ASP.NET MVC Global Variables

Question

How do you declare global variables in ASP.NET MVC?

Answer 1

Technically any static variable or Property on a class, anywhere in your project, will be a Global variable e.g.

public static class MyGlobalVariables
{
    public static string MyGlobalString { get; set; }
}

But as @SLaks says, they can 'potentially' be bad practice and dangerous, if not handled correctly. For instance, in that above example, you would have multiple requests (threads) trying to access the same Property, which could be an issue if it was a complex type or a collection, you would have to implement some form of locking.

Answer 2

public static class GlobalVariables
{
    // readonly variable
    public static string Foo
    {
        get
        {
            return "foo";
        }
    }

    // read-write variable
    public static string Bar
    {
        get
        {
            return HttpContext.Current.Application["Bar"] as string;
        }
        set
        {
            HttpContext.Current.Application["Bar"] = value;
        }
    }
}

Answer 3

You can put them in the Application:

Application["GlobalVar"] = 1234;

They are only global within the current IIS / Virtual applicition. This means, on a webfarm they are local to the server, and within the virtual directory that is the root of the application.

Answer 4

For non-static variables, I sorted it out via Application class dictionary as below:

At Global.asax.ac:

namespace MvcWebApplication 
{ 
    // Note: For instructions on enabling IIS6 or IIS7 classic mode, 
    // visit http://go.microsoft.com/?LinkId=9394801 

    public class MvcApplication : System.Web.HttpApplication 
    { 
        private string _licensefile; // the global private variable

        internal string LicenseFile // the global controlled variable
        { 
            get 
            { 
                if (String.IsNullOrEmpty(_licensefile)) 
                { 
                    string tempMylFile = Path.Combine(Path.GetDirectoryName(Assembly.GetAssembly(typeof(LDLL.License)).Location), "License.l"); 
                    if (!File.Exists(tempMylFile)) 
                        File.Copy(Server.MapPath("~/Content/license/License.l"), 
                            tempMylFile, 
                            true); 
                    _licensefile = tempMylFile; 
                } 
                return _licensefile; 
            } 
        }
        protected void Application_Start()
        {
            Application["LicenseFile"] = LicenseFile;// the global variable's bed

            AreaRegistration.RegisterAllAreas();

            RegisterGlobalFilters(GlobalFilters.Filters);
            RegisterRoutes(RouteTable.Routes);
        }
    }
}

And in Controller:

namespace MvcWebApplication.Controllers
{
    public class HomeController : Controller
    {
        //
        // GET: /Home/

        public ActionResult Index()
        {
            return View(HttpContext.Application["LicenseFile"] as string);
        }

    }
}

In this way we can have global variables in ASP.NET MVC :)

NOTE: If your object is not string simply write:

return View(HttpContext.Application["X"] as yourType);

Answer 5

You could also use a static class, such as a Config class or something along those lines...

public static class Config
{
    public static readonly string SomeValue = "blah";
}

Answer 6

The steel is far from hot, but I combined @abatishchev's solution with the answer from this post and got to this result. Hope it's useful:

public static class GlobalVars
{
    private const string GlobalKey = "AllMyVars";

    static GlobalVars()
    {
        Hashtable table = HttpContext.Current.Application[GlobalKey] as Hashtable;

        if (table == null)
        {
            table = new Hashtable();
            HttpContext.Current.Application[GlobalKey] = table;
        }
    }

    public static Hashtable Vars
    {
        get { return HttpContext.Current.Application[GlobalKey] as Hashtable; }
    }

    public static IEnumerable<SomeClass> SomeCollection
    {
        get { return GetVar("SomeCollection") as IEnumerable<SomeClass>; }
        set { WriteVar("SomeCollection", value); }
    }

    internal static DateTime SomeDate
    {
        get { return (DateTime)GetVar("SomeDate"); }
        set { WriteVar("SomeDate", value); }
    }

    private static object GetVar(string varName)
    {
        if (Vars.ContainsKey(varName))
        {
            return Vars[varName];
        }

        return null;
    }

    private static void WriteVar(string varName, object value)
    {
        if (value == null)
        {
            if (Vars.ContainsKey(varName))
            {
                Vars.Remove(varName);
            }
            return;
        }

        if (Vars[varName] == null)
        {
            Vars.Add(varName, value);
        }
        else
        {
            Vars[varName] = value;
        }
    }
}