State management

State management refers to the management of the state of one or more user interface controls such as text fields, OK buttons, radio buttons, etc. in a graphical user interface. In this user interface programming technique, the state of one UI control depends on the state of other UI controls. For example, a state managed UI control such as a button will be in the enabled state when input fields have valid input values and the button will be in the disabled state when the input fields are empty or have invalid values. As applications grow, this can end up becoming one of the most complex problems in user interface development. This is especially the case when the state of any particular message or form on the page depends on factors outside of the current page, or available throughout several pages.