I know that I can create web controls on the fly and add them to a
placeholder. The problem with that is that I don't get any view state that
way.
I have a series webform templates defined in a database. Now I want to
create a series of text boxes and other controls on the fly can capture the
data input. How can I do that?

This might help you:
http://www.codeproject.com/Purgatory/ViewState___Dynamic_Cntrl.asp

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