The Web is inherently stateless; each request for a page is treated as a new request, and information from one request is not available by default to the next request. To help overcome this inherent limitation of Web-based applications, ASP.NET includes a number of features for managing stateвЂ”that is, for storing information between requests. You can use state management to track any piece of information or data that affects the behavior of the application: catalogs, shopping carts, user options, lists of reviews, and hit counters are all examples.

The topics in this section provide information about ASP.NET statement management features and on choosing which type of state management you should use in different situations.

In This Section

ASP.NET State Management Overview

What's New in ASP.NET State Management

ASP.NET State Management Recommendations

ASP.NET Cookies

ASP.NET View State

ASP.NET Session State

ASP.NET Application State

ASP.NET Profile Properties

Related Sections

ASP.NET Life Cycle: Provides information on the steps that occur during the lifetime of an ASP.NET application and of an individual request for an ASP.NET Web page.

ASP.NET Web Applications: Provides links to additional topics about creating ASP.NET Web applications.