Response.Redirect and Server.Transfer [duplicate]

Question

What is difference between Server.Transfer and Response.Redirect?

• What are advantages and disadvantages of each?
• When is one appropriate over the other?
• When is one not appropriate?

Answer 1

Response.Redirect simply sends a message (HTTP 302) down to the browser.

Server.Transfer happens without the browser knowing anything, the browser request a page, but the server returns the content of another.

Answer 2

Response.Redirect() will send you to a new page, update the address bar and add it to the Browser History. On your browser you can click back.

Server.Transfer() does not change the address bar. You cannot hit back.

I use Server.Transfer() when I don't want the user to see where I am going. Sometimes on a "loading" type page.

Otherwise I'll always use Response.Redirect().

Answer 3

To be Short: Response.Redirect simply tells the browser to visit another page. Server.Transfer helps reduce server requests, keeps the URL the same and, with a little bug-bashing, allows you to transfer the query string and form variables.

Something I found and agree with (source):

Server.Transfer is similar in that it sends the user to another page with a statement such as Server.Transfer("WebForm2.aspx"). However, the statement has a number of distinct advantages and disadvantages.

Firstly, transferring to another page using Server.Transfer conserves server resources. Instead of telling the browser to redirect, it simply changes the "focus" on the Web server and transfers the request. This means you don't get quite as many HTTP requests coming through, which therefore eases the pressure on your Web server and makes your applications run faster.

But watch out: because the "transfer" process can work on only those sites running on the server; you can't use Server.Transfer to send the user to an external site. Only Response.Redirect can do that.

Secondly, Server.Transfer maintains the original URL in the browser. This can really help streamline data entry techniques, although it may make for confusion when debugging.

That's not all: The Server.Transfer method also has a second parameter—"preserveForm". If you set this to True, using a statement such as Server.Transfer("WebForm2.aspx", True), the existing query string and any form variables will still be available to the page you are transferring to.

For example, if your WebForm1.aspx has a TextBox control called TextBox1 and you transferred to WebForm2.aspx with the preserveForm parameter set to True, you'd be able to retrieve the value of the original page TextBox control by referencing Request.Form("TextBox1").