Question

What is the best way to save data in session variables in a classic web site?

I am maintaining a classic web site and want to be able to allow my users to demo all functionality of the site, this means allowing them to delete records.

The closet example I have seen so far are the demos of Telerik controls where they are saving the dataset in sessions on first load and allowing the user to manipulate the data.

How can I achieve the same in ASP with an MS Access backend?

Answer 1

If you want to persist the state over multiple pages (e.g. to demo you complete application) then it’s a bit tricky.

I would suggest copying the MDB file for each session and using the copied version. This would ensure that every session uses its own data.

• create a version of your access db which will be used as a fresh template for each user
• on session copy the template and name it after the users session ID
• use the individual MDB

Note: Then only drawback I can see here is that you need to remove the unused MDB files as it can get a lot after sometime. You could do it with a scheduled task or even on session start before you create a new one.

I am not sure what you can use to check if it’s used or not but check the files creation date or maybe the LDF file can help you as well (if it does not exist = unused).