VirtualFile Class

Definition

public ref class VirtualFile abstract : System::Web::Hosting::VirtualFileBase

public abstract class VirtualFile : System.Web.Hosting.VirtualFileBase

type VirtualFile = class
    inherit VirtualFileBase

Public MustInherit Class VirtualFile
Inherits VirtualFileBase

Inheritance

Object

MarshalByRefObject

VirtualFileBase

VirtualFile

Examples

The following code example is a VirtualFile class implementation that combines information stored in a DataSet object with a template file to return HTML data. This code example works with the code examples for the VirtualPathProvider and VirtualDirectory classes to provide virtual resources from a data store that is loaded into a DataSet object. For the complete instructions for compiling and running the example, see the Example section of the VirtualPathProvider class overview.

This example has three parts: the VirtualFile class implementation, an XML data file used to populate the DataSet object, and the page template file.

The first code example is an implementation of the VirtualFile class. Its constructor uses a method on a custom VirtualPathProvider object to return a DataSet object. It then searches the DataSet object to retrieve the information associated with the virtual file path provided. In the Open method, it combines the information from the DataSet object with a template file and returns the combination as a Stream object.

using System;
using System.Data;
using System.IO;
using System.Security.Permissions;
using System.Web;
using System.Web.Caching;
using System.Web.Hosting;

namespace Samples.AspNet.CS
{
  [AspNetHostingPermission(SecurityAction.Demand, Level = AspNetHostingPermissionLevel.Minimal)]
  [AspNetHostingPermission(SecurityAction.InheritanceDemand, Level = AspNetHostingPermissionLevel.Minimal)]
  public class SampleVirtualFile : VirtualFile
  {
    private string content;
    private SamplePathProvider spp;

    public bool Exists
    {
      get { return (content != null); }
    }

    public SampleVirtualFile(string virtualPath, SamplePathProvider provider)
      : base(virtualPath)
    {
      this.spp = provider;
      GetData();
    }

    protected void GetData()
    {
      // Get the data from the SamplePathProvider
      DataSet ds = spp.GetVirtualData();

      // Get the virtual file from the resource table.
      DataTable files = ds.Tables["resource"];
      DataRow[] rows = files.Select(
        String.Format("(name = '{0}') AND (type='file')", this.Name));

      // If the select returned a row, store the file contents.
      if (rows.Length > 0)
      {
        DataRow row = rows[0];

        content = row["content"].ToString();
      }
    }

    private string FormatTimeStamp(DateTime time)
    {
      return String.Format("{0} at {1}",
        time.ToLongDateString(), time.ToLongTimeString());
    }

    public override Stream Open()
    {
      string templateFile = HostingEnvironment.ApplicationPhysicalPath + "App_Data\\template.txt";
      string pageTemplate;
      DateTime now = DateTime.Now;

      // Try to get the page template out of the cache.
      pageTemplate = (string)HostingEnvironment.Cache.Get("pageTemplate");

      if (pageTemplate == null)
      {
        // Get the page template.
        using (StreamReader reader = new StreamReader(templateFile))
        {
          pageTemplate = reader.ReadToEnd();
        }

        // Set template timestamp
        pageTemplate = pageTemplate.Replace("%templateTimestamp%", 
          FormatTimeStamp(now));

        // Make pageTemplate dependent on the template file.
        CacheDependency cd = new CacheDependency(templateFile);

        // Put pageTemplate into cache for maximum of 20 minutes.
        HostingEnvironment.Cache.Add("pageTemplate", pageTemplate, cd,
          Cache.NoAbsoluteExpiration,
          new TimeSpan(0, 20, 0),
          CacheItemPriority.Default, null);
      }

      // Put the page data into the template.
      pageTemplate = pageTemplate.Replace("%file%", this.Name);
      pageTemplate = pageTemplate.Replace("%content%", content);

      // Get the data time stamp from the cache.
      DateTime dataTimeStamp = (DateTime)HostingEnvironment.Cache.Get("dataTimeStamp");
      pageTemplate = pageTemplate.Replace("%dataTimestamp%", 
        FormatTimeStamp(dataTimeStamp));
      pageTemplate = pageTemplate.Replace("%pageTimestamp%", 
        FormatTimeStamp(now));

      // Put the page content on the stream.
      Stream stream = new MemoryStream();
      StreamWriter writer = new StreamWriter(stream);

      writer.Write(pageTemplate);
      writer.Flush();
      stream.Seek(0, SeekOrigin.Begin);

      return stream;
    }
  }
}

Imports System.Data
Imports System.IO
Imports System.Security.Permissions
Imports System.Web
Imports System.Web.Caching
Imports System.Web.Hosting

Namespace Samples.AspNet.VB
  <AspNetHostingPermission(SecurityAction.Demand, Level:=AspNetHostingPermissionLevel.Minimal), _
   AspNetHostingPermission(SecurityAction.InheritanceDemand, level:=AspNetHostingPermissionLevel.Minimal)> _
  Public Class SampleVirtualFile
    Inherits VirtualFile

    Private content As String
    Private spp As SamplePathProvider

    Public ReadOnly Property Exists() As Boolean
      Get
        Return (content <> String.Empty)
      End Get
    End Property

    Public Sub New(ByVal virtualPath As String, ByVal provider As SamplePathProvider)
      MyBase.New(virtualPath)
      spp = provider
      GetData()
    End Sub

    Protected Sub GetData()
      ' Get the data from the SamplePathProvider.
      Dim spp As SamplePathProvider
      spp = CType(HostingEnvironment.VirtualPathProvider, SamplePathProvider)

      Dim ds As DataSet
      ds = spp.GetVirtualData

      ' Get the virtual file data from the resource table.
      Dim files As DataTable
      files = ds.Tables("resource")

      Dim rows As DataRow()
      rows = files.Select( _
        String.Format("(name='{0}') AND (type='file')", Me.Name))

      ' If the select returned a row, store the file contents.
      If (rows.Length > 0) Then
        Dim row As DataRow
        row = rows(0)

        content = row("content").ToString()
      End If
    End Sub


    Private Function FormatTimeStamp(ByVal time As DateTime) As String
      Return String.Format("{0} at {1}", _
        time.ToLongDateString(), time.ToLongTimeString)
    End Function

    Public Overrides Function Open() As System.IO.Stream
      Dim templateFile As String
      templateFile = HostingEnvironment.ApplicationPhysicalPath & "App_Data\template.txt"

      Dim pageTemplate As String
      Dim now As DateTime
      now = DateTime.Now

      ' Try to get the page template out of the cache.
      pageTemplate = CType(HostingEnvironment.Cache.Get("pageTemplate"), String)

      If pageTemplate Is Nothing Then
        ' Get the page template.
        Try
          pageTemplate = My.Computer.FileSystem.ReadAllText(templateFile)
        Catch fileException As Exception
          Throw fileException
        End Try

        ' Set template timestamp.
        pageTemplate = pageTemplate.Replace("%templateTimestamp%", _
          FormatTimeStamp(Now))

        ' Make pageTemplate dependent on the template file.
        Dim cd As CacheDependency
        cd = New CacheDependency(templateFile)

        ' Put pageTemplate into cache for maximum of 20 minutes.
        HostingEnvironment.Cache.Add("pageTemplate", pageTemplate, cd, _
          Cache.NoAbsoluteExpiration, _
          New TimeSpan(0, 20, 0), _
          CacheItemPriority.Default, Nothing)
      End If

      ' Put the page data into the template.
      pageTemplate = pageTemplate.Replace("%file%", Me.Name)
      pageTemplate = pageTemplate.Replace("%content%", content)

      ' Get the data timestamp from the cache.
      Dim dataTimeStamp As DateTime
      dataTimeStamp = CType(HostingEnvironment.Cache.Get("dataTimeStamp"), DateTime)
      pageTemplate = pageTemplate.Replace("%dataTimestamp%", _
        FormatTimeStamp(dataTimeStamp))

      ' Set a timestamp for the page.
      Dim pageTimeStamp As String
      pageTimeStamp = FormatTimeStamp(now)
      pageTemplate = pageTemplate.Replace("%pageTimestamp%", pageTimeStamp)

      ' Put the page content on the stream.
      Dim stream As MemoryStream
      stream = New MemoryStream()

      Dim writer As StreamWriter
      writer = New StreamWriter(stream)

      writer.Write(pageTemplate)
      writer.Flush()
      stream.Seek(0, SeekOrigin.Begin)

      Return stream
    End Function
  End Class
End Namespace

The second example is the XML data file used to populate the DataSet object returned by the custom VirtualPathProvider object. This XML data is used to demonstrate using the VirtualPathProvider, VirtualFile, and VirtualDirectory classes to retrieve data from external data, and is not intended to represent a production-quality data store.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>  
<resource type="dir"   
          path="/vrDir"   
          parentPath=""   
          content="">  
  <resource type="file"   
            path="/vrDir/Level1FileA.vrf"  
            parentPath="/vrDir"   
            content="This is the content of file Level1FileA.">  
  </resource>  
  <resource type="file"   
            path="/vrDir/Level1FileB.vrf"  
            parentPath="/vrDir"   
            content="This is the content of file Level1FileB.">  
  </resource>  
  <resource type="dir"   
            path="/vrDir/Level2DirA"   
            parentPath="/vrDir"   
            content="">  
    <resource type="file"   
              path="/vrDir/Level2DirA/Level2FileA.vrf"   
              parentPath="/vrDir/Level2DirA"   
              content="This is the content of file Level2FileA.">  
    </resource>  
    <resource type="file"   
              path="/vrDir/Level2DirA/Level2FileB.vrf"  
              parentPath="/vrDir/Level2DirA"   
              content="This is the content of file Level2FileB.">  
    </resource>  
  </resource>  
  <resource type="dir"   
            path="/vrDir/Level2DirB"   
            parentPath="/vrDir"   
            content="">  
    <resource type="file"   
              path="/vrDir/Level2DirB/Level2FileA.vrf"   
              parentPath="/vrDir/Level2DirB"   
              content="This is the content of file Level2FileA.">  
    </resource>  
    <resource type="file"   
              path="/vrDir/Level2DirB/Level2FileB.vrf"  
              parentPath="/vrDir/Level2DirB"   
              content="This is the content of file Level2FileB.">  
    </resource>  
  </resource>  
</resource>  

The third example is the text file used as a template for the virtual file. Placeholders in the file are represented by text between percent (%) marks, such as %file% and %content%. Timestamps are used to monitor changes to cached virtual file data.

<html>  
  <head>  
    <title>File name: %file%</title>  
  </head>  

  <body>  
    <h1>%file%</h1>  
    <p>%content%</p>  
    <p>Page timestamp: %pageTimestamp%<br>  
       Data timestamp: %dataTimestamp%<br>  
       Template timestamp: %templateTimestamp%</p>  
  </body>  
</html>  

Remarks

The VirtualFile class is the base class for objects that represent files in a virtual file system. Typically, you would implement a descendent of the VirtualFile class for each VirtualPathProvider object descendent in your Web application.

Notes to Implementers

When you inherit from the VirtualFile class, you must override the Open() method to return a read-only stream to the contents of the virtual resource.

Constructors

Properties

Methods

Applies to