Eight Different Ways to Transfer Data from One Page to Another Page

Learn multiple ways to transfer data from one ASP.NET page to another. Some of these include using the cache, http posts, querystring variables, ASP.NET session state, etc...

Each button in the demo has the required code in it's Click event handler, and brings you to a separate target page that gets and displays the data that was sent. Here are the methods:

1. Use the querystring:

protected void QueryStringButton_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
         {
             Response.Redirect("QueryStringPage.aspx?Data=" + Server.UrlEncode(DataToSendTextBox.Text));
        }

2. Use HTTP POST:

<asp:Button ID="HttpPostButton" runat="server" Text="Use HttpPost"
             PostBackUrl="~/HttpPostPage.aspx" onclick="HttpPostButton_Click"/>

protected void HttpPostButton_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
     // The PostBackUrl property of the Button takes care of where to send it!
        }

  3. Use Session State:

   protected void SessionStateButton_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
         {
             Session["Data"] = DataToSendTextBox.Text;
             Response.Redirect("SessionStatePage.aspx");
        }

  4.  Use public properties:

   public string DataToSend
        {
            get
            {
                 return DataToSendTextBox.Text;
             }
        }

        protected void PublicPropertiesButton_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
         {
             Server.Transfer("PublicPropertiesPage.aspx");
        }

5. Use PreviousPage Control Info:

protected void ControlInfoButton_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
         {
             Server.Transfer("ControlInfoPage.aspx");
        }

  // target page:
protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            var textbox = PreviousPage.FindControl("DataToSendTextbox") as TextBox;
             if (textbox != null)
            {
                DataReceivedLabel.Text = textbox.Text;
            }
        }

6. Use HttpContext Items Collection:

  protected void HttpContextButton_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
         {
             HttpContext.Current.Items["data"] = DataToSendTextBox.Text;
             Server.Transfer("HttpContextItemsPage.aspx");
        }

// target page:
protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
         {
             this.DataReceivedLabel.Text =(String) HttpContext.Current.Items["data"];
        }

7. Use Cookies:

protected void CookiesButton_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            HttpCookie cook =  new HttpCookie("data");
            cook.Expires = DateTime.Now.AddDays(1);
            cook.Value = DataToSendTextBox.Text;
             Response.Cookies.Add(cook);
             Response.Redirect("HttpCookiePage.aspx");
        }

// target page:
protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            DataReceivedLabel.Text = Request.Cookies["data"].Value;
        }

8. Use Cache:

protected void CacheButton_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
         {
             Cache["data"] = DataToSendTextBox.Text;
             Server.Transfer("CachePage.aspx");
        }
   // target page:
    protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
         {
             this.DataReceivedLabel.Text = (string) Cache["data"];
        }

Actually, there are a number of other methods. You can use a database, a Data Store such as Redis or BPlusTree, file storage, or even the Appdomain Cache. But as these are not as common, we'll leave those as an exercise for the reader. I should mention that the use of Cache and Application (not shown) are not user - specific, but they can easily be made so by prepending the key used with something unique to the user such as their SessionId.