Can we use same datatable for pagemethod and webmethod in ASP.NET?

Question

I am trying to create a new webpage where i need to display almost 10 different gridviews and charts.

Gridviews are binded on pageload event and charts are displayed using jquery-ajax method (using amcharts as well as highcharts) by calling WebMethod.

Initially i implemented the page in a way that after executing same set of stored procedures for gridviews(for showing grid view data) and webmethods(for drawing charts).So same sps are executed twice for this page(one for grid and another for chart).There are 10 sps required to execute for fetching the data.

So for improving the page performance i have created static datatable like this

static DataTable Report1;

and binded the gridview like this.

private void gvbindReport1()
    {
        try
        {            
            Report1 = new DataTable();//refreshed datatable 
            DataSet ReportDS1 = objmvbl.GetReportGraph(ClientID, date_From, date_To);
            if (ReportDS1.Tables.Count > 0)
            {
                Report1 = ReportDS1.Tables[0];//bindinding data to static datatable

            }
            GdReport.DataSource = Report1;
            GdReport.DataBind();
        }
        catch (Exception ex)
        {
            Log.Errlog("Error Occured in  gvbindReport1 : " + ex.Message.ToString());
        }

    }

and inside the webmethod i have used the same datatable for drawing the chart like this

 [System.Web.Services.WebMethod]
    public static string GetDataReport1()
    {
        System.Web.Script.Serialization.JavaScriptSerializer serializer = new System.Web.Script.Serialization.JavaScriptSerializer();
        List<Dictionary<string, object>> rows = new List<Dictionary<string, object>>();
        Dictionary<string, object> row;
        try
        {
            //processing for the data inside static datatable
            if (Report1.Rows.Count > 0)
            {
                foreach (DataRow dr in Report1.Rows)
                {
                    row = new Dictionary<string, object>();
                    foreach (DataColumn col in Report1.Columns)
                    {
                        row.Add(col.ColumnName, dr[col]);
                    }
                    rows.Add(row);
                }
            }
        }
        catch (Exception ex)
        {
            Log.Errlog("Error Occured in  GetDataReport WebMethod of Report Page : " + ex.Message.ToString());
        }

        return serializer.Serialize(rows);

    }

with this i am able to show both grid and charts.

Now Please tell me that, is this a correct approach to deal with webmethods? i have read that webmethod have no relation to the page and all.Please Tell me the drawbacks of this method.

If this is wrong,Please suggest a better way to improve the page performance?

Answer 1

No, this is not the correct method. Since you have declared the DataTable as static (a static variable has application scope and cannot be instantiated) all

users will get the same result (last updated values).

You can realize this in concurrency testing.

Please check the following scenario:

Consider dtbl is the static dataTable which is initialized on the home page, and you create another instance of `datatable on the index page (both are in page load as given below).

Home

public static DataTable dtbl;
protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    if (!Page.IsPostBack)
    {
        dtbl = new DataTable();
        dtbl.Columns.Add("id");
        dtbl.Columns.Add("name");
        for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++)
        {
            DataRow dr = dtbl.NewRow();
            dr["id"] = i.ToString();
            dr["name"] = i + 1;
            dtbl.Rows.Add(dr);
        }
    }
}

Index page

protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    if (!Page.IsPostBack)
    {
        home.dtbl = new DataTable();
    }
}

Now put a breakpoint in each page load and run the application,

• Open both the pages in separate tab.
• Refresh the home page and check whether the columns are showing
• Now go to the next tab (index) and refresh it (a new instance is created for dt). It will affect the data table now you will get the new data table at home also.
• So if these two processes/pages are concurrently executed the latest value will get for both the pages. That's why I am saying it will realize this in concurrency testing.

You can make use of a session in this case. Consider the following code:

Home

protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    if (!Page.IsPostBack)
    {
        dtbl = new DataTable();
        dtbl.Columns.Add("id");
        dtbl.Columns.Add("name");
        for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++)
        {
            DataRow dr = dtbl.NewRow();
            dr["id"] = i.ToString();
            dr["name"] = i + 1;
            dtbl.Rows.Add(dr);
        }
        if (((DataTable)Session["MyDatatable"]).Columns.Count < 0)
        {
            Session["MyDatatable"] = dtbl;
        }
        else
        {
            dtbl = (DataTable)Session["MyDatatable"];
        }
    }
}