ViewBag, ViewData, TempData, Session - how and when to use them?

Question

ViewData and ViewBag allows you to access any data in view that was passed from controller.

The main difference between those two is the way you are accessing the data.

Answer 1

TempData

is meant to be a very short-lived instance, and you should only use it during the current and the subsequent requests only! Since TempData works this way, you need to know for sure what the next request will be, and redirecting to another view is the only time you can guarantee this. Therefore, the only scenario where using TempData will reliably work is when you are redirecting. This is because a redirect kills the current request (and sends HTTP status code 302 Object Moved to the client), then creates a new request on the server to serve the redirected view. Looking back at the previous HomeController code sample means that the TempData object could yield results differently than expected because the next request origin can't be guaranteed. For example, the next request can originate from a completely different machine and browser instance.

ViewData

ViewData is a dictionary object that you put data into, which then becomes available to the view. ViewData is a derivative of the ViewDataDictionary class, so you can access by the familiar "key/value" syntax.

ViewBag

The ViewBag object is a wrapper around the ViewData object that allows you to create dynamic properties for the ViewBag.

public class HomeController : Controller
{
    // ViewBag & ViewData sample
    public ActionResult Index()
    {
        var featuredProduct = new Product
        {
            Name = "Special Cupcake Assortment!",
            Description = "Delectable vanilla and chocolate cupcakes",
            CreationDate = DateTime.Today,
            ExpirationDate = DateTime.Today.AddDays(7),
            ImageName = "cupcakes.jpg",
            Price = 5.99M,
            QtyOnHand = 12
        };

        ViewData["FeaturedProduct"] = featuredProduct;
        ViewBag.Product = featuredProduct;
        TempData["FeaturedProduct"] = featuredProduct;  

        return View();
    }
}