What is the best way to lock cache in asp.net?

Question

I know in certain circumstances, such as long running processes, it is important to lock ASP.NET cache in order to avoid subsequent requests by another user for that resourc

Answer 1

Here's the basic pattern:

• Check the cache for the value, return if its available
• If the value is not in the cache, then implement a lock
• Inside the lock, check the cache again, you might have been blocked
• Perform the value look up and cache it
• Release the lock

In code, it looks like this:

private static object ThisLock = new object();

public string GetFoo()
{

  // try to pull from cache here

  lock (ThisLock)
  {
    // cache was empty before we got the lock, check again inside the lock

    // cache is still empty, so retreive the value here

    // store the value in the cache here
  }

  // return the cached value here

}