Minimizing viewstate- confused by `EnableViewState` and `ViewStateMode` in asp.net 4.0

Question

I\'m trying to clean up an older ASP.NET WebForms site that has ViewState enabled everywhere. This is a performance issue - huge viewstates cause noticeable submit delays. B

Answer 1

As per the MSDN article on ViewStateMode, ViewStateMode only has meaning when EnableViewState="true". To achieve what you want, you'll have to leave ViewStateMode="Enabled" on the control, and then wrap the sub-controls of the main one in an asp:Placeholder that has ViewStateMode="Disabled". That way, you can still manipulate ViewState in the codebehind, but no child control will have ViewState (except the ones you explicitly set to have it via ViewStateMode="Enabled").