ASP.NET Static classes and asp.net sessions

Question

Would someone be kind enough to explain or point to article that explains how the scope of static classes and methods interact with the scope of a ASP.NET user session.

Here is the more specific situation which explains my question:

1. User A logs into a asp.net website.
2. While doing something user A uses a static method which initializes some data.
3. User B logs into the same asp.net website.
4. User B hits the same static method.

Is the data already initialized once user B hits it?

Also what if the asp.net session of user A expires before user B hits the website?

Answer 1

Static data lives as long as the process is running. It is attached to the type.

If the data that is initialized is in a static context, then when user B hits the method, it will already be initialized.

Sessions are not relevant here - only the process.

If the process gets recycled, then the data will have to be reinitialized.

Answer 2

Check these posts: Why does my ASP.Net static function's "context" crossover between user sessions?

What is the scope of a Static Class?

C# Static variables - scope and persistence

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms173138(v=vs.100).aspx

In short:

Is the data already initialized once user B hits it?

Yes

Also what if the asp.net session of user A expires before user B hits the website?

User B will access data initialized by user A

Static data is shared among the entire application domain of your webapp. It's shared among all the threads serving requests in your webapp, it's not bound to a session/thread/user in any way but to the webapp as a whole.