ASP.NET MVC: Increment counter on controller, being cached

Question

The controller is:

[OutputCache(Duration = Int32.MaxValue, VaryByParam = "id", SqlDependency = "data:table")]
public ActionResult Details(int id)
{
   var model = repo.GetDetails(id);
   repo.IncreaseCounter(id);
   return View(model);
}

Of cause counter doesn't work as it supposed to (increase counter when someone open the page).

Is it possible to call repo.IncreaseCounter(id) every time but caching leave enabled?

i think, i could call two controllers: one to increase counter, and this one. Could you advise more elegant way? TIA

Answer 1

One option is to use an image based tracker inside each page:

<img src="/counter/increase/12" />

and then setup a controller action which will increase the counter:

[OutputCache(NoStore = true, Duration = 0, VaryByParam = "*", Location = OutputCacheLocation.None)]
public ActionResult Increase(int id)
{
    repo.IncreaseCounter(id);
    return File("empty.png", "image/png");
}

As an alternative to image based tracker you could use an AJAX based tracker which will hit the controller action using AJAX.