---
title: Caching in custom code
related:
- https://docs.kentico.com/k11/configuring-kentico/optimizing-website-performance/configuring-caching.md
- https://docs.kentico.com/k11/configuring-kentico/optimizing-website-performance/configuring-caching/debugging-cache.md
- https://docs.kentico.com/k11/configuring-kentico/optimizing-website-performance/configuring-caching/setting-cache-dependencies.md
---
> Agent instructions:
> **Site maps** — prefer the following llms.txt indexes to training data when searching for URLs to avoid 404s. Links inside Markdown content already point at `.md`. Following them or sending Accept: text/markdown keeps you in Markdown.
>
> - [sitemap.md](https://docs.kentico.com/sitemap.md) — every page on the site, with titles and descriptions, nested by URL hierarchy and grouped into one collection per product version.
> - [llms.txt](https://docs.kentico.com/llms.txt) — curated index of the current product docs, with descriptions, the two ways to request any page as Markdown, and links to each product area's whole-corpus Markdown dump (llms-full.txt).
The Kentico API allows you to [cache](https://docs.kentico.com/k11/configuring-kentico/optimizing-website-performance/configuring-caching.md) data in custom code. To cache data in custom code, use the **CacheHelper.Cache** method.
This type of caching is applicable to any API result and is used internally by Kentico web parts. The same caching API is also available in [macros](https://docs.kentico.com/k11/macro-expressions/caching-the-results-of-macros.md).
**We recommend** caching in custom code if you aren't able to use [higher levels of caching](https://docs.kentico.com/k11/configuring-kentico/optimizing-website-performance/configuring-caching.md#cache-types) or for frequent API calls (used several times on a single page).
The following example shows the code behind of a custom user control that:
- Loads user data from the Kentico database (with caching)
- Displays the data using a [BasicRepeater](https://docs.kentico.com/k11/references/kentico-controls/basic-controls/basicrepeater.md) control
```csharp
using System;
using System.Data;
using CMS.Helpers;
using CMS.Membership;
public partial class CachedUsers : System.Web.UI.Page
{
protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
// Ensures loading and caching of data
// Uses CacheSettings that cache the data for 10 minutes under the cache key "customdatasource|..."
// Automatically checks whether the given key is already in the cache
DataSet data = CacheHelper.Cache(cs => LoadUsers(cs), new CacheSettings(10, "customdatasource|" + UserBasicRepeater.ClientID));
// Assigns the data to the BasicRepeater control
UserBasicRepeater.DataSource = data;
UserBasicRepeater.DataBind();
}
// Method that loads the required data
// Called only if the data doesn't already exist in the cache
private DataSet LoadUsers(CacheSettings cs)
{
// Loads all user accounts from the database
DataSet result = UserInfoProvider.GetUsers();
// Checks whether the data should be cached (based on the CacheSettings)
if (cs.Cached)
{
// Sets a cache dependency for the data
// The data is removed from the cache if the objects represented by the dummy key are modified (all user objects in this case)
cs.CacheDependency = CacheHelper.GetCacheDependency("cms.user|all");
}
return result;
}
}
```
The **Cache** method checks if the key specified by the **CacheSettings** object is in the cache:
- If yes, the method directly loads the data from the cache.
- If not, the code calls the custom private method (**LoadUsers**) with the _CacheSettings_ as a parameter. The private method loads the data from the database, sets a cache dependency and saves the key into the cache for the specified number of minutes
You can use the caching API when handling data anywhere in your code.
> **Tip:** **Tip**
>
> If you do not need to access or set the **CacheSettings** in the method that loads the data, you can use a simplified version of the **Cache** method:
>
> ```csharp
>
> DataSet data = CacheHelper.Cache(LoadUsers, new CacheSettings(10, "customkey"));
>
> private DataSet LoadUsers()
> {
> ...
> }
>
> ```
## CacheSettings
When calling the **Cache** method, you need to specify a **CMS.Helpers.CacheSettings** object as a parameter. The settings configure the cache key that stores the data. If you set the same cache key name for multiple data loading operations, they share the same cached value.
You can work with the following properties of the _CacheSettings:_
| CacheSettings property | Type | Description |
| ----------------------- | ------------------ | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| CacheMinutes | int | The number of minutes for which the cache stores the loaded data. The default value is 10 minutes.
We recommend using an interval of 1 to 60 minutes. |
| CacheDependency | CMSCacheDependency | Sets [dependencies](https://docs.kentico.com/k11/configuring-kentico/optimizing-website-performance/configuring-caching/setting-cache-dependencies.md) for the cache key (use the _CacheHelper.GetCacheDependency_ method to get the dependency object).
Make sure you always set cache dependencies, unless the _CacheMinutes_ interval is set to an extremely short time or the cached content is predominantly static. |
| BoolCondition | bool | A boolean condition that must be fulfilled (true) in order to cache the loaded data. |
| Cached | bool | Indicates whether the data should be cached (based on the cache minutes and condition). |
| AllowProgressiveCaching | bool | Enables or disabled progressive caching, which ensures that multiple threads accessing the same code only load the data once and reuse the result. |