Question

Would someone be kind enough to explain or point to article that explains how the scope of static classes and methods interact with the scope of a ASP.NET user session.

Here is the more specific situation which explains my question:

1. User A logs into a asp.net website.
2. While doing something user A uses a static method which initializes some data.
3. User B logs into the same asp.net website.
4. User B hits the same static method.

Is the data already initialized once user B hits it?

Also what if the asp.net session of user A expires before user B hits the website?

Answer 1

Static data lives as long as the process is running. It is attached to the type.

If the data that is initialized is in a static context, then when user B hits the method, it will already be initialized.

Sessions are not relevant here – only the process.

If the process gets recycled, then the data will have to be reinitialized.