DOT NET TECHNOLOGY

Managing State

Prof. Bhumika Patel Sarvajanik College of Eng. & Tech., Surat Dotnet Technology
 State
• Web pages are stateless

• A new instance of a web page is created when it is

posted to the server

• Values of page’s variables and controls are not

preserved on client or server

• State management is a process in which the different

states of a web page and its session and control
related information is maintained

Prof. Bhumika Patel Sarvajanik College of Eng. & Tech., Surat Dotnet Technology 2
 Preserving State
• The state of a web application helps us to store the
runtime changes that are made to the web
application

• Ex: select and save products in a shopping cart

• Various methods for preserving state

Prof. Bhumika Patel Sarvajanik College of Eng. & Tech., Surat Dotnet Technology 3
 Preserving State
• Hidden Fields
▫ Refers to a control that is not visible when a web
application is viewed in browser
▫ Contents of the control are sent in HTTP Form
Collection control to the server

• Cookies
▫ Refers to the text files that store data (like user ID)
▫ On page request, cookie is sent along with the page
▫ Web server then retrieves the information from the
cookie
Prof. Bhumika Patel Sarvajanik College of Eng. & Tech., Surat Dotnet Technology 4
 Preserving State
• Query Strings
▫ Refers to the information strings added at the end of
a URL
▫ Not secure because information is exposed through
URL

• In all above methods, state information is stored at

client end

Prof. Bhumika Patel Sarvajanik College of Eng. & Tech., Surat Dotnet Technology 5
 Preserving State
• Session State
▫ Stores information specific to user session (duration
for which the user uses the website)
▫ Object of HttpSessionState class is used

• Application State
▫ Stores application data not frequently modified by
users
▫ Object of HttpApplicationState class is used

Prof. Bhumika Patel Sarvajanik College of Eng. & Tech., Surat Dotnet Technology 6
 Page-Level state
• ViewState property is used to store the page-level state
of a web page

• ViewState property stores the state information of a

single user, as long as the user is working with the
page

• ViewState property allows controls to remember their

state

• ViewState information is maintained in a hidden field

and automatically sent back to server with every
postback

Prof. Bhumika Patel Sarvajanik College of Eng. & Tech., Surat Dotnet Technology 7
 Page-Level state
• Ex:
ViewState[“Counter”] = 1;

• Value 1 is placed in ViewState collection

• If no item exists with name “Counter”, it will be
created automatically
• Retrieving value
Count = (Int) ViewState[“Counter”];

Prof. Bhumika Patel Sarvajanik College of Eng. & Tech., Surat Dotnet Technology 8
protected void BtnIncrement_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
int Count;
if (ViewState["Counter"] == null)
{
Count = 1;
}
else
{
Count = (int) ViewState["Counter"] + 1;
}

ViewState["Counter"] = Count;

lblcount.Text = "Counter: " + Count.ToString();

}
Counter increments each time a
button is pressed. Counter value is
preserved even if the page is
reloaded, until the page is closed.
 Query String
• Viewstate is tightly bound to a specific page
• If user navigates to another page, information is
lost

• Pass information using Query String

• Commonly used in search engines

• Portion of a URL after a ‘?’

Prof. Bhumika Patel Sarvajanik College of Eng. & Tech., Surat Dotnet Technology 12
 Query String
• Limitations
▫ Information is limited to simple strings
▫ Information is clearly visible to anyone
▫ Cannot place large amount of information in query
string as many browsers impose a limit on length of
the URL

• Well suited to database applications

• Ex: http://localhost/newpage.aspx?ID=10&mode=full

Prof. Bhumika Patel Sarvajanik College of Eng. & Tech., Surat Dotnet Technology 13
\\QueryString_1.aspx

protected void Button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)

{

string url = "QueryString_2.aspx?";

url += "Item=" + ListBox1.SelectedItem.Text + "&";
url += "Mode=" + CheckBox1.Checked.ToString();

Response.Redirect(url);

}
\\QueryString_2.aspx

protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)

{
Label1.Text = "Item: " + Request.QueryString["Item"];
Label1.Text += "<br>Show Full Record: ";
Label1.Text += Request.QueryString["Mode"];
}
Query String
 Cookies
• Small files created on client machine

• Stored in the form of a text file on client system or in

the memory of client browser session

• Stores site-specific information of a user (like

username, password)

• Can be created temporarily with specific expiration

times and dates

• Can be created permanent – persistent cookies

Prof. Bhumika Patel Sarvajanik College of Eng. & Tech., Surat Dotnet Technology 19
 Cookies
• Created by a server and saved on a client machine

• Client sends cookie information with a page

request

• Server reads the cookie and extracts its value

• Set Cookies using Response object

• Retrieve Cookies using Request object

Prof. Bhumika Patel Sarvajanik College of Eng. & Tech., Surat Dotnet Technology 20
 Cookies
• Import : System.Net
Cookie Object Cookie Name

• Create cookie object

HttpCookie Cookie = New HttpCookie(“preferences”);

• Set a value in a Cookie

Cookie[“language”] = “English”;
Cookie Key
• Add Cookie to web response
Response.Cookies.Add(Cookie);
Cookie Object
Prof. Bhumika Patel Sarvajanik College of Eng. & Tech., Surat Dotnet Technology 21
 Cookies
• Expiration of Cookies
Cookie.Expires = DateTime.Now.AddYears(1);

• Retrieving Cookies
HttpCookies Cookie = Request.Cookies[“preferences”];

Prof. Bhumika Patel Sarvajanik College of Eng. & Tech., Surat Dotnet Technology 22
protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
HttpCookie cookie = Request.Cookies["Preferences"];

if (cookie == null)
{
lblWelcome.Text = "<b>Unknown Customer</b>";
}
else
{
lblWelcome.Text = "<b>Cookie Found.</b><br><br>";
lblWelcome.Text += "Welcome, " + cookie["Name"];
}
}
// continue….
protected void cmdStore_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
HttpCookie cookie = Request.Cookies["Preferences"];
if (cookie == null)
{
cookie = new HttpCookie("Preferences");
}

cookie["Name"] = txtName.Text;
cookie.Expires = DateTime.Now.AddYears(1);
Response.Cookies.Add(cookie);

lblWelcome.Text = "<b>Cookie Created.</b>";

lblWelcome.Text += "New Customer: " + cookie["Name"];

}
Reload the page
 Session State
• Session: A period of time in which a user interacts with a
web application
• Session state is a collection of data

• Allows to store any type of data in memory on the server

• Information is protected because it is never transmitted to

the client

Prof. Bhumika Patel Sarvajanik College of Eng. & Tech., Surat Dotnet Technology 31
 Session State
• Session state is maintained by providing a unique
SessionID to the user, when the session begins

• SessionID –> a unique 120-bit identifier

• SessionID is the only piece of information that is

transmitted between the web server and the client

• Client presents the SessionID and corresponding data are

retrieved from the server

Prof. Bhumika Patel Sarvajanik College of Eng. & Tech., Surat Dotnet Technology 32
 Session State Modes
• In-Process
▫ Refers to the mode in which the session state memory is kept within
ASP.NET process
▫ Used with web applications hosted on a single server

• Out-of-Process (StateServer)
▫ Refers to the mode in which there is a reliability of a separate
process that manages the state of all servers

• SQL Server
▫ Refers to the mode in which there is a reliability of the data within a
web application with the help of a database

Prof. Bhumika Patel Sarvajanik College of Eng. & Tech., Surat Dotnet Technology 33
 Storing objects in Session State
• Create session variables
Session[“Name”] = txtName.Text;

• Session state is global to entire application for the current

user

• Retrieving session variables

Label1.Text = Session[“Name”];

Prof. Bhumika Patel Sarvajanik College of Eng. & Tech., Surat Dotnet Technology 34
 Using Session State
• We can interact with session state using
System.Web.SessionState.HttpSessionState class

• HttpSessionState Members
▫ Count
 Number of items in session collection

▫ IsCookieless
 Identifies if session is tracked with cookies
 Gets a value indicating whether the session ID is embedded in the
URL or stored in an HTTP cookie.

▫ IsNewSession
 identifies whether the session is just created

▫ Mode
 specifies how ASP.NET stores session state information

Prof. Bhumika Patel Sarvajanik College of Eng. & Tech., Surat Dotnet Technology 35
 Using Session State
• HttpSessionState Members:
▫ SessionID
 Provides a string with a unique session identifier

▫ TimeOut
 Number of minutes that must elapse before the session will be
abandoned

▫ Abandon()
 Cancels the current session immediately and releases all the
memory it occupied

▫ Clear()
 Removes all session items
Prof. Bhumika Patel Sarvajanik College of Eng. & Tech., Surat Dotnet Technology 36
// Session_1.aspx

protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)

{
Session["username"] = TextBox1.Text;
}
protected void Button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
Response.Redirect("Session_2.aspx");
}
// Session_2.aspx

protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)

{
Label1.Text = "Welcome:" + Session["username"].ToString();

Label2.Text = "Session ID: " + Session.SessionID;

Label2.Text += "<br>Number of Objects: " + Session.Count.ToString();
Label2.Text += "<br>Mode: " + Session.Mode.ToString();
Label2.Text += "<br>Is Cookieless: " + Session.IsCookieless.ToString();
Label2.Text += "<br>Is New: " + Session.IsNewSession.ToString();
Label2.Text += "<br>Session Timeout (minutes):"+Session.Timeout.ToString();

}
 Configuring Session State
• Session state is configured through web.config file

• Cookieless (Using Cookieless SessionIDs)

▫ We can set the Cookieless setting to True or False
<sessionState
cookieless=“false”
/>
▫ When true, SessionID will automatically be inserted into the URL
 http://localhost:1349/WebApp2/(S(x2vesw55eepozdzmfecqa1i
1))/Session_2.aspx

Prof. Bhumika Patel Sarvajanik College of Eng. & Tech., Surat Dotnet Technology 41
 Configuring Session State
• Timeout
▫ Specifies the number of minutes that ASP.NET waits,
before it abandons the session
<sessionState
timeout=“10”
/>

Prof. Bhumika Patel Sarvajanik College of Eng. & Tech., Surat Dotnet Technology 42
 Configuring Session State
• Mode
▫ InProc
 Instructs information to be stored in the same process
 Best performance, but least durability
 If server restarts, state information will be lost
 Default mode
<sessionState mode=“InProc” />

▫ Off
 Disables session state management for every page in
the application

Prof. Bhumika Patel Sarvajanik College of Eng. & Tech., Surat Dotnet Technology 43
 Configuring Session State
• Mode
▫ StateServer (setting up Out-of-Process State Server)
 With this setting, ASP.NET uses a separate Windows Service
for state management

 Need to specify stateConnectionString value (TCP/IP

address & port)

 Allows to host StateServer on another computer

 Start the service: Start Menu > Control Panel >

Administrative Tools > Computer Management > Services
and Applications > Services > ASP.NET State Service (start
& stop by right clicking it) OR in command prompt, write
‘net start aspnet_state’

Prof. Bhumika Patel Sarvajanik College of Eng. & Tech., Surat Dotnet Technology 44
//web.config

<sessionState
mode="StateServer"
stateConnectionString="tcpip=localhost:1349"
/>
 Configuring Session State
• Mode
▫ SqlServer (Storing Session State in SQL Server)
 This setting instructs ASP.NET to use SQL server database to store
session information

 Need to specify sqlConnectionString value

<sessionState
mode=“SqlServer”
stateConnectionString = “tcpip=127.0.0.1:42424”
sqlConnectionString=“data source=“test1”; user id=sa”
/>

Prof. Bhumika Patel Sarvajanik College of Eng. & Tech., Surat Dotnet Technology 48
 Application State
• Stores global objects that can be accessed by any client
• Uses System.Web.HttpApplicationState class

• Ex: Global counter that tracks how many times a given page has been
visited by various clients.

int count = 0;

if (Application["Visit"] != null)
{
count = Convert.ToInt32(Application["Visit"].ToString());
}

count = count + 1;
Application["Visit"] = count;
Label1.Text = "Total Visit = " + count.ToString();

Prof. Bhumika Patel Sarvajanik College of Eng. & Tech., Surat Dotnet Technology 49
 Application State
• Items in application state never time out, they last until the application or server is
restarted.
• If two clients request a page at a same time, one request may be lost.
• Use Lock() and Unlock() to allow only one client to access the value at a time.

Application.Lock();
int count = 0;

if (Application["Visit"] != null)
{
count = Convert.ToInt32(Application["Visit"].ToString());
}

count = count + 1;
Application["Visit"] = count;
Application.UnLock();
Label1.Text = "Total Visit = " + count.ToString();

Prof. Bhumika Patel Sarvajanik College of Eng. & Tech., Surat Dotnet Technology 50
Prof. Bhumika Patel Sarvajanik College of Eng. & Tech., Surat Dotnet Technology 51
 Run on two different clients

Prof. Bhumika Patel Sarvajanik College of Eng. & Tech., Surat Dotnet Technology 52
 End

Prof. Bhumika Patel Sarvajanik College of Eng. & Tech., Surat Dotnet Technology