Overview of the CachedRepository Project
The CachedRepository project serves as a practical example illustrating the CachedRepository pattern. This pattern is an architectural approach that aims to enhance data access performance by integrating a caching mechanism. It is particularly useful in applications where data retrieval speed is crucial, impacting the overall performance of the application. This project is built using Entity Framework (EF) and requires minimal setup for demonstration purposes.
Getting Started with CachedRepository
Setup Requirements
To run the CachedRepository sample application, a local database is necessary. The application includes seed data initialized through EF Migrations. Upon opening the project in Visual Studio, users are typically prompted to execute migrations which prepare the database for use with the application. The connection details, including the database server information, are specified in the appsettings.json file. By default, it expects a server named (localdb)\\mssqllocaldb. Users may need to modify this setting to match their database server.
Running the Application
If you encounter issues running the application in Visual Studio or via browser middleware, several command-line options are available to manually set up and run the project:
- Update the database schema using EF Migrations:
dotnet ef database update - Launch the application:
dotnet run
In scenarios where the above commands do not resolve the issues, deleting the Migrations folder and re-initiating the migration process might help:
dotnet ef migrations add Initial
dotnet ef database update
dotnet run
What to Expect
Once the application is running successfully, the initial load presents users with a homepage. When the user refreshes the page, the data should load rapidly, demonstrating a load time close to 0 milliseconds. This swift performance is a result of the caching mechanism. However, the cache is programmed to reset every 5 seconds. Therefore, if the page is continually refreshed, there will occasionally be a noticeable non-zero load time corresponding to cache refresh events.
Learning Resources
For those interested in a deeper understanding of the CachedRepository pattern, several resources offer detailed explorations:
- An introduction to the CachedRepository pattern: This resource provides foundational knowledge about why and how CachedRepository is beneficial.
- A guide on building a CachedRepository through the Strategy Pattern approach: This article delves into using strategic design patterns to construct a more efficient caching system.
- A practical example on StackOverflow: Offers insights and community discussions about implementing CachedRepository in real-world scenarios.
These resources are invaluable for developers aiming to implement efficient caching strategies in their applications, thereby improving speed and performance while maintaining scalability.