CHAPTER 6 STATE MANAGEMENT

Storing Objects in View State

You can store your own objects in view state just as easily as you store numeric and string types. However, to store an item in view state, ASP.NET must be able to convert it into a stream of bytes so that it can be added to the hidden input field in the page. This process is called serialization. If your objects arent serializable (and by default they arent), youll receive an error message when you attempt to place them in view state. To make your objects serializable, you need to add the Serializable attribute before your class declaration. For example, heres an exceedingly simple Customer class: [Serializable] public class Customer { public string FirstName; public string LastName; public Customer(string firstName, string lastName) { FirstName = firstName; LastName = lastName; } } Because the Customer class is marked as serializable, it can be stored in view state: // Store a customer in view state. Customer cust = new Customer("Marsala", "Simons"); ViewState["CurrentCustomer"] = cust; Remember, when using custom objects, youll need to cast your data when you retrieve it from view state. // Retrieve a customer from view state. Customer cust; cust = (Customer)ViewState["CurrentCustomer"]; For your classes to be serializable, you must meet these requirements: Your class must have the Serializable attribute. Any classes it derives from must have the Serializable attribute. All the member variables of the class must use serializable data types. Any nonserializable data type must be decorated with the NonSerialized attribute (which means it is simply ignored during the serialization process).

Once you understand these principles, youll also be able to determine what .NET objects can be placed in view state. You simply need to find the class information in the MSDN Help. Find the class youre interested in, and examine the documentation. If the class declaration is preceded with the Serializable attribute, the object can be placed in view state. If the Serializable attribute isnt present, the object isnt serializable, and you wont be able to store it in view state. However, you may still be able to use other types of state management, such as in-process session state, which is described later in the Session State section. The following example rewrites the page shown earlier to use the generic Dictionary class. The Dictionary class is a serializable key-value collection thats provided in the System.Collections.Generic

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