ASP.NET developers often encounter
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the problem of transferring server side
control values from one page to another using Server.Transfer ("PageName", true) method. Usual syntax of Request.Form doesn't work if you try to access the value of server side control from the redirected page. Developers often encounter this error:
"View state is invalid and might be corrupted error message when you use Server.Transfer ("page name", true)"
Cause
This problem occurs because the EnableViewStateMac attribute of the <pages> element is set to true by default. When this attribute is set to true, ASP.NET runs a message authentication check (MAC) on the view state of the page when the page is posted back from the client. This check determines if the view state of the page was modified on the client. For security purposes, it is recommended that you keep this attribute set to true.
When you call the Server.Transfer method and set the second parameter to true, you preserve the QueryString and the Form collections. One of the form fields is the hidden __VIEWSTATE form field, which holds the view state for the page. The view state message authentication check fails because the message authentication check only checks each page. Therefore, the view state from the page that calls Server.Transfer is not valid on the destination page.
View state is page scoped and is valid for that page only. View state should not be transferred across pages.
To resolve this problem, use one of the following methods.
Resolution 1: If you have many controls, and if you want to access the properties of these controls from another page, you can also declare those controls as public variables. For example:
Page1.aspx
Public Class Page1
Public WithEvents TextBox1 as System.Web.UI.WebControls.TextBox
'Insert your code here.
End Class
Page2.aspx
Dim sourcePage As Page1
SourcePage = CType (Context.Handler, System.Web.UI.Page)
Response.Write(sourcePage.TextBox1.Text)
Do not pass the second parameter (which is false by default) when you call Server.Transfer. For example:
Server.Transfer ("<page name>")
This code does not send the QueryString and the Form fields to the page that is called. When no data is transferred, ASP.NET does not run the message authentication check.
Resolution 2: This option doesn't require controls to be defined as public variables.
Page1.aspx
Public Class Page1
Protected WithEvents TextBox1 as System.Web.UI.WebControls.TextBox
'Insert your code here.
End Class
Page2.aspx
Dim sourcePage As Page1
Dim sourceControl as TextBox
sourcePage = CType(Context.Handler, System.Web.UI.Page)
SourceControl = CType
(sourcePage.FindControl("TextBox1"),
System.Web.UI.Control)
Response.Write (SourceControl.Text)
This was first published in February 2003