Sessions: multiple literal values and datatable

[lamy]

was wondering if there would be any difference between literal values and datatable placed in a session, suppose i have these

 

       Session("object1") = "the string"
       Session("object2") = 100
       Session("object3") = True

 

and these

 

       Dim dt As New DataTable("objects")
       Dim dr As DataRow

       dr = dt.NewRow
       With dr
           .Item("object1") = "the string"
           .Item("object2") = 100
           .Item("object3") = True
       End With
       dt.Rows.Add(dr)

       Session("objects") = dt

 

would it differ in performance? (probably will) what could be the best practice? (in general), just curious

[Mister E]

Both collections just store objects. So the performance is probably identical.

[Igor Sukhov]

was wondering if there would be any difference between literal values and datatable placed in a session, suppose i have these

 

       Session("object1") = "the string"
       Session("object2") = 100
       Session("object3") = True

 

and these

 

       Dim dt As New DataTable("objects")
       Dim dr As DataRow

       dr = dt.NewRow
       With dr
           .Item("object1") = "the string"
           .Item("object2") = 100
           .Item("object3") = True
       End With
       dt.Rows.Add(dr)

       Session("objects") = dt

 

would it differ in performance? (probably will) what could be the best practice? (in general), just curious

 

The less objects in the Session state - the better and faster.

[lamy]

The less objects in the Session state - the better and faster.

 

so using datatable is a little slower?

[Igor Sukhov]

so using datatable is a little slower?

 

Yes, and here is the good explanation why:

 

ASP.NET performs the serialization/deserialization of certain "basic" types using an optimized internal method. ("Basic" types include numeric types of all sizes (e.g. Int, Byte, Decimal, String, DateTime, TimeSpan, Guid, IntPtr and UIntPtr, etc)

If you have a session variable (e.g. an ArrayList object) that is not one of the "basic" types, ASP.NET will serialize/deserialize it using the BinaryFormatter, which is relatively slower.

So for performance sake it is better to store all session state data using one of the "basic" types listed above. For example, if you want to store two things, Name and Address, in session state, you can either (a) store them using two String session variables, or (b) create a class with two String members, and store that class object in a session variable. Performance wise, you should go with option (a).

[lamy]

thanks Igor, i guess ill set aside the lazyness and code each variable. ;)