Question

What is the best method of storing a shared object in asp.net? It will get called multiple times per request on every request. Ive been using these two methods but Id like to know if there is a better way. I refresh this object once an hour.

public static List<ResourceObject> SharedResources = new List<ResourceObject>()

//OR

public static List<ResourceObject> SharedResources
{
    get
    {
        List<ResourceObject> _sharedResources = HttpContext.Current.Cache["RedirectRoutes"] as List<ResourceObject>;
        if (_sharedResources == null)
        {
            _sharedResources = LoadNewSharedResource();
            HttpContext.Current.Cache["RedirectRoutes"] = _sharedResources;
        }

        return _redirectRoutes;
    }
    set
    {
        HttpContext.Current.Cache["RedirectRoutes"] = value;
    }
}

Answer 1

If your object is changing frequently (i.e. hourly as you mentioned) then you’ll be best to use the cache as it will be able to take care of flushing for you (assuming you pass the correct parameters when adding the value to the cache). If you use a static value it will not be cleared out every hour automatically so you’d need to implement the check yourself.