tracking variable values in asp.net ajax user control - asp.net

Question

Working on an asp.net page I created a custom ajax web user control that displays the contents of a list value (which is loaded via database calls). The control includes "next" and "previous" buttons, as well as a couple text boxes. My initial version used a session variable (iterator) to keep track of where the user is while clicking the buttons and filling the text boxes with values from the List[].
In my next iteration, I need to be able to use this custom control, which will be presented many times in a table (or more probably grid), but I'm having trouble figuring out how to handle the iterator, since the session variable will obviously no longer work.
Does anyone have a suggested approach, or a recommended article?

Answer 1

I solved the problem by creating a second form on my user control that is segregated from the controls contained within the UpdatePanel. Before those controls are refreshed, the segregated control (a label in this case) is programmatically assigned a value and when the control Page_Load event fires it references the segregated label value to keep track of it's current position. I also had to move the ScriptManager out of my control and place it on the page(s) the control will be used on, since there will be several of these custom user controls on the page and only one ScriptManager is permitted per page.
<form id="NaviControl" >
<asp:UpdatePanel runat="server">
<ContentTemplate>
<asp:Panel ID="controlsPanel" runat="server" HorizontalAlign="Center" >
<asp:Panel ID="Panel1" runat="server" >
<asp:Button ID="btnLast" runat="server" Text="Previous" Height="25px" Width="75px" OnClick="btnLast_Click" />
<asp:TextBox ID="tbStatusCode" runat="server" ></asp:TextBox>
</asp:Panel>
<asp:Panel ID="Panel2" runat="server" HorizontalAlign="Center" >
<asp:TextBox ID="tbDescription" runat="server" ></asp:TextBox>
<asp:Button ID="btnNext" runat="server" Text="Next" Height="25px" Width="75px" OnClick="btnNext_Click" />
</asp:Panel>
</asp:Panel>
</ContentTemplate>
</asp:UpdatePanel>
</form>
<form>
<asp:Label ID="lblCounter" runat="server" visible="false" />
</form>
Hope some other nubs find this approach useful.