Where is HttpContext.Timestamp in ASP.NET Core MVC?

Question

I would like to get the initial timestamp of the current HTTP request in an ASP.NET Core MVC controller. This timestamp used to be accessible (pre ASP.NET Core) by HttpContext.Timestamp, but Timestamp doesn't seem to be a property of HttpContext anymore.

Where is this property moved to? Or - when it is no longer available - how can I get the timestamp of the HTTP request?

Answer 1

You can add your own middleware to the pipeline which adds additional data to the request. For example:

public void Configure(IApplicationBuilder app)
{
    //Make sure this code is placed at the very start to ensure it 
    //executes as soon as possible
    app.Use(async (context, next) =>
    {
        context.Items.Add("RequestStartedOn", DateTime.UtcNow);
        await next();
    };

    //The rest of your code here...
}

Then later on in the pipeline:

var requestStartedOn = (DateTime)httpContext.Items["RequestStartedOn"];

As an aside, if you intend to reuse this code elsewhere, I would put it in it's own library. For example:

public class RequestTimestampMiddleware
{
    private readonly RequestDelegate _next;

    public RequestTimestampMiddleware(RequestDelegate next)
    {
        _next = next;
    }

    public Task Invoke(HttpContext context)
    {
        context.Items.Add("RequestStartedOn", DateTime.UtcNow);

        // Call the next delegate/middleware in the pipeline
        return this._next(context);
    }
}

And then add an extension method to make it easy to use:

public static class RequestTimestampMiddlewareExtensions
{
    public static IApplicationBuilder UseRequestTimestamp(this IApplicationBuilder builder)
    {
        return builder.UseMiddleware<RequestTimestampMiddleware>();
    }
}

Now your Configure method will look a lot nicer:

public void Configure(IApplicationBuilder app)
{
    app.UseRequestTimestamp();

    //The rest of your code here...
}