I was recently tasked with adding a series of web pages to a huge existing site. Since I was new to the project, I wasn't privvy to all of the previously existing session variables, presenting quite the problem where naming a new Session
element was concerned. First, I gave all of my new session variables a prefix so I could at least guarantee (to some extent) that they would be unique to the module I was working on. However, the list of variables became extensive, not to mention the possibility of typing a name incorrectly, thus unintentionally creating another variable. To solve this issue, I came up with the following scheme.
In a word, it involves using an enum
. I simply define an enum
, like so:
public enum A00SessionVars { A00Value1, A00Value2, ... and so on };
And refer to it like this in the code:
Session(A00SessionVars.A00Value1.ToString())
Yes, it made for more typing, but I never once had anything unexpected happen as a result of spelling a name wrong, and it's impossible to add two variables that are the same name (with a deft bow of the head in the direction of C#'s case-sensitivity).
EDIT ==============
I was working on the code again today, and decided that using ToString()
was too clunky, so I came up with this:
Public T GetSessionVar<T>(A00SessionVars item, T defaultValue)
{
T value = defaultValue;
Object obj = Session(item.ToString();
if (obj == null)
{
SetSessionVar(item.ToString(), value);
}
else
{
value = obj as T;
}
return value;
}
Public void SetSessionVar(A00SessionVars item, Object value)
{
Session(item.ToString()) = value;
}
Public Function GetSessionVar(Of T)(ByVal item As G00SessionVars, ByVal defaultValue As T) As T
Dim value As T = defaultValue
Dim obj As Object = Session(item.ToString())
If (obj Is Nothing) Then
SetSessionVar(item.ToString(), value)
Else
value = CType(obj, T)
End If
Return value
End Function
Public Sub SetSessionVar(ByVal item As G00SessionVars, ByVal value As Object)
Session(item.ToString()) = value
End Sub
Now I can get/set just by doing this:
int i = GetSessionVar(A00SessionVars.A00Value1, -1);
string s = GetSessionVar(A00SessionVars.A00Value2, "N/A");
Dim i As Integer = GetSessionVar(A00SessionVars.A00Value1, -1)
Dim s As String = GetSessionVar(A00SessionVars.A00Value2, "N/A")
Now, I'm going to go back and see if anyone suggested this (I haven't read any of the alternatives or comments yet).
I've been paid as a programmer since 1982 with experience in Pascal, and C++ (both self-taught), and began writing Windows programs in 1991 using Visual C++ and MFC. In the 2nd half of 2007, I started writing C# Windows Forms and ASP.Net applications, and have since done WPF, Silverlight, WCF, web services, and Windows services.
My weakest point is that my moments of clarity are too brief to hold a meaningful conversation that requires more than 30 seconds to complete. Thankfully, grunts of agreement are all that is required to conduct most discussions without committing to any particular belief system.