Good way to maintain ASP.NET Panel states?

Question

I'm creating a multi-part web form in ASP.NET that uses Panels for the different steps, making only the Panel for the current step visible. On Step 1, I have a drop-down list that uses a Javascript function to reconfigure some of the fields in the same Panel via "onchange". Obviously, since the client-side script is only affecting the DOM, when I go to Step 2 and then back up to Step 1, the fields in Step 1 are back to their orignal configuration even though the same drop-down choice is selected.

What is a good method for storing the visual state of the Panels between steps? I considered calling the drop-down's onchange function on page load, but that seemed clunky. Thanks!

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Thanks for the quick answers - I think I'll try out the Wizard, but the AJAX solution also sounds like fun.

Answer 1

You might consider an ASP.Net Wizard control for this- it will automate a lot of what you're trying to do.

Answer 2

I suggest you to use the MultiView control, which is let's say semantically more appropiate. And then store this data in ViewState. I have written something similar and it rocks.

Answer 3

I think your best bet is to maintain all of your state in one place, or don't maintain any state at all. The main problem you're having is synchronizing your client-side state with your server-side state.

Try showing/hiding your panels with javascript instead of posting back, if possible. If not, use some ajax to update values on the server-side as soon as they are selected, rather than when you click the next/previous button.

Otherwise, you could use something like ASP.Net Ajax Toolkit Tabs to help with transitions.

Hope that helps!