Difference Between ViewBag, ViewData and TempData in ASP.NET MVC

Tutorialsrack 18/02/2021 C# ASP.NET MVC

In this article, you will learn what is the difference between ViewBag, ViewData and TempData in ASP.NET MVC. This is one of the most asked interview questions if you are preparing for an ASP.NET Interview Questions. ViewData, ViewBag and TempData are used for passing data and objects in various scenarios.

The following are the scenarios where you can use these objects.

1. Pass the data from Controller to View.
2. Pass the data from one action to another action in the same Controller.
3. Pass the data in between Controllers.
4. Pass the data between consecutive requests.

ViewBag

• ViewBag is a dynamic property that takes advantage of the new dynamic features in C# 4.0. 
• ViewBag is used for passing data from the Controller to the corresponding View.
• While retrieving the value of ViewBag, there is no need for Type Casting the data.
• ViewBag is just a wrapper around the ViewData.
• ViewBag is available only for Current Requests. The value of ViewBag will become null while redirecting.

Example of ViewBag

Public ActionResult Index()
{
    ViewBag.Title = "Welcome To Tutorialsrack";
    return View();
}

You can call this on the corresponding View like this:

<h2>@ViewBag.Title</h2>

ViewData

• ViewData is a dictionary of objects that are derived from ViewDataDictionary class and is accessible using strings as keys.
• ViewData is used for passing data from the Controller to the corresponding View.
• While retrieving the value of ViewData, it requires typecasting for complex data types and also requires null checks for null values to avoid exceptions.
• ViewData is available only for Current Requests. The value of ViewData will become null while redirecting.

Example of ViewData

Public ActionResult Index()
{
    ViewData["Title"] = "Welcome To Tutorialsrack";
    return View();
}

You can call this on the corresponding View like this:

<h2>@ViewData["Title"]</h2>

TempData

• TempData is also a dictionary derived from TempDataDictionary class and stored in short lives sessions and it is a string key and object value.
• TempData is used to pass the data from one action to another action in the same Controller or different Controllers as well as Controller to View. 
• While retrieving the value of TempData, it requires typecasting for complex data type and also requires null checks for null values to avoid exceptions.
• TempData internally uses session variables.
• TempData is available for Current and Subsequent Requests. It will not be destroyed on redirection. TempData the scope is limited to the next request and if you want TempData to be available even further, you should use Keep() and Peek().

Learn More About Keep() vs Peek()

Example of TempData

public ActionResult Index()
{
    TempData["Title"] = “Welcome To Tutorialsrack”;
    return RedirectToAction("About");
}

public ActionResult About()
{
    var message= TempData["Title"];
    return View();
}

ViewData vs ViewBag vs TempData

The difference Between ViewData vsViewBag vs TempData are as follows:

I hope this article will help you to understand what is the difference between ViewBag, ViewData, and TempData in ASP.NET MVC.

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