A critical vulnerability was discovered in React Server Components (Next.js). Our Systems Remain Fully Protected. Learn More

Thomas Krantz
Apr 6, 2012
  5838
(0 votes)

Using a bit of System.Runtime.Caching with EPiServer

I have been poking around in System.Runtime.Caching that was introduced with .NET 4, and more specifically the MemoryCache.

The MemoryCache is virtually the same as the good old ASP.NET Cache, except it’s not dependent on System.Web which means you can use it without an HttpContext.

ChangeMonitors monitors changes in the state of data which a cache item depends on, and I’ve written a simple custom ChangeMonitor called PageChangeMonitor to monitor published EPiServer pages.

public class PageChangeMonitor : ChangeMonitor
    {
        private PageReference _pageLink;
 
        public PageChangeMonitor(PageReference pageLink)
        {
            if(PageReference.IsNullOrEmpty(pageLink))
            {
                throw new ArgumentNullException("pageLink");
            }   
 
            bool init = false;
            try
            {
                _pageLink = pageLink;
                DataFactory.Instance.PublishedPage += PublishedPage;
 
                init = true;
            }
            finally
            {
                base.InitializationComplete();
                if(!init)
                {
                    base.Dispose();
                }
            }
        }
 
        void PublishedPage(object sender, PageEventArgs e)
        {
            if(e.PageLink.ID  == _pageLink.ID)
            {
                OnChanged(e.PageLink);
            }
        }
 
        protected override void Dispose(bool disposing)
        {
            DataFactory.Instance.PublishedPage -= PublishedPage;
        }
 
        public override string UniqueId
        {
            get { return Guid.NewGuid().ToString(); }
        }

The PageChangeMonitor can be used to expire the cache item when a certain page is published. An example:

public string GetSomeDataForPage(PageData page)
       {
           var cacheKey = string.Format("some-data-{0}", page.PageLink.ID);
 
           var cache = MemoryCache.Default;
           var someData = (string) cache.Get(cacheKey);
           if(someData != null)
           {
               // data was cached
               return someData;
           }
 
           // data was not in cache. Either it has never been cached,
           // or the PageChangeMonitor expired the cache when the page 
           // was published.
           someData = DoSomeHeavyLiftingAndReturnData(page);
 
           var policy = new CacheItemPolicy();
 
           // create the PageChangeMonitor that should monitor the page
           var monitor = new PageChangeMonitor(page.PageLink);
           policy.ChangeMonitors.Add(monitor);
 
           cache.Add(cacheKey, someData, policy);
 
           return someData;
       }

Enjoy! And remember – cache is king.

Apr 06, 2012

Comments

valdis
valdis Apr 11, 2012 04:47 PM

Cool! Is first code snippet complete?

Thomas Krantz
Thomas Krantz Apr 12, 2012 11:44 PM

Not entirely.. missing some using-statements and a finishing } bracket it seems like. But it should work.

Please login to comment.
Latest blogs
Jhoose Security Modules v2.6.0 — Added support for Permissions Policy and .NET 10

Version 2.6.0 adds Permissions Policy header support, updates to .NET 10, improved policy management, configurable security settings, and enhanced...

Andrew Markham | Dec 6, 2025 |

Building a 360° Customer Profile With AI: How Opal + Optimizely Unlock Predictive Personalization

Creating truly relevant customer experiences requires more than collecting data—it requires understanding it. Most organizations already have rich...

Sujit Senapati | Dec 4, 2025

Building a Lightweight Optimizely SaaS CMS Solution with 11ty

Modern web development often requires striking a difficult balance between site performance and the flexibility needed by content editors. To addre...

Minesh Shah (Netcel) | Dec 3, 2025

Creating Opal Tools Using The C# SDK

Over the last few months, my colleagues at Netcel and I have partaken in two different challenge events organised by Optimizely and centered around...

Mark Stott | Dec 3, 2025