How does ViewState work in ASP.NET web pages?
In ASP.NET web pages, ViewState works behind the scenes to persist and restore the state of controls between postbacks. It ensures that control values, such as textbox entries or selected options in dropdown lists, are maintained across page requests. Here's an overview of how ViewState works in ASP.NET web pages:
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Enabling ViewState: ViewState is enabled at the page or control level by setting the 'EnableViewState' property to 'true'. By default, ViewState is enabled for most web controls. You can also enable or disable ViewState programmatically.
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Saving Control State: During the page lifecycle, when a postback occurs (such as a button click), the ASP.NET framework automatically saves the state of controls in their respective ViewState. This happens in the 'SaveViewState' phase, after the 'LoadViewState' phase of the page lifecycle.
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ViewState Serialization: The control state data is serialized into a hidden field called '__VIEWSTATE'. This hidden field is part of the HTML output generated by the ASP.NET framework and is sent to the client's browser.
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Client-Server Communication: When the page is submitted back to the server, either through a postback or a form submission, the '__VIEWSTATE' field is sent back to the server as part of the request payload.
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ViewState Deserialization: On the server, during the LoadViewState phase of the page lifecycle, the '__VIEWSTATE' field is deserialized, and the control state is restored.
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Control Population: The restored control state is used to populate the controls with their previous values, allowing the page to appear as if it was never refreshed.
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Accessing ViewState Data: Developers can access ViewState data in server-side code, such as event handlers or page methods, to retrieve and utilize the preserved values of controls. The control properties can be accessed as usual.
It's important to note that ViewState is specific to a single page and is not shared between different pages. Each page has its own '__VIEWSTATE' field that holds the state data for that particular page.
While ViewState simplifies the management of control state, it adds overhead to the page size and increases network traffic. Therefore, it's crucial to use ViewState judiciously and consider alternative mechanisms like session state, control-specific state management, or client-side state storage for large or sensitive data.
By default, ViewState is encrypted and tamper-resistant, providing a level of security for the transferred state data. However, it is not designed to securely store sensitive information. If you have sensitive data, you should consider other secure storage options.