Question

Basically we have the “illusion” of an notification message box that exists as .Visible = false in the MasterPage. When it comes time to display a message in the box, we run a method that looks like this:

public static void DisplayNotificationMessage(MasterPage master, string message)
{
   if (Master.FindControl("divmsgpanel") != null)
   {
      master.FindControl("divmsgpanel").Visible = true;
   }

   if (master.FindControl("divdimmer") != null)
   {
      master.FindControl("divdimmer").Visible = true;
   }

   TextBox thetxtbox = (TextBox)master.FindControl("txtboxmsgcontents");

   if (thetxtbox != null)
   {
      thetxtbox.Text = message;
   }

}

Basically through our designers awesome CSS voodoo, we end up with what appears to be a floating message box as the rest of the page appears dimmed out. This message box has a “Close” button to dismiss the “popup” and restore the dimmer, returning the site to the “normal” visual state. We accomplish this with JavaScript in the MasterPage:

    function HideMessage() {
        document.getElementById("<%# divmsgpanel.ClientID %>").style.display = 'none';
        document.getElementById("<%# divdimmer.ClientID %>").style.display = 'none';
        return false;
    }

and the button’s declaration in the .aspx page calls this HideMessage() function OnClientClick:

    <asp:Button ID="btnmsgcloser" runat="server" Text="Close" style="margin: 5px;"
    OnClientClick="return HideMessage()" />

---

The problem:

All future postbacks cause the MasterPage to “remember” the state of those divs from how they were before the HideMessage() JavaScript was executed. So in other words, every single postback after the initial call of the DisplayNotificationMessage() method causes the page to return to divmsgpanel.Visible = true and divdimmer.Visible = true, creating an endlessly annoying message box that incorrectly pops up on every postback.

The question:

Since we want the Close function to stay client-side JavaScript, how can we “notify” the page to stop reverting to the old state on postback, for just these two divs?

Answer 1

Can you try setting them to Visible = false in Master_Page Load event? It should hide them and reshow them just when you call DisplayNotificationMessage