Question

Im using a base controller & OnActionExecuting to get ‘common’ site data that I want to show & keep accross most page’s (name, ID etc… not more than 4/5 fields)

The Method in OnActionExecuting reads the database & saves to ViewBag which Ipick up in my Views but I cant help thinking this is a waste as it needs a DB call for every OnActionExecuting.

How can consolodate these DB calls and slim down the DB access?

Answer 1

What I have done on a recent project is during Login I get the ‘common’ data which in this case was UserID, FirstName and an ImageName, I saved it in the Auth Ticket like this :

UserData = pModel.PartyId.ToString() + "|" + pModel.BusinessName + "|" + pModel.FirstName + "|" + pModel.LastName + "|" + pModel.ImageUrl + "|" + UsersRole + "|" + IsAct;//PID, BusName, FirstName, LastName, imgUrl, Role, IsAct

// Create the cookie that contains the forms authentication ticket
HttpCookie authCookie = FormsAuthentication.GetAuthCookie(UN, true);
FormsAuthenticationTicket ticket = FormsAuthentication.Decrypt(authCookie.Value);
FormsAuthenticationTicket newTicket = new FormsAuthenticationTicket(ticket.Version, ticket.Name, ticket.IssueDate, ticket.Expiration, ticket.IsPersistent, UserData);
authCookie.Value = FormsAuthentication.Encrypt(newTicket);
System.Web.HttpContext.Current.Response.Cookies.Add(authCookie);

I then retreive this Cookie when the data is needed and get the data out of it like this :

var cookie = context.Request.Cookies[FormsAuthentication.FormsCookieName];
dynamic UN = FormsAuthentication.Decrypt(cookie.Value);
string UserData = UN.UserData;//PID, BusName, FirstName, LastName, imgUrl, Role, IsAct
string[] pFields = UserData.Split('|');
string[] MyRoles = { pFields[5] };

Please Note : This is only good for static data that you know wont change during the login session & be careful what you post in this Cookie.

Don’t bloat the cookie either keep the fields to a minimum, max is 4K but I aim for 500-1000 bytes.