What is a ViewState?

Answer

• If a site happens to not maintain a ViewState, then if a user has entered some information in a large form with many input fields and the page is refreshes, then the values filled up in the form are lost.
• The same situation can also occur on submitting the form. If the validations return an error, the user has to refill the form.
• Thus, submitting a form clears up all form values as the site does not maintain any state called ViewState.
• In ASP .NET, the ViewState of a form is maintained with a built-in state management technique keeps the state of the controls during subsequent postbacks by a particular user.
• The ViewState indicates the status of the page when submitted to the server. The status is defined through a hidden field placed on each page with a <form runat="server"> control.
  <input type="hidden" name="__VIEWSTATE" value="CareerRide">
• The ViewState option can be disabled by including the directive <%@ Page EnableViewState="false"%> at the top of an .aspx page
• If a ViewState of a certain control has to be disabled, then set EnableViewState="false".