Edit Settings for Pages and Controls (IIS 7)
Applies To: Windows 7, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Vista
IIS 7 provides default settings for ASP.NET pages and controls, but you can change those settings as needed. For example, you can set the master page file for a site or enable view state.
Prerequisites
For information about the levels at which you can perform this procedure, and the modules, handlers, and permissions that are required to perform this procedure, see Pages and Controls Feature Requirements (IIS 7).
Exceptions to feature requirements
- None
To edit settings for pages and controls
You can perform this procedure by using the user interface (UI), by running Appcmd.exe commands in a command-line window, by editing configuration files directly, or by writing WMI scripts.
User Interface
To Use the UI
Open IIS Manager and navigate to the level you want to manage. For information about opening IIS Manager, see Open IIS Manager (IIS 7). For information about navigating to locations in the UI, see Navigation in IIS Manager (IIS 7).
In Features View, double-click Pages and Controls.
On the Pages and Controls page, edit settings as necessary.
When finished, click Apply in the Actions pane.
Command line
Enable or disable page output buffering
To enable or disable page output buffering, use the following syntax:
appcmd set config /commit:WEBROOT /section:pages /buffer:True|False
The variable buffer:True enables buffering of page output. The default is True.
Specify master page file
To specify a master page file, use the following syntax:
**appcmd set config /commit:WEBROOT /section:pages /masterPageFile:**string
The variable string is the name of the master page file.
Specify style sheet theme
To specify the style sheet to apply to a page, use the following syntax:
**appcmd set config /commit:WEBROOT /section:pages /styleSheetTheme:**string
The variable string is the name of the style sheet.
Specify page theme
To specify the name of the theme that is used for those pages that are in the scope of the configuration file, use the following syntax:
**appcmd set config /commit:WEBROOT /section:pages /theme:**string
The variable string is the name of the theme.
Enable or disable authenticated view state
To enable or disable message authentication checking (MAC) on a page's view state when the page is posted back from the client, use the following syntax:
appcmd set config /commit:WEBROOT /section:pages /enableViewStateMac:True|False
The variable enableViewStateMac:True enables authenticated view state. The default is True.
Enable or disable view state
To enable or disable view state for a page and for any server controls that are contained on the page, use the following syntax:
appcmd set config /commit:WEBROOT /section:pages /enableViewState:True|False
The variable enableViewState:True enables view state for a page. The default is True.
Set maximum page state field length
To set the maximum length of a page's state field, use the following syntax:
**appcmd set config /commit:WEBROOT /section:pages /maxPageStateFieldLength:**int
The variable int is the maximum length of a page's state field. When this is a positive number, the view state field sent to the browser is broken into pieces. The sum of all pieces is equal to the maximum length set. A negative number indicates that the view state should not be broken into pieces. The default value is -1.
Specify code-behind class for pages
By default, to specify the code-behind class that .aspx pages inherit, use the following syntax:
**appcmd set config /commit:WEBROOT /section:pages /pageBaseType:**string
The variable string is the name of the code-behind class for .aspx pages. The default is System.Web.UI.Page.
Specify code-behind class for controls
By default, to specify the code-behind class that user controls inherit, use the following syntax:
**appcmd set config /commit:WEBROOT /section:pages /userControlBaseType:**string
The variable string is the name of the code-behind class for user controls. The default is System.Web.UI.UserControl.
Set compilation mode
To specify whether pages are compiled or interpreted, use the following syntax:
appcmd set config /commit:WEBROOT /section:pages /compilationMode:Auto|Never|Always
The variable compilationMode:Auto sets ASP.NET so that it does not compile the page, if it is possible. The variable compilationMode:Never sets ASP.NET to never dynamically compile the page. If a page contains a script block or code construct that requires compilation, ASP.NET will return an error and the page will not run. The variable compilationMode:Always sets ASP.NET to always compile the page. The default is True.
Add a namespace
To add a namespace to the collection of namespaces that are used during pre-compilation, use the following syntax:
appcmd set config /commit:WEBROOT /section:pages /+"[namespace='string']"
The variable string is the namespace to add to the collection.
Remove a namespace
To remove a namespace from the collection of namespaces that are used during pre-compilation, use the following syntax:
appcmd set config /commit:WEBROOT /section:pages /-"[namespace='string']"
The variable string is the namespace to remove from the collection.
Enable or disable session state
To enable or disable view state, use the following syntax:
appcmd set config /commit:WEBROOT /section:pages /enableSessionState:True|False|ReadOnly
The variable enableViewState:ReadOnly indicates that the session state is not writable. The default is True.
Enable or disable request validation
To enable or disable the examination of all input by the browser for potentially dangerous content, use the following syntax:
appcmd set config /commit:WEBROOT /section:pages /validateRequest:True|False
The variable validateRequest:True enables request validation. The default is True.
Note
When you use Appcmd.exe to configure the <pages> element at the global level in IIS 7, you must specify /commit:WEBROOT in the command so that configuration changes are made to the root Web.config file instead of ApplicationHost.config.
For more information about Appcmd.exe, see Appcmd.exe (IIS 7).
Configuration
The procedure in this topic affects the following configuration elements:
<pages>
For more information about IIS 7 configuration, see IIS Settings Schema on MSDN.
WMI
Use the following WMI classes, methods, or properties to perform this procedure:
- PagesSection class
For more information about WMI and IIS, see Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) in IIS 7. For more information about the classes, methods, or properties associated with this procedure, see the IIS 7.0 Beta: IIS WMI Provider Reference on the MSDN site.