Sharepoint: How to obtain the current site/web/list properly

Question

Hi all

What is the best way to obtain the current site/web/list ?

Option 1 - Reusing existing objects

        SPSite site = SPContext.Current.Site;
        SPweb web = SPContext.Current.Web;
        SPList list = SPContext.Current.List;

Option 2 - Creating new objects

        SPSite site = new SPSite(SPContext.Current.Site.ID); // dispose me
        SPweb web = site.OpenWeb(SPContext.Current.Web.ID); // dispose me
        SPList list = web.Lists[SPContext.Current.List.ID];

I experienced problems when using option 1 in some situations. Since then I chose the 2nd option and it worked fine so far.

What is your opinion on this? I is generally better to go with option 2? Other suggestions?

Answer 1

I normally go with option 2 (which I believe si the approach recommended by Microsoft), but I tend to wrap things using using to ensure they are disposed of properly. Example:

using (SPSite site = new SPSite("MY SITE URL"))
{
  using (SPWeb web= site.OpenWeb())
   {
       // Do stuff
   }
} 

This approach allows you to be explicit about when objects are created and destroyed.

Answer 2

Do use Option one, because it's more resource-efficient as you don't need to create new object (For example OpenWeb method involves querying database to do it's job). But you are not allowed to dispose objects from SPContext, that will definitely cause you problems.

You must use Option Two if your code is not run in context of application pages (like SharePoint timer or Workflow), because SPContext.Current object will be null.

Link

And yes, if you open SPWeb or SPSite object, you MUST dispose it.