The System.Web.UI.WebControls.XmlDataSource control supports data caching. While data is cached, the System.Web.UI.WebControls.XmlDataSource retrieves data from the cache rather than from the underlying data file. When the cache expires, it retrieves data from the underlying file and re-caches the data.

You can set the XmlDataSource.CacheKeyDependency property to create a dependency between all cache entries created by the System.Web.UI.WebControls.XmlDataSource control and the key. You can programmatically invalidate all the cache entries at any time by expiring the key.

Because of the properties used to create the XmlDataSource.CacheKeyDependency, it is possible that multiple System.Web.UI.WebControls.XmlDataSource controls can use the same cache in scenarios where they load the same data from the same XML file and transform file and have the same XmlDataSource.CacheDuration and XmlDataSource.CacheExpirationPolicy set.