Best way to store commonly used values

Question

In my Webforms 3.5 application, I have a GridView of users that displays the last time they logged in. This value is stored in the Users table in UTC. When an Administrator views the grid, I want them to view it the time zone the Administrator has selected in their preferences (also stored in the Users table).

I have this working properly for the GridView:

<ItemTemplate>
    <%# TimeZoneInfo.ConvertTimeFromUtc(Eval("LastLoginDateTimeUTC"), TimeZoneInfo.FindSystemTimeZoneById(UserService.GetUser(HttpContext.Current.User.Identity.Name).DisplayTimeZone))%>
</ItemTemplate>

So in this case, every time a row is created, a user object is created.

What I would like to do is determine the best way to handle returning commonly used User specific data (such as user.DisplayTimeZone). I have several ideas in mind, but I wanted to get some input on how others are doing it. I was looking at using a User Specific Cache, but didn't want to implement until I had more ideas.

I would like to avoid the Session object, but it's not a requirement. I would prefer to use the HttpRuntime.Cache.

Also, once this is determined, where should the code for this go? In a BasePage class? In the MasterPage? In an MVP BasePresenter?

Thanks ~S

Answer 1

I've done the same using a user specific cache as you mentioned. I actually implemented it in a separate namespace though as static get properties. For example:

namespace MyWeb.Session
  public static class CurrentUser {
    public static int DisplayTimeZone {
      get {
        // Check cache first.
        ...

        // Cache miss, load from database and store in cache.
        ...
      }
    }
  }
}

That way every time I needed the value I simply call MyWeb.Session.CurrentUser.DisplayTimeZone.