ASP.NET architecture Session pattern anyone?

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ASP.NET architecture Session pattern anyone?

Say I have a Facade layer which sits just beneath my UI (in this case ASP.NET) layer. This, of course, provides the API for my controller (code-behind) classes to interact with my domain as well as encapsulating my Application Logic. I understand it is good to do some kind of Session management in this layer too, but I just don't get the best way to do this without directly referencing the Session object from HttpContext. This limits my Facade to being a Web-facing service layer, though, so that isn't gonna work. I don't want to store session variables in my code-behind because this seems to force me into putting biz rules in my ui layer : bad. Does anyone have a good resource or architecture they have used to have session management in layers beneath the UI layer...is this simply some kind of second-level caching? Anyone else come across this?

Print posted @ Thursday, May 25, 2006 6:57 PM

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# re: ASP.NET architecture Session pattern anyone?

http://www.martinfowler.com/articles/injection.html

Why not create an interface ISessionDataProvider .. then inject a WebSessionDataProvider that interacts with session into your facade layer ...

If you later used another methodology you would just have to define a ISessionDataProvider for it and inject it from the hosting code.

This will allow your UI to define the session management (and allow your facade layer to use it).

I probably won't remember to come back through but feel free to contact me through link aboce.

Cheers,

Greg Young 5/25/2006 9:01 PM | Greg Young

# re: ASP.NET architecture Session pattern anyone?

Try the MS Enterprise Application Blocks.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/?url=/library/en-us/dnpag2/html/EntLib2.asp

Regards
Coleman 5/26/2006 6:38 AM | Mike Coleman

# re: ASP.NET architecture Session pattern anyone?

Thanks Greg & Coleman for your replies.
Coleman -I have used the Enterprise Library Cache in the past...I am using NHibernate for the current app i am working on and haven't thought much how I'd have those two work together. I assume you are proposing for me to store objects in teh EL cache in my facade layer and then fetch those out of my UI, yeah?
Greg - My only problem with using IoC to inject my session provider into my facade objects is the fact that all my Facades are Singleton objects (as recommended). As such I am not sure how I'd deal with the many threads keeping their own sessions in that layer. I may not understand very well the subject of threading, but it seems like a single instance of the Facade object would only allow a single Session object as well (unless I pass the Session object to the Facade object with each method call). I think I am sounding confuzed :)
BTW - I have read your posts in the past and have found them helpful.
THanks again. 5/26/2006 12:59 PM | MIke Nichols

Mike Nichols - SonOfNun Technology