---
title: ViewControlBase
summary: API reference for ViewControlBase.
status: draft
owner: SAIF Doc Gen
last_reviewed: 2026-08-17
library: SAIF.Presentation.Web.MVC
reference_type: package
---

# ViewControlBase

`ViewControlBase` is the `UserControl` counterpart of `ViewPageBase`, used when a SAIF screen is composed as an embeddable ASCX control rather than a full page. It runs its own controller (from a `clsFactoryBase` implementation supplied by the derived control) through the ASP.NET control lifecycle — `Page_Init` constructs and initializes the controller, `Page_Error` delegates to `clsControllerBase.HandleErrors()`, and `Page_Unload` calls `UnInitialize` — mirroring `ViewPageBase`'s pipeline but without view-identity/multi-model support or an overridden `PageStatePersister`, since those are page-level, not control-level, concerns.

## Purpose
- Gives an ASP.NET user control the same controller-driven initialize/retrieve/uninitialize lifecycle that `ViewPageBase` gives a full page.
- Exposes `ApplicationName` as a pass-through to the underlying model's context, so markup and code-behind in the control can read/set the owning application without reaching through the controller.
- Provides a `PageMode` property (via its own nested `PageModeEnum`) so a control can track its own view/update/delete/print/PDF state independently of any hosting page.

## Context
- Namespace: `SAIF.Presentation.Web.MVC`*
- Assembly/package: `SAIF.Presentation.Web.MVC`

## Public members
| Member | Signature | Purpose |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `PageMode` | `Public Property PageMode() As PageModeEnum` | The current view/update/delete/print/PDF mode for this control instance, held in the control's own `ViewState` |
| `ApplicationName` | `Public Property ApplicationName() As String` | Pass-through accessor to `m_controller.Model.Context.ApplicationName` — reads/sets the application name on the underlying model context |
| `PageModeEnum` | Public nested enum | See [ViewControlBase.PageModeEnum](ViewControlBase.PageModeEnum.md) |

## Behavioral notes
- Unlike `ViewPageBase`, `ViewControlBase`'s `NavigationManager` is constructed but never wired up in the observed code — the `NavManager = New NavigationManager(Me)` call in `Page_Load` and `NavManager.GenerateScripts()` in `Page_PreRender` are both commented out, so focus restoration is effectively inactive for user controls despite the supporting class being present.
- `Page_Error` calls the parameterless `clsControllerBase.HandleErrors()` overload (which reads the error from `HttpContext.Current.Error`), not the exception-parameter overload that `ViewPageBase.ProcessError` uses — so a control does not get the richer SAIF-exception classification (timeout/unavailable messaging) that `ViewPageBase.ProcessError` performs.

## Constraints and usage notes
- `ApplicationName`'s getter/setter both assume `m_controller` and `m_controller.Model` are already initialized (set during `Page_Init`); accessing it before `Page_Init` has run would fail.*

> **Note:** Statements marked with `*` were inferred from code structure, naming conventions, or contextual evidence where direct confirmation was not available in source artifacts.

## Sources
- SAIF.Presentation.Web.MVC/ViewControlBase.ascx.vb