Question

Every article and JSF2 spec keeps saying that a view is restored and saved. No one says anything about how many versions of the same view is saved per user. I can see that the value of the javax.faces.ViewState hidden variable keeps changing after every post back. I also know that I can work on the same page from two different browser tabs and each tab maintains its own state.

So, the questions is, every time a postback happens, is a new version of the view saved (in addition to the copies that are already saved)?

I need to know this for two reasons. a) to estimate session size b) to script automated testing.

Thanks.

Answer 1

So, the questions is, every time a postback happens, is a new version of the view saved

That part is true.

(in addition to the copies that are already saved)?

That part is not true. Only newly created views (from a GET request) will be added, not restored views (from a POST request).

On a postback, the view is restored, manipulated and saved, hereby basically replacing the previous version of the very same view.

See also:

• Why JSF saves the state of UI components on server?