Question

I am able to hook the event and also allowed to override load and init.., events in my aspx codebehind file. I have following questions.

public partial class Default : System.Web.UI.Page
{
    public Default()
    {
        this.Init += Default_Init;
        this.Load+=Default_Load;
    }    
    protected void Default_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {        }    
    protected void Default_Init(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {        }    
    protected override void OnLoad(EventArgs e)
    {        }
    protected override void OnInit(EventArgs e)
    {        }
}

Qs:

1. Why such option(both virtual method and event handler) is exist in Page class?
2. When override methods got executed, my event handlers(Default_Load and Default_Init) are not executed. what is the reason behind?
3. Should i call base.OnLoad(e); in overridden OnLoad method? Why should/shouldn’t I?

Answer 1

1. By default, OnInit and OnLoad are not handlers of Init and Load events. They are used to Fire Init and Load events.

2. When you override, you change the behavior of these methods thus, events are not fired by OnInit and OnLoad methods (unless you explicitly write base.OnInit etc.)

3. If you change the behavior of OnLoad and do not call base method, then you may break the page lifecycle of asp.net application. For instance, Load event will not be called.