I have a custom control that builds a formatted checkboxlist (bold,grey,indented,etc). The control simply renders some html based on the values listed in a dataset table. The only method that is over ridden is Render(). Render() writes a string to the HTMLTextWriter that builds a span element and some checkboxes with labels.

Fine enough, in a page load I can set the dataset source property and I get exactly what I wanted. However, I only want the list rendered the first time and I want viewstate to handle any subsequent postback.

So, where do you start? Setting enableviewstate = true does nothing. I don't know where to call loadviewstate() or saveviewstate(). I need it to save state on a postback if a user checks a box or even if nothing has changed. Now, nothing is rendered on a postback regardless.