Failed to load viewstate when dynamically loading different controls

Failed to load viewstate when dynamically loading different controls - asp.net

I have an aspx page which is loading some controls dynamically on postback (ie when a click event happens) and adding them to a placeholder. Depending on what is clicked a different set of controls needs to be loaded.
This works perfectly the first time, but when I clear the placeholder's controls and attempt to dynamically load a different set of controls I get the following error:
"Failed to load viewstate. The control tree into which viewstate is being loaded must match the control tree that was used to save viewstate during the previous request."
This happens even if I do ViewState.Clear().
Is there a way to do this?

Yuriy Solodkyy explains it well here: Dynamically Created Controls in ASP.NET

When dynamically creating controls you must ensure that every control you create has an unique id.
I think what is happening here is that you are naming your controls like: Control1, Control2, Control3.
And perhaps when you click to create a different set of controls you might give the same name to a different type of object, lets say Control1 was first created like a Textbox and when you click its a checkbox.
Without seeing the code is tough to tell why ViewState.Clear() is not working, but if you are trying to clear the viewstate you don't need a postback, you can try requesting a new page and pass the arguments on the querystring instead of a postback. This will be faster too as you don't have to send the ViewState information back to the server.

Related

Create Dynamic Controls using retrieved data [Asp - Vb .Net]

I'm trying to create multiple controls by using retrieved data from query, but preventing them from dissapearing on postback, allowing me to get and mantain their values, the problem I have is that I cannot create them on Init because the number of controls, their IDs, and other properties are only known after user selects an item on menu.
Page loads a Menu with all its items and values (Data dependent), plus, a button is loaded too
User clicks a item on menu.
Selected value is used to perform a query by using a Dataset (This happens inside a function which is called from Menu_ItemClick event).
Retrieved data from query is used to determine how many controls must be created (2, 4, 6, etc.). Each control has its unique ID, which is given according to data.
Controls are created and placed into a Panel (named p).
Now controls are visible and available for editing (RadioButtons, TextAreas)
User clicks on button to save information from dynamic controls into a Database
Problems I'm facing
Controls dissapear on postback when clicking button, because they weren't created on Init.
Placing button on UpdatePanel to prevent whole page postback, makes dynamic controls not accesible when trying this:
For Each c In p.Controls
...
Next
The only control it gets is a single Literal control (Controls count is 1), as if other controls didn't exist.
Thank you in advance.

When you wrote "Controls dissapear on postback when clicking button, because they weren't created on Init", did you mean to say that "Controls dissapear on postback when clicking button, because they weren't re-created on Init"? If not, then that is likely a root cause of your problem - dynamically-created controls must always be recreated in response to a PostBack (cf. ASP.NET dynamically created controls and Postback). There may be other issues as well, as dynamic controls in Web Forms can provide a lot of challenges as your scenario gets more involved - here's one article that lays out many of them under various scenarios http://www.singingeels.com/Articles/Dynamically_Created_Controls_in_ASPNET.aspx (e.g., if the user can re-select from the DropDownList to generate a different set of dynamic controls). The canonical reference on all of this is http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms178472.aspx.
Now, on PostBack you'll need some way to ascertain which controls were dynamically created so they can be dynamically re-created. As such, you'll need to store somewhere whatever information allowed you to dynamically create the controls. Since ViewState isn't available in Page_Init and there can be other issues introduced when using sessions, my suggestion is to simply declare a HiddenField that contains that state information. In Page_Init, you'll then need to get the HiddenField's value from Request.Form (since the value of your HiddenField won't be loaded until after Page_Init from ViewState) and go from there to re-create your controls.
My final suggestion: try getting everything working with a regular Panel first and then try and introduce the UpdatePanel - no need to over-complicate the problem at first.

Change Dynamically Loaded Control During PostBack

I am trying to design a page that handles both Employee and Station CRUD tasks depending on the user's preference. I have sub-classed UserControl to create an EditEntityControl and developed two custom controls that derive from this base class and each handle the CRUD activities for either the Employee or Station object.
When the user toggles the value in a dropdownlist, which triggers a postback, I want to dynamically load the correct control into the page. This works on the first load of each control, but when I try to reload the first control (after loading the second), I get the following error:
Failed to load viewstate. The control tree into which viewstate is
being loaded must match the control tree that was used to save
viewstate during the previous request. For example, when adding
controls dynamically, the controls added during a post-back must match
the type and position of the controls added during the initial
request.
I also see some strange behavior on the initial load of the second control where data bindings don't bind to the correct controls (setting the text of a button rather than a textbox on the control for example).
Is there a way to handle this scenario? Or, is there a way to clear out the ViewState and just re-request the page entirely to get around this error? It appears that if I could clear up this ViewState clutter/confusion between PostBacks, everything else is working as designed.

Great suggestions in the comments above, but what finally pointed me to the correct solution was Joel Coehoorn's answer on this question.
I load up the control OnInit, then in the SelectionChanged event blow away the OnInit changes and recreate the correct control as needed. Thanks for the additional suggestions about making unused controls invisible. I will keep that in mind for future reference.

Dynamically add controls in Page_Init which loads every time (how to Avoid every controls reloading?)

I am adding RadDock control and adding its Item Command events which require to be added in Pag_Init. And adding user controls to RadDock.
My problem is that when I have some post back for a specific control page_Init calls which reloads the controls and every control is re-binded every time. I want to avoid control creation every time. And want the specific control's post back should happen.
If I apply (!IsPostBack) condition in Page_Init then controls are not loaded and page gets empty.
I am stuck.
Any best practice or work around is acceptable.
Thanks in advance.

I don't know the specifics of Telerik's tools, but if they work like regular ASP.NET dynamic controls, you have to add the controls to the control tree on every page load. Populating the controls with data is distinct from adding them to the control tree. If the controls are added correctly so that they are placed in the same way in the control tree as on the previous page visit, and implement ViewState correctly (if needed) the runtime will populate them with data from the posted data and ViewState when a postback occurs.

I added IFrame to RadDock and then gave user control source to IFrame. Now it is working fine, Only the specific control's post back occurs.
Any way, Thanks Jonas

Persisting dynamically loaded user controls in view state

I have a simple user control containing two text boxes which I am adding to placeholder on Button Click event. I am storing the number(count) of clicks in View state and running a loop using count to create all previously added user control. I am also adding IDs to each User control (appending "UC" and count). I have also checked in view source the ids are same each time they are created. I have another button which basically does an post back. I have EnableViewState enabled ="true" in all controlls all the way up to Page Level.
My problem is that User Input does not persist on postback. please advice. Should this not be happening automatically for me?

Have a look at this:
http://www.denisbauer.com/ASPNETControls/DynamicControlsPlaceholder.aspx
I've encountered minor problems with it on a web farm, but for simple deployments its use is pretty straightforward. (Comes with source code, and the web farm glitch is a pretty simple fix.)

You need to create your dynamic controls in the Page_PreInit event rather than Page_Load or in a Click event handler. That way, they'll be there before ViewState, and then your posted values are applied.
I thinks what is happening is that you are creating your controls during the click event handler which happens AFTER ViewState and PostBack have been applied. This means your controls will be created empty each time.