HttpContext.Current.ApplicationInstance.Application vs HttpContext.Current.Application

Question

If I want to store some Objects to share across pages and session which one should I use?

HttpContext.Current.ApplicationInstance.Application or HttpContext.Current.Application.

I was using HttpContext.Current.Application but just got confused between the two.

score 5 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 22 '13 at 00:54

5

They both refer to the same thing, the HttpApplicationState

answered Jan 22 '13 at 00:54

scartag

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Well that's what I thought, but wanted to confirm after some answer in msdn forum directed to a page where MS says that `Application` is just for backward compatibility to classic ASP. Thanks for clearing it. – TheVillageIdiot Jan 22 '13 at 01:48

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 10 '15 at 18:07

Application and ApplicationInstance.Application are two versions of the same HttpApplicationState object.

From the HttpApplicationState reference:

A single instance of an HttpApplicationState class is created the first time a client requests any URL resource from within a particular ASP.NET application virtual directory. A separate single instance is created for each ASP.NET application on a Web server. A reference to each instance is then exposed via the intrinsic Application object.

To summarize:

Application object is global to the web server.
ApplicationInstance.Application object is local to the application the request refers to. (e.g. site or virtual directory application)

This is further explained in this blog post.

HttpContext.Current.ApplicationInstance.Application vs HttpContext.Current.Application

2 Answers2