ASP.NET WebApi Session vs Static Variables

Question

In a ASP.NET WebApi hosted in IIS 7, does it have access to session? It appears Session is null on the HttpContext.Current.

What is the difference between these two for storing a global variable?

private static Dictionary<string, string> ConnectionStrings
    {
        get
        {
            if (HttpContext.Current.Session["ConnectionStrings"] == null)
                HttpContext.Current.Session["ConnectionStrings"] = new Dictionary<string, string>();

            return HttpContext.Current.Session["ConnectionStrings"] as Dictionary<string, string>;
        }
    }

and

private static Dictionary<string, string> connectionStrings = new Dictionary<string, string>();

Should I use session or static variables to store connection strings that are dynamically generated (long story)?

Answer 1

Well, a session variable is meant to be per user. A static variable is a variable that will be shared between all users. So, I have no idea why would store a connection string per user, but if you need to do that, you can't use one static variable. Now, you could use a static variable and make it a Dictionary, where the key is the user, and the value is whatever you want to store. That would certainly work.

Having said all that, you can mimic sessions using cookies (which ultimately is what sessions make use of anyway (usually)): See: Accessing Session Using ASP.NET Web API