Caching best practices - Single object or multiple entries?
asp.net, c#, caching
Solution
Ed, I assume those lists and dictionaries contain almost static data with low chances of expiration. Then there's data that gets frequent hits but also changes more frequently, so you're caching it using the HttpRuntime cache.
Now, you should think of all that data and all of the dependencies between diferent types. If you logically find that the HttpRuntime cached data depends somehow on your GlobalData items, you should move that into the cache and set up the appropriate dependencies in there so you'll benefit of the "cascading expiration".
Even if you do use your custom caching mechanism, you'd still have to provide all the synchronization, so you won't save on that by avoiding the other.
If you need (preordered) lists of items with a really low frequency change, you can still do that by using the HttpRuntime cache. So you could just cache a dictionary and either use it to list your items or to index and access by your custom key.
Problem
Does anyone have any advice on which method is better when caching data in a C# ASP.net application? I am currently using a combination of two approaches, with some data (List, dictionaries, the usual domain-specific information) being put directly into the cache and boxed when needed, and some data being kept inside a globaldata class, and retrieved through that class (i.e. the GlobalData class is cached, and it's properties are the actual data). Is either approach preferable? I get the feeling that caching each item separately would be more sensible from a concurrency point of view, however it creates a lot more work in the long run with more functions that purely deal with getting data out of a cache location in a Utility class. Suggestions would be appreciated.