ASP.NET MVC - Is there a way to simulate a ViewState?

Question

I have the following situation... In a certain View, the user must select the initial hour, the final hour and the weekday. But, I can\'t save this informations to DB \'caus

Answer 1

TempData["MyData"], mind you this will only last one round trip.

Answer 2

If you just want to save the data for that request and the next request I'd recommend using Tempdata, else I'd recommend using Mehrdad`s answer.

Answer 3

You could save a javascript array on the client... and then transmit all the information when the user ultimately saves.

You have to work a little more, but in the end it pays off.

I heavily use jQuery to do stuff like that, it's easier than it seems.

Answer 4

Hidden input fields won't help?

<%= Html.Hidden(...) %>

Update (serializing an object to base64):

var formatter = new BinaryFormatter();
var stream = new MemoryStream();
formatter.Serialize(stream, myObject); // myObject should be serializable.
string result = Convert.ToBase64String(stream.ToArray());

When you want to fetch it back:

var formatter = new BinaryFormatter();
var stream = new MemoryStream(Convert.FromBase64String(hiddenFieldValue));
var myObject = (MyObjectType)formatter.Deserialize(stream);

Make sure you validate the data stored in the field when you use it as the client might change it. ViewState takes care of this automatically.

Side note: ASP.NET uses LosFormatter instead of BinaryFormatter to serialize ViewState as it's more efficient or ASCII based serialization. You might want to consider that too.