Passing Data Using ViewData, ViewBag, TempData, Session Variables In ASP.NET MVC

Ankur Mistry

Session ViewData ViewBag TempDataSession Variables in MVC

21 Comments

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Saber Valimohamadi8y ago
Datalist.DataSource = Session["shoppingCard"]; datalist1.DataBind(); / ///// Error : An invalid data source is being used for dl1. A valid data source must implement either IListSource or IEnumerable. ///////// :( please help to me .
Wahid M8y ago
Well explained and good for beginners
Phaneendra Chakravaram10y ago
Nice one very usefull for learner
Kamleshkumar Gujarathi10y ago
It is really nicely explained article
Kamleshkumar Gujarathi10y ago
Which is Best TempData/ViewBag/ViewData or Session?
Phaneendra Chakravaram10y ago
nice one tq
- Ankur Mistry10y ago
  thank you
Rubol10y ago
Nice
- Ankur Mistry10y ago
  thank you.
Ankur Mistry10y ago
thank you all
Former member10y ago
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Former member10y ago
good article......
Ankit Bansal10y ago
Really helpful..
Manoj Kulkarni10y ago
Nice article. Thank you for sharing
Santhakumar Munuswamy10y ago
Thanks for nice article. keep it up
Ehsan Sajjad10y ago
Well wrote
- Ankur Mistry10y ago
  thank you Ehsan Sajjad
Gowtham K10y ago
Good One
- Ankur Mistry10y ago
  Thank u Gowtham K
Humayun Kabir Mamun10y ago
Nice...
- Ankur Mistry10y ago
  Thank you Humayun Kabir Mamun

In ASP.NET web application we are familiar with data passing and state management mechanism like Session, viewstate , hiddenfield etc. But in ASP.NET MVC Application we don't have server control available so there is no viewstate or hiddenfield .

For passing data from Controller to View in ASP.NET MVC we have ViewData and ViewBag.

Assembly : System.Web.Mvc.DynamicViewDataDictionary

Let's understand the concept and usage of ViewData/ViewBag practically.

Create a new MVC Application and select Empty Template as in the following screenshot:

Now, right click on Controller folder, Add, then click controller and add 'HomeController' in your application.

Select 'MVC 5 controller - Empty'.

Now, Add View for the 'HomeController', for that right click on Action Method Index and click on 'Add View'.

Give 'View name' as 'Index' as in the following screenshot and click 'OK'.

Now write the following code in your ActionResult Index.

Access the ViewData in View 'Index' as in the following screenshot:

Test your data by running the application, and it will display the message which you passed from Controller to view.

Now, same way we can pass data from Controller to View ysing ViewBag.

ViewBag Syntax is easier than ViewData, no need to write extra [] brackets, It's simple, so now write the following code in your 'Homecontroller'

ViewBag.MyData = "This is ViewBag Example.";

and call ViewBag from View 'Index', write the following code.

<h1>@ViewBag.MyData</h1>

Check your code by running your application.

What if you want to pass data from one action to another action, ViewData or ViewBag won't work here, it does not maintain data from action to action, so you need TempData.

Using TempData we can pass data from one controller to another controller, TempData keeps the value for the time of an HTTP Request. Using Return RedirectToAction("TempDataEx") we can redirect from one action to another action.

public class HomeController : Controller
{
// GET: Home
public ActionResult Index()
{
//ViewData["Msg"] = "This is ViewData Example.";
// ViewBag.MyData = "This is ViewBag Example.";
TempData["TempModel"] = "This is TempData Example";
return RedirectToAction("TempDataEx");
// return View();
}
public ActionResult TempDataEx()
{
return View();
}
}

Add new View 'TempDataEx' and access TempData["TempModel"] value in this view.

Here we have passed data from Index Controller to TempDataEx Controller.

Let's check Session, it works same as the ASP.NET session and maintain data until you close the browser. Now set session in Index Method and access in both view Index and TempDataEx.

Run the application and check both the View.

You can get session data in both the view.

Summary

ViewData and ViewBag: You can pass data from Controller to View for 1^st request. The difference between ViewData and ViewBag is,

The syntax of ViewData is easy to use and ViewBag use the C# 4 feature called Dynamic.
ViewData requires typecasting and check for null values, ViewBag do not require typecasting.

We cannot pass data from Action to Action using ViewData and ViewBag.

TempData: You can pass data from one controller to another controller or Action to Action.

Session: You can maintain the data until you close the browser. it's same like ASP.NET Session.

It’s important in MVC to Choose your Data passing method wisely don’t use Session all the time for passing data.

Hope you like the article, in next article we will Learn 2 features Keep and Peek.