Asp.net Data Caching

What is Caching?

Caching is a technique of storing frequently used data/information in memory, so that, when the same data/information is needed next time, it could be directly retrieved from the memory instead of being generated by the application.

Caching is extremely important for performance boosting in ASP.Net, as the pages and controls are dynamically generated here. It is especially important for data related transactions, as these are expensive in terms of response time.

Caching in ASP.Net:

ASP.Net provides the following different types of caching:

Output Caching: Output cache stores a copy of the finally rendered HTML pages or part of pages sent to the client. When the next client requests for this page, instead of regenerating the page, a cached copy of the page is sent, thus saving time.

Data Caching: Data caching means caching data from a data source. As long as the cache is not expired, a request for the data will be fulfilled from the cache. When the cache is expired, fresh data is obtained by the data source and the cache is refilled.

Object Caching: Object caching is caching the objects on a page, such as data-bound controls. The cached data is stored in server memory.

Class Caching: Web pages or web services are compiled into a page class in the assembly, when run for the first time. Then the assembly is cached in the server. Next time when a request is made for the page or service, the cached assembly is referred to. When the source code is changed, the CLR recompiles the assembly.

Configuration Caching: Application wide configuration information is stored in a configuration file. Configuration caching stores the configuration information in the server memory.