Session not retaining TempData through multiple Ajax calls to Controller - ajax

Question

Im trying to work with an object (VideoInfo) in several Action methods. A form sends a viewmodel with a video file to the Upload method in VideoController. It uploads the video and returns a generated guid. When the callback has returned, a new ajax call is made to the Convert method which returns the guid. As seen in the javascript part of Create.cshtml it makes two other Ajax calls, one to the Progress method and one to the Azure method.
When trying to fetch the VideoInfo object in the Azure method and the Progress method, videoInfo is null. Though it successfully retains the data between the Upload method and Convert method. Im using TempData.Peek() so that it shouldnt mark it for deletion.
I can see that the Upload and Convert method is using the same instance of VideoController, where as the Progress and Azure method uses another instance, I guess this could have to do with the problem.
InstanceId when running Upload method: 23ef96fa-c746-4722-ad07-e9e40fc95f29
InstanceId when running Convert method: 23ef96fa-c746-4722-ad07-e9e40fc95f29
InstanceId when running Progress method: 0aba24b2-ccb8-434d-a27d-cc66cb52c466
InstanceId when running Azure method: 0aba24b2-ccb8-434d-a27d-cc66cb52c466
How can I retain data between my Ajax calls in the VideoController?
Why is the instance id same for the first two calls but then it changes?
VideoController.cs
using System;
namespace MediaPortal.Controllers
{
[Authorize(Roles = "Admin")]
public class VideoController : Controller
{
private static Guid InstanceId { get; }
static VideoController()
{
InstanceId = Guid.NewGuid();
}
[HttpPost]
[ValidateAntiForgeryToken]
public ActionResult Upload(CreateVideoViewModel model)
{
if (ModelState.IsValid)
{
if (model.File != null)
{
Debug.WriteLine("Upload method InstanceId: " + InstanceId.ToString());
// ...
TempData[videoInfo.Id] = videoInfo;
videoInfo.cvvm.File.SaveAs(videoInfo.TempPath);
return Json(new { Successfull = true, Id = videoInfo.Id });
}
return null;
}
return null;
}
[HttpPost]
public ActionResult Convert(string id)
{
Debug.WriteLine("Convert method InstanceId: " + InstanceId.ToString());
// Create new object of FFMpegConvertor
var converter = new FFMpegConverter();
VideoInfo videoInfo = (VideoInfo)TempData.Peek(id);
// ...
return Json(new { Successfull = true, Id = videoInfo.Id });
}
[HttpPost]
public ActionResult Azure(string id)
{
Debug.WriteLine("Azure method InstanceId: " + InstanceId.ToString());
VideoInfo videoInfo = (VideoInfo)TempData[id];
// ...
if (videoUpload != null && thumbnailUpload != null)
{
Video video = new Video
{
Id = videoInfo.Id.ToString(),
Name = videoInfo.cvvm.Name,
ProjectId = videoInfo.cvvm.ProjectId,
Type = "mp4",
VideoUri = videoUpload.Uri.ToString(),
ThumbnailUri = thumbnailUpload.Uri.ToString()
};
db.Videos.Add(video);
db.SaveChanges();
return Json(new { Successful = true, Data = Url.Action("Index", new { projectId = videoInfo.cvvm.ProjectId }) });
}
return null;
}
[HttpPost]
public JsonResult Progress(string id)
{
Debug.WriteLine("Progress method InstanceId: " + InstanceId.ToString());
try
{
VideoInfo videoInfo = (VideoInfo)TempData.Peek(id);
return Json(new { Data = videoInfo.Progress });
}
catch
{
return Json(new { Data = "No Video Information in Dictionary for Id: " + id });
}
}
protected override void Dispose(bool disposing)
{
if (disposing)
{
db.Dispose();
}
base.Dispose(disposing);
}
}
}
Create.cshtml (JQuery/Ajax)
<script src="http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.7/jquery.js"></script>
<script src="http://malsup.github.com/jquery.form.js"></script>
<script>
$.noConflict();
jQuery(document).ready(function ($) {
var bar = $('.progress-bar');
var percent = $('.percent');
$('#Myform').ajaxForm({
type: "POST",
contentType: "application/json; charset=utf-8",
beforeSend: function () {
var percentVal = '0%';
bar.width(percentVal);
percent.html(percentVal);
},
uploadProgress: function (event, position, total, percentComplete) {
var percentVal = percentComplete + '%';
bar.width(percentVal);
percent.html(percentVal);
},
complete: function (uploadStatus) {
console.log("Upload finished for video with Id: " + JSON.parse(uploadStatus.responseText).Id);
setTimeout(function () { progress(uploadStatus) }, 1000);
$.ajax({
type: "POST",
url: '#Url.Action("Convert", "Video")?id=' + JSON.parse(uploadStatus.responseText).Id,
dataType: "json",
contentType: "application/json; charset=utf-8",
complete: function (convertStatus) {
console.log("Conversion finished for video with Id: " + JSON.parse(convertStatus.responseText).Id);
$.ajax({
type: "POST",
url: '#Url.Action("Azure", "Video")?id=' + JSON.parse(convertStatus.responseText).Id,
dataType: "json",
contentType: "application/json; charset=utf-8",
complete: function (azureStatus) {
window.location.href = JSON.parse(azureStatus.responseText).Data;
}
});
}
});
}
});
function progress(uploadStatus) {
$.ajax({
type: "POST",
url: '#Url.Action("Progress", "Video")?id=' + JSON.parse(uploadStatus.responseText).Id,
dataType: "json",
contentType: "application/json; charset=utf-8",
complete: function (progressStatus) {
console.log("Progress: " + JSON.parse(progressStatus.responseText).Data);
if (JSON.parse(progressStatus.responseText).Data < 100) {
setTimeout(function () { progress(uploadStatus) }, 1000);
}
else if (JSON.parse(progressStatus.responseText).Data >= 100) {
console.log("Video Conversion Completed");
}
else {
console.log("Something went wrong");
}
}
})
}
});
</script>

Answer 1

It seems IIS Express was the problem. I cant say why though. I realized this because when I deployed the project to my production server in Azure it all worked fine.
So instead of using IIS Express I installed IIS on my development machine, works perfectly after that.