated(object instance)
{
lock (realCache)
{
var fooClient = instance as FooClient;
if (fooClient != null) return fooClient.Active;
return realCache.IsActivated(instance);
}
}
public bool IsDeactivated(object instance)
{
lock (realCache)
{
var fooClient = instance as FooClient;
if (fooClient != null) return !fooClient.Active;
return realCache.IsDeactivated(instance);
}
}
public Ninject.INinjectSettings Settings
{
get
{
return realCache.Settings;
}
set
{
realCache.Settings = value;
}
}
public void Prune()
{
realCache.Prune();
}
}
// Wire it up:
kernel.Components.RemoveAll<IActivationCache>();
kernel.Components.Add<IActivationCache, PooledFooClientActivationCache>();
Specifically for ServiceStack.Redis's: use the PooledRedisClientManager.DisposablePooledClient<RedisClient> wrapper so we always get a new object instance. Then let the client object become transient since the wrapper takes care of disposing it. This approach does not tackle the broader concept of pooled objects with Ninject and only fixes it for ServiceStack.Redis.
var clientManager = new PooledRedisClientManager();
kernel.Bind<PooledRedisClientManager.DisposablePooledClient<RedisClient>>()
.ToMethod(ctx => clientManager.GetDisposableClient<RedisClient>())
.InRequestScope();
kernel.Bind<IRedisClient>()
.ToMethod(ctx => ctx.Kernel.Get<PooledRedisClientManager.DisposablePooledClient<RedisClient>>().Client)
.InTransientScope();
Is one of these approaches more appropriate than the other?

I have not use Redis so far so I can not tell you how to do it correctly. But I can give you some input in general:
Disposing is not the only thing that is done by the ActivationPipeline. (E.g. it also does property/method injection and excuting activation/deactivation actions.) By using a custom activation cache that returns false even though it has been activated before will cause that these other actions are executed again (E.g. resulting in property injection done again.)

Object Context, Repositories and Transactions

I was wondering what the best way to use transations with the entity framework.
Say I have three repositories:
Repo1(ObjectContext context)
Repo2(ObjectContext context)
Repo3(ObjectContext context)
and a service object that takes the three repositories:
Service(Repo1 repo1,Repo2 repo2, Repo3 repo3)
Serive.CreateNewObject <- calls repo1, repo2, repo3 to do stuff.
So when I create the service I create three repositories first and pass them down, each repositry takes a object context so my code looks something like this:
MyObjectContext context = new MyObjectContext();
Repo1 repo = new Repo1(context);
// etc
Now I have a controller class that is responsible for calling different services and compants of my application, showing the right forms etc. Now what I want to be able to do is wrap everything that happens in one of the controller methods in a transaction so that if some thing goes wrong I can rollback back.
The controller takes a few different Service objects, but doesn't know anything about the object context.
My questions are:
Should the context be passed in to the service layer also.
How do I implement a transaction in the controller so that anything that happens in the service
layers arn't commited untill everything has passed.
Sorry if it's a bit hard to understand..

Why doesn't your controller know about the ObjectContext?
This is where I would put it. Check out - http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/dd882510.aspx - here the Command is what will commit/rollback the UnitOfWork(ObjectContext).
If you don't want to have your Controller know exactly about the EF (good design) then you want to abstract your ObjectContext into an interface similar to the approach in the above link.

How about using a custom TransactionScope, one that commits when all of your services have committed?
public class TransactionScope : Scope<IDbTransaction>
{
public TransactionScope()
{
InitialiseScope(ConnectionScope.CurrentKey);
}
protected override IDbTransaction CreateItem()
{
return ConnectionScope.Current.BeginTransaction();
}
public void Commit()
{
if (CurrentScopeItem.UserCount == 1)
{
TransactionScope.Current.Commit();
}
}
}
So the transaction is only committed when the UserCount is 1, meaning the last service has committed.
The scope classes are (shame we can't do attachements...):
public abstract class Scope<T> : IDisposable
where T : IDisposable
{
private bool disposed = false;
[ThreadStatic]
private static Stack<ScopeItem<T>> stack = null;
public static T Current
{
get { return stack.Peek().Item; }
}
internal static string CurrentKey
{
get { return stack.Peek().Key; }
}
protected internal ScopeItem<T> CurrentScopeItem
{
get { return stack.Peek(); }
}
protected void InitialiseScope(string key)
{
if (stack == null)
{
stack = new Stack<ScopeItem<T>>();
}
// Only create a new item on the stack if this
// is different to the current ambient item
if (stack.Count == 0 || stack.Peek().Key != key)
{
stack.Push(new ScopeItem<T>(1, CreateItem(), key));
}
else
{
stack.Peek().UserCount++;
}
}
protected abstract T CreateItem();
public void Dispose()
{
Dispose(true);
}
protected virtual void Dispose(bool disposing)
{
if (!disposed)
{
if (disposing)
{
// If there are no users for the current item
// in the stack, pop it
if (stack.Peek().UserCount == 1)
{
stack.Pop().Item.Dispose();
}
else
{
stack.Peek().UserCount--;
}
}
// There are no unmanaged resources to release, but
// if we add them, they need to be released here.
}
disposed = true;
}
}
public class ScopeItem<T> where T : IDisposable
{
private int userCount;
private T item;
private string key;
public ScopeItem(int userCount, T item, string key)
{
this.userCount = userCount;
this.item = item;
this.key = key;
}
public int UserCount
{
get { return this.userCount; }
set { this.userCount = value; }
}
public T Item
{
get { return this.item; }
set { this.item = value; }
}
public string Key
{
get { return this.key; }
set { this.key = value; }
}
}
public class ConnectionScope : Scope<IDbConnection>
{
private readonly string connectionString = "";
private readonly string providerName = "";
public ConnectionScope(string connectionString, string providerName)
{
this.connectionString = connectionString;
this.providerName = providerName;
InitialiseScope(string.Format("{0}:{1}", connectionString, providerName));
}
public ConnectionScope(IConnectionDetailsProvider connectionDetails)
: this(connectionDetails.ConnectionString, connectionDetails.ConnectionProvider)
{
}
protected override IDbConnection CreateItem()
{
IDbConnection connection = DbProviderFactories.GetFactory(providerName).CreateConnection();
connection.ConnectionString = connectionString;
connection.Open();
return connection;
}
}

Wrap the operation in a TransactionScope.

You might want to implement the transaction model used by the Workflow Foundation. It basically has an interface that all "components" implement. After each does the main work successfully, then the host calls the "commit" method on each. If one failed, it calls the "rollback" method.