How can I make method signature caching?

Question

I'm building an app in .NET and C#, and I'd like to cache some of the results by using attributes/annotations instead of explicit code in the method.

I'd like a method signature that looks a bit like this:

[Cache, timeToLive=60]
String getName(string id, string location)

It should make a hash based on the inputs, and use that as the key for the result. Naturally, there'd be some config file telling it how to actually put in memcached, local dictionary or something.

Do you know of such a framework?

I'd even be interested in one for Java as well

Answer 1

With CacheHandler in Microsoft Enterprise Library you can easily achieve this. For instance:

[CacheHandler(0, 30, 0)]
public Object GetData(Object input)
{
}

would make all calls to that method cached for 30 minutes. All invocations gets a unique cache-key based on the input data and method name so if you call the method twice with different input it doesn't get cached but if you call it >1 times within the timout interval with the same input then the method only gets executed once.

I've added some extra features to Microsoft's code:

My modified version looks like this:

using System;
using System.Diagnostics;
using System.IO;
using System.Reflection;
using System.Runtime.Remoting.Contexts;
using System.Text;
using System.Web;
using System.Web.Caching;
using System.Web.UI;
using Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.Common.Configuration;
using Microsoft.Practices.Unity.InterceptionExtension;


namespace Middleware.Cache
{
    /// <summary>
    /// An <see cref="ICallHandler"/> that implements caching of the return values of
    /// methods. This handler stores the return value in the ASP.NET cache or the Items object of the current request.
    /// </summary>
    [ConfigurationElementType(typeof (CacheHandler)), Synchronization]
    public class CacheHandler : ICallHandler
    {
        /// <summary>
        /// The default expiration time for the cached entries: 5 minutes
        /// </summary>
        public static readonly TimeSpan DefaultExpirationTime = new TimeSpan(0, 5, 0);

        private readonly object cachedData;

        private readonly DefaultCacheKeyGenerator keyGenerator;
        private readonly bool storeOnlyForThisRequest = true;
        private TimeSpan expirationTime;
        private GetNextHandlerDelegate getNext;
        private IMethodInvocation input;


        public CacheHandler(TimeSpan expirationTime, bool storeOnlyForThisRequest)
        {
            keyGenerator = new DefaultCacheKeyGenerator();
            this.expirationTime = expirationTime;
            this.storeOnlyForThisRequest = storeOnlyForThisRequest;
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// This constructor is used when we wrap cached data in a CacheHandler so that 
        /// we can reload the object after it has been removed from the cache.
        /// </summary>
        /// <param name="expirationTime"></param>
        /// <param name="storeOnlyForThisRequest"></param>
        /// <param name="input"></param>
        /// <param name="getNext"></param>
        /// <param name="cachedData"></param>
        public CacheHandler(TimeSpan expirationTime, bool storeOnlyForThisRequest,
                            IMethodInvocation input, GetNextHandlerDelegate getNext,
                            object cachedData)
            : this(expirationTime, storeOnlyForThisRequest)
        {
            this.input = input;
            this.getNext = getNext;
            this.cachedData = cachedData;
        }


        /// <summary>
        /// Gets or sets the expiration time for cache data.
        /// </summary>
        /// <value>The expiration time.</value>
        public TimeSpan ExpirationTime
        {
            get { return expirationTime; }
            set { expirationTime = value; }
        }

        #region ICallHandler Members

        /// <summary>
        /// Implements the caching behavior of this handler.
        /// </summary>
        /// <param name="input"><see cref="IMethodInvocation"/> object describing the current call.</param>
        /// <param name="getNext">delegate used to get the next handler in the current pipeline.</param>
        /// <returns>Return value from target method, or cached result if previous inputs have been seen.</returns>
        public IMethodReturn Invoke(IMethodInvocation input, GetNextHandlerDelegate getNext)
        {
            lock (input.MethodBase)
            {
                this.input = input;
                this.getNext = getNext;

                return loadUsingCache();
            }
        }

        public int Order
        {
            get { return 0; }
            set { }
        }

        #endregion

        private IMethodReturn loadUsingCache()
        {
            //We need to synchronize calls to the CacheHandler on method level
            //to prevent duplicate calls to methods that could be cached.
            lock (input.MethodBase)
            {
                if (TargetMethodReturnsVoid(input) || HttpContext.Current == null)
                {
                    return getNext()(input, getNext);
                }

                var inputs = new object[input.Inputs.Count];
                for (int i = 0; i < inputs.Length; ++i)
                {
                    inputs[i] = input.Inputs[i];
                }

                string cacheKey = keyGenerator.CreateCacheKey(input.MethodBase, inputs);
                object cachedResult = getCachedResult(cacheKey);

                if (cachedResult == null)
                {
                    var stopWatch = Stopwatch.StartNew();
                    var realReturn = getNext()(input, getNext);
                    stopWatch.Stop();
                    if (realReturn.Exception == null && realReturn.ReturnValue != null)
                    {
                        AddToCache(cacheKey, realReturn.ReturnValue);
                    }
                    return realReturn;
                }

                var cachedReturn = input.CreateMethodReturn(cachedResult, input.Arguments);

                return cachedReturn;
            }
        }

        private object getCachedResult(string cacheKey)
        {
            //When the method uses input that is not serializable 
            //we cannot create a cache key and can therefore not 
            //cache the data.
            if (cacheKey == null)
            {
                return null;
            }

            object cachedValue = !storeOnlyForThisRequest ? HttpRuntime.Cache.Get(cacheKey) : HttpContext.Current.Items[cacheKey];
            var cachedValueCast = cachedValue as CacheHandler;
            if (cachedValueCast != null)
            {
                //This is an object that is reloaded when it is being removed.
                //It is therefore wrapped in a CacheHandler-object and we must
                //unwrap it before returning it.
                return cachedValueCast.cachedData;
            }
            return cachedValue;
        }

        private static bool TargetMethodReturnsVoid(IMethodInvocation input)
        {
            var targetMethod = input.MethodBase as MethodInfo;
            return targetMethod != null && targetMethod.ReturnType == typeof (void);
        }

        private void AddToCache(string key, object valueToCache)
        {
            if (key == null)
            {
                //When the method uses input that is not serializable 
                //we cannot create a cache key and can therefore not 
                //cache the data.
                return;
            }

            if (!storeOnlyForThisRequest)
            {
                HttpRuntime.Cache.Insert(
                    key,
                    valueToCache,
                    null,
                    System.Web.Caching.Cache.NoAbsoluteExpiration,
                    expirationTime,
                    CacheItemPriority.Normal, null);
            }
            else
            {
                HttpContext.Current.Items[key] = valueToCache;
            }
        }
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// This interface describes classes that can be used to generate cache key strings
    /// for the <see cref="CacheHandler"/>.
    /// </summary>
    public interface ICacheKeyGenerator
    {
        /// <summary>
        /// Creates a cache key for the given method and set of input arguments.
        /// </summary>
        /// <param name="method">Method being called.</param>
        /// <param name="inputs">Input arguments.</param>
        /// <returns>A (hopefully) unique string to be used as a cache key.</returns>
        string CreateCacheKey(MethodBase method, object[] inputs);
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// The default <see cref="ICacheKeyGenerator"/> used by the <see cref="CacheHandler"/>.
    /// </summary>
    public class DefaultCacheKeyGenerator : ICacheKeyGenerator
    {
        private readonly LosFormatter serializer = new LosFormatter(false, "");

        #region ICacheKeyGenerator Members

        /// <summary>
        /// Create a cache key for the given method and set of input arguments.
        /// </summary>
        /// <param name="method">Method being called.</param>
        /// <param name="inputs">Input arguments.</param>
        /// <returns>A (hopefully) unique string to be used as a cache key.</returns>
        public string CreateCacheKey(MethodBase method, params object[] inputs)
        {
            try
            {
                var sb = new StringBuilder();

                if (method.DeclaringType != null)
                {
                    sb.Append(method.DeclaringType.FullName);
                }
                sb.Append(':');
                sb.Append(method.Name);

                TextWriter writer = new StringWriter(sb);

                if (inputs != null)
                {
                    foreach (var input in inputs)
                    {
                        sb.Append(':');
                        if (input != null)
                        {
                            //Diffrerent instances of DateTime which represents the same value
                            //sometimes serialize differently due to some internal variables which are different.
                            //We therefore serialize it using Ticks instead. instead.
                            var inputDateTime = input as DateTime?;
                            if (inputDateTime.HasValue)
                            {
                                sb.Append(inputDateTime.Value.Ticks);
                            }
                            else
                            {
                                //Serialize the input and write it to the key StringBuilder.
                                serializer.Serialize(writer, input);
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }

                return sb.ToString();
            }
            catch
            {
                //Something went wrong when generating the key (probably an input-value was not serializble.
                //Return a null key.
                return null;
            }
        }

        #endregion
    }
}

Microsoft deserves most credit for this code. We've only added stuff like caching at request level instead of across requests (more useful than you might think) and fixed some bugs (e.g. equal DateTime-objects serializing to different values).

Answer 2

To do exactly what you are describing, i.e. writing

public class MyClass {
  [Cache, timeToLive=60]
  string getName(string id, string location){
    return ExpensiveCall(id, location);
  }
}

// ...
MyClass c = new MyClass();
string name = c.getName("id", "location");
string name_again = c.getName("id", "location");

and having only one invocation of the expensive call and without needing to wrap the class with some other code (f.x. CacheHandler<MyClass> c = new CacheHandler<MyClass>(new MyClass());) you need to look into an Aspect Oriented Programming framework. Those usually work by rewriting the byte-code, so you need to add another step to your compilation process - but you gain a lot of power in the process. There are many AOP-frameworks, but PostSharp for .NET and AspectJ are among the most popular. You can easily Google how to use those to add the caching-aspect you want.