I have a form that has two sub routines. One called Search, another called Change. There is a global variable called m_dsEligData delcared as private and of type DataSet (Private m_dsEligData as dataset).

Search calls the GetData Method in a web service. The web service returns a data set object to m_dsEligData in the sub routine and populates a datagrid with one of the tables in m_dsEligData.

Change access a different table in m_dsEligData and displays data in a datagrid as well.

The problem I'm having is accessing data from the Change Subroutine. I'm successful in accessing tables in Search. However, the Change subroutine tries to access tables in M_dsEligData and it shows that the object still equal Nothing. Why is this happening? Since m_dsEligData is a globabl variable and is being set to the object returned from the Web Service why can't the Change subroutine access data? Please help.

The problem is that between the first page hit when you call Search() and then next page hit when you call Change(), that variable is reinitialized even though it's global. The variable is indeed global, but only within the context of one page request. Each page request results in a new instance of the page class so you start fresh every time even when you do a postback. The viewstate mechanism of the page and controls are what give the programming model (and user) the perception of a persistant form state.