在ASP MVC页面之间传递变量而不将其发送到服务器

Question

I am creating a website with ASP.NET MVC 4. The application consists of two pages, whose workflow is similar to Google Maps. On the first page, the user types in a patient's name, date of birth, and some basic data about that patient. Then the user submits the form, and is brought to the second page in the application. The second page is just a print preview that the user can print. I want the user to be able to navigate between the two pages using the browser's back and forward buttons (for example, to change inputs on the first page after seeing the second page)

Actually calculating the data that appears on the printout is very complicated, and I really want to have all that code be executed server-side, where I can use C#. So I need to send the patient's data to the server. The problem is that I don't have an SSL certificate, and I don't want to send a patient's name with their data over HTTP (as this is a violation of privacy). I am willing to send the patient's data over HTTP, as long as it remains detached from the patient's identity (except for at the client). The name and date of birth are simply displayed in the corner of the printout, and do not affect the server-side calculations in the least.

I can think of two possible ways to accomplish this task. The first, more preferred solution, would be a way to send only some of the form data over HTTP, yet still somehow get the name and date of birth from the first page in client-side jquery running on the second page. Maybe I can make a cookie and somehow specify not to send it as part of the http request?

The other way to accomplish this is to make the entire application into a single page, and dynamically change the contents via client-side jquery. In this solution, when the user submits the form, I can fire off an ajax request that will return JSON. I can then populate the print preview with data returned from the server (ie the JSON) as well as from the form (ie the patient's name and date of birth). Is there a way to accomplish this while still allowing the user to use the browser's back and forward commands to navigate between the data input page and the print preview page if they are in fact the same page?

Answer 1

I don't believe what you described is possibly without severe drawbacks. Sure, you could roll up the data into a cookie or local storage and avoid the POST--but this is a lot of logic in your view, and a pretty nasty hack.

The options I would advise are:

• Get an SSL cert . If that's the driving force behind your approach then spend the $6 to get one. Seriously.

• Keep the print view in the same page as the form; use css @media types to specify the print styles.