Turning an ascx user control into a redistributable custom control

re: Turning an ascx user control into a redistributable custom control

Steinar Herland — Mon, 31 Oct 2005 10:28:56 GMT

Thanks for the nice article. K. Scott Allen wrote something similar at

http://odetocode.com/Blogs/scott/archive/2005/10/06/2326.aspx

He also enhanced the msbuild-file to use ilmerge to merge all the dll's.
Maybe the tool released by the ASP.NET team will be even more powerful?

re: Turning an ascx user control into a redistributable custom control

davidebb — Wed, 30 Nov 2005 00:16:02 GMT

Steinar, the tool I was referring to is actually available now in beta form, and is called "Visual Studio 2005 Web Deployment Projects". More specifically, it contains a tool named aspnet_merge.exe. Here is the link:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/asp.net/reference/infrastructure/wdp/default.aspx

It's probably the same general idea as the link your comment points to.

re: Turning an ascx user control into a redistributable custom control

Michel — Thu, 02 Feb 2006 09:57:15 GMT

Hi,

Just made a UserControl with three objects (calendar, textbox, button),
a public method and property. Nothing fancy; just a 'stupid' User
Control. The control appears on my test aspx page.
Compiled it in such a way that Visual Studio 2005 generates an assembly
for the User Control, as described in your article.

After that I added a reference to this assembly in another solution.
There I can reference to my User Control without any problems.
After running the page with this UserControl the control is not
appearing. Method and property of the User Control work fine.
However the values for the three child objects are null. For that
reason of course I can't see the control.
But why are these controls null?
Any idea?

Kind regards,

Michel

re: Turning an ascx user control into a redistributable custom control

Maahee — Wed, 08 Feb 2006 15:44:23 GMT

Hi Michel,

I am facing the same problem as u described.
Did u find any work around? If yes then Please post here.

Thanks and Regards,
Maahee

re: Turning an ascx user control into a redistributable custom control

Richard Cresswell — Wed, 08 Feb 2006 17:08:55 GMT

Having the same problem, please let me know if a fix is found!

re: Turning an ascx user control into a redistributable custom control

Swati — Wed, 08 Feb 2006 17:08:59 GMT

I have created the same.
Created a user control and generated its dll -the assembly after using Publish Web Site command.
Then I am using this dll and its user control.
I have used the register tag in My test project as given in this article but that gives me the error as User control not found inspite of adding reference of the dll .

Thanks
Swati

re: Turning an ascx user control into a redistributable custom control

Bryant — Wed, 22 Feb 2006 23:16:07 GMT

Hi David,

I know you posted this a while back but I have just started playing with this (it solves a problem we have quite nicely).

One issue that I have come across is that if you place the compiled UserControl into another UserControl (rather than onto a web page), when you view the web page (that contains the second, uncompiled, user control)at design-time, the UserControl is rendered with an error ("Object Reference not set to an instance of an object").

This doesn't affect the runtime behaviour (which renders/runs everything correctly) but it does look a little messy at design-time.

This is nothing I can't live with (just means the uncompiled UserControl is basically rendered how it used to be - no UI) but I wondered if the team is planning on improving the design-time experience of a compiled usercontrol (both this as well as the fact that the compiled UserControl doesn't render it's UI when placed onto a page and you can't put a compiled usercontrol into the Toolbox)?

re: Turning an ascx user control into a redistributable custom control

Orlin Georgiev — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 17:34:31 GMT

Hi! This post is specially for Michel, Maahee and Swati, in case they haven't figured their problem out meanwhile. I too created an user control with some basic server controls in it (a textbox, a label and a button) and it didn't show up. So I dissasembled the asembly of the custom controls to see what's wrong. As weird as it may sound but it seems that even in .NET 2.0 the inline code actually becomes a derived class of the code-behind (as was the case in 1.1) and NOT a single class comprised of two partial classes. So by registering the custom control with a <%@ Register TagPrefix="Acme" Namespace="Acme" Assembly="App_Web_mytestuc.ascx.cdcab7d2" %> and a <Acme:MyTestUC id="MyUC" runat="server" /> directive you actually invoke the base and not the derived class. To really invoke the rendering (derived) class ypu should. The solution is to use <%@ Register TagPrefix="Acme" Namespace="ASP" Assembly="App_Web_mytestuc.ascx.cdcab7d2" %> and <Acme:mytestuc_ascx id="MyUC" runat="server" /> or something like that, depending on the name of your UC. If you still don't get it, dissasemble the custom control and you'll see what I mean.
Kind regards,
Orlin

ASP.NET 2.0 - one month on

Ian Nelson — Tue, 02 May 2006 23:50:47 GMT

It's over a month now since Visual Studio 2005 officially RTM'd, and during that time I've been fortunate...

re: Turning an ascx user control into a redistributable custom control

Anuj — Wed, 24 May 2006 18:56:28 GMT

Hi ! Thanks Orlin the soluation you told its working cool I have another question while I am compiling my program it is given me this error :

: CS0115: 'ASP.default_aspx.GetTypeHashCode()': no suitable method found to override

Source Error:

[No Relevant source lines]

DO u have any idea why it is so...

Thanks
Anuj

re: Turning an ascx user control into a redistributable custom control

davidebb — Wed, 24 May 2006 19:12:37 GMT

Anuj,

Have you tried following the steps exactly as outlines in the article? Orlin's comment only applies if you are doing something different from the steps. Specifically, make sure you are properly setting the classname attribute as explained in Step 1.

thanks,
David

re: Turning an ascx user control into a redistributable custom control

Phcyso — Fri, 02 Jun 2006 16:15:51 GMT

Hi David,

Thanks for this great article. I was facing the same problem as described by Michel. I made sure that I am properly setting the classname attribute as explained in Step 1, and everything worked fine, BUT ONLY IF I USE INLINE CODE.

I want to use code-behind model, but I am not able to get that to work. When I add the "ClassName" attribute, I get the following error; -

"Missing partial modifier on declaration of type 'Acme.MyTestUC'; another partial declaration of this type exists....c:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\Temporary ASP.NET Files\ui\a00a88f8\c67bcb51\App_Web_nuzxcasf.0.cs 138"

Kindly help. I am stuck :(

Thanks.

re: Turning an ascx user control into a redistributable custom control

davidebb — Sat, 03 Jun 2006 00:54:34 GMT

Phcyso,

This hsould work fine with the code behind model. Make sure your code behind ascx looks something like this:

<%@ Control Language="C#" AutoEventWireup="true" CodeFile="CodeBesideControl.ascx.cs"
Inherits="Acme.CodeBesideControl" ClassName="Acme.MyCodeBesideControl" %>

and that the ascx.cs defines the matching partial class in the same namespace.

David

re: Turning an ascx user control into a redistributable custom control

Dave — Mon, 03 Jul 2006 00:50:33 GMT

I've been trying this method. No success yet. Can you guys post a sample here?

Thanks.

Turning an ascx user control into a redistributable custom control

Keyvan Nayyeri — Sat, 15 Jul 2006 08:48:50 GMT

David Ebbo has written an article about Turning an ascx user control into a redistributable custom control.The

Turning an ascx user control into a redistributable custom control

Keyvan Nayyeri — Sun, 16 Jul 2006 09:57:39 GMT

David Ebbo has written an article about Turning an ascx user control into a redistributable custom control.The

OK, Now how do you rename without breaking it.

Jared McGuire — Wed, 19 Jul 2006 01:11:06 GMT

I have a control: App_Web_simplecontrol.ascx.cdcab7d2.dll

I like to distribute it as simplecontrol.dll. but simpley renaming and replacing App_Web_simplecontrol.ascx.cdcab7d2 with simplecontrol on code doesn't work.

Any suggestions?

re: Turning an ascx user control into a redistributable custom control

davidebb — Wed, 19 Jul 2006 01:23:31 GMT

Jared, I think you should be able to use ILMerge (available on MSDN) to do this. You could also use it to package multiple controls into one DLL.

David

re: Turning an ascx user control into a redistributable custom control

Jared McGuire — Thu, 20 Jul 2006 17:39:13 GMT

I got the web deployment project to do it for me. This also lets me have multiple asxc files.

Now I have a new issue:
I can add the dll reference and manually add the register command and controls to the html. I would like to add this dll to the toolbox so that I can simply drag my controls to the form and have the reference, register, and html auto added, like other custom controls do. However the toolbox tells me that "there are no components that it can place in the toolbox".

Once this works then I will be golden!

re: Turning an ascx user control into a redistributable custom control

Toni Bailon — Wed, 06 Sep 2006 15:56:32 GMT

Has anyone been able to drag and drop the created control from the toolbox?

re: Turning an ascx user control into a redistributable custom control

Toni — Wed, 06 Sep 2006 16:02:00 GMT

It's very useful, but is it possible to see the control inserted in a form?

Is it possible to see it at design time, like any other web control?

ASP.NET 2.0 - one month on

Ian Nelson — Mon, 04 Dec 2006 20:02:48 GMT

It's over a month now since Visual Studio 2005 officially RTM'd, and during that time I've been fortunate

re: Turning an ascx user control into a redistributable custom control

Ricardo Gomes — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 15:39:43 GMT

Hi there, I'm having some problems. I've done a web user control with a textbox wich i'll want to access from a page.

(Code .ascx)

<%@ Control Language="C#" AutoEventWireup="true" CodeFile="MFComment.ascx.cs" Inherits="MF.MFComment" %>

...(my code)....

(Code .ascx.cs)

namespace MF

{

public partial class MFComment : System.Web.UI.UserControl

{

...(my code)...

}

- If I use the attribute ClassName inside the Control directive I get the following error:

Missing partial modifier on declaration of type 'MF.MFComment'; another partial declaration of this type exists c:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\Temporary ASP.NET Files\distributeascxcontrol\29b825f5\aaee677f\App_Web_wgindfuh.0.cs 138

When I publish the control (without the ClassName) everything goes well.

The problem begins when I want to use the published assembly.

I register the control and declare it on my page but i'm cannot see it when i run the page. I can access the control and it's properties from the page code behind but when I test my page the control does not appear.

(Code Page .aspx)

<%@ Register TagPrefix="MF" Namespace="MF" Assembly="App_Web_mfcomment.ascx.cdcab7d2" %>

...

<MF:MFComment ID="myctl" runat="server" />

...

Can anyone explain me what can be the problem and how to solve it?

Thanks in advance!

re: Turning an ascx user control into a redistributable custom control

Mark Kamoski — Thu, 08 Feb 2007 21:48:14 GMT

This works great.

I had some trouble getting the compile-and-deploy to work using the 2-file method (code-infront and code-behind). The problem was that the control was not showing up on the page at all. It might have been a issue with the namepaces, casing, or something like that. I switched to the 1-file method and it worked fine. GEFN. I will refactor later if necessary.

Thank you VERY much.

-- Mark Kamoski

Cannot dynamically created control

sheirali — Wed, 14 Feb 2007 23:12:01 GMT

Hello David,

I followed the steps that were shown, and for the most part, it is working.

In my usercontrol (example, NumericTextBoxControl) which wraps a normal TextBox web control, I exposed the embedded TextBox as a property (only Get).

I am now able to use the dlls that the Publish website created within another web site project’s ascx files by registering the dll and using the control within the HTML of my ascx pages.

However I want to create an instance of this control in a code-behind.

For example:

NumericTextBoxControl txtNum = new NumericTextBoxControl();

But when I tried to reference the embedded TextBox via the exposed Get Property, the property is returning Null.

If using the control in an html page (.aspx), it works and from the code-behind, I can access the Get Property to get to the embedded TextBox.

How can I do a "new" in code-behind and have the Get Property not return Null???

Do you have any advice? Or solution?

Thanks

Sheir

re: Turning an ascx user control into a redistributable custom control

David Ebbo — Wed, 14 Feb 2007 23:38:25 GMT

Hi Sheir,

Instead of directly instantiating your control, try calling page.LoadControl(typeof(YourControlType), null). This should do the proper initialization that will make it work.

David

re: Turning an ascx user control into a redistributable custom control

Mark Kamoski — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 22:22:00 GMT

David -- Please help. I have been using this technique and it works just fine as long as the User Control is a 1-file control, with inline code. As soon as I try to use a 2-file control (with both code-infront and code-behind) it does not work-- the UI cannot be seen at all when the resulting server control is used on an ASPX page. I have tried stating both classname="MyNamespace.MyClassName" and inherits="MyNamespace.MyClassName" in the <@control directive (as you mentioned in a post above) but when I do that I get a compile-time-error of "Missing partial modifier on declaration of type 'MyNamespace.MyClassName'; another partial declaration of this type exists". Can you give any more advice concerning how to make this work with the code-behind coding method in the User Control?

re: Turning an ascx user control into a redistributable custom control

davidebb — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 22:34:52 GMT

Hi Mark,

You need to use a different class name for the inherits (which is the base class), and the classname attribute (which becomes a derived class). Then make sure you always use the 'classname' class when you use it (just like in the inline mode).

David

re: Turning an ascx user control into a redistributable custom control

Mark Kamoski — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 20:20:01 GMT

David -- I appreciate the extra assistance regarding using the classname and inherits attributes of the @Control directive. Your advice works like a charm. BTW, I have been using this method to create stand alone Server Controls. After than, I create a wrapper around those Server Controls to make them into WebPart Controls for use in SharePoint 2007 and plain old ASP.NET sites. The whole process is now VERY simple and fast thanks to your great tip here. Thank you very much. -- Mark Kamoski

re: Turning an ascx user control into a redistributable custom control

Jon A — Sat, 17 Feb 2007 03:01:18 GMT

Anybody having problems with Namespace?

re: Turning an ascx user control into a redistributable custom control

Jonathan Langley — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 23:25:42 GMT

David -- Thanks for your post, the inheritance issues is blindingly obvious once you realise it. Great catch.

re: Turning an ascx user control into a redistributable custom control

David Neely — Sun, 25 Feb 2007 01:10:10 GMT

Has anyone been able to get these controls to be accessible from the toolbox? If we could do that this would be a 100% solution. Thanks much--

re: Turning an ascx user control into a redistributable custom control

David Neely — Sun, 25 Feb 2007 07:25:38 GMT

One more issue. When I reference the dll as a private assembly, intellisense works fine. However, if I register the assembly in the GAC and reference it from there, the code still works fine however I get no intellisense and I get compiler warnings for the control name (i.e. the red squiggly with a message saying that this is not a known element). Any thoughts?

re: Turning an ascx user control into a redistributable custom control

Darryl — Mon, 26 Feb 2007 18:37:33 GMT

I would like to use a custom control built with this method in another user control. No problem adding my custom control to a page. No problem adding my custom control to a new user control BUT when I add that new user control to a page I get "error rendering control - object not set to an instance of an object". Anyone seen this? Any ideers how to resolve?

tia

Darryl

re: Turning an ascx user control into a redistributable custom control

davidebb — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 00:02:20 GMT

Hi Darryl,

Is this an error that you see at design time in VS, or at runtime in the browser? I would think that it should work fine at runtime, though there may be design time issues (some previous comments refer to this).

David

re: Turning an ascx user control into a redistributable custom control

Anand — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 13:07:33 GMT

Hi Darryl,

I too got the error 'Object reference not set to an object". I used 2 separate files for code and design. But when I remove the code inside Page_Load event of user control, it worked fine. If I put any code to access any control inside user control, I got the above error.

Later I fixed the problem. As it was discussed by David, I need to specify a different name for our user control. But I do not have clear knowledge. David, Can you please explain us a bit on this? Thanks for an interesting and useful article.

re: Turning an ascx user control into a redistributable custom control

DarylR — Tue, 06 Mar 2007 23:31:56 GMT

Can someone post a complete working sample USING CODE_BEHIND (source, VS solutions, test app, EVERYTHING!)? I'm trying various combinations (starting with instructions in the orginal post) and I am still getting NULL references exceptions for the child controls of the UserControl (.ascx) when I reference them in the Page_Load event of the UserControl. I'm missing something. Could the language have anything to do with it? I'm using VB iso C#.

HELP!

re: Turning an ascx user control into a redistributable custom control

GaneshThennavan — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 04:32:01 GMT

Hi david,

Is there a way to put the usercontrol into the toolbox and make it developer world easy ??

pls do let me know.

and has anyone tried it refrencing it to toolbox????

re: Turning an ascx user control into a redistributable custom control

Song Yuan — Tue, 29 May 2007 01:37:08 GMT

I think user option 1 + Web Deployment project is the best way

re: Turning an ascx user control into a redistributable custom control

NAIDU — Sun, 03 Jun 2007 04:24:43 GMT

Is there any way to convert the usercontrol in a Web Application project into redistributable custom control

re: Turning an ascx user control into a redistributable custom control

davidebb — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 07:43:40 GMT

Yes, it should work essentially the same way in a Web Application Project. The only difference is that the app's DLL (the one VS puts in 'bin') will need to be included as well.

Turning off render of a user control in design of the parent page

Mike Jones — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 15:19:59 GMT

Does anybody know how to turn of the render of a user control in the parent page. It is a pain when using lots of user controls and you are unsure what is on what page. So in other words to make it like it was in VS 2003 with a little grey box.

How to Register User Controls and Custom Controls in Web.config

WebServices — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 05:35:45 GMT

Tip/Trick:HowtoRegisterUserControlsandCustomControlsinWeb.config I'vebeen

re: Turning an ascx user control into a redistributable custom control

Panchams — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 21:01:56 GMT

Hi david,

After converting the user control to custom control,is there any way to include this into toolbox?

Any help will be appreciated.

re: Turning an ascx user control into a redistributable custom control

Panchams — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 21:52:25 GMT

Is there any body who can help me in below.

After converting the user control to custom control,is there any way to include this into toolbox and drag and drop on any asp.net page?

Any help will be appreciated.

re: Turning an ascx user control into a redistributable custom control

Preethi — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 14:51:51 GMT

Can anyone helpme,

I tried this procedure for creating custom control.But while complation,i am getting the follwing error:

Could not load file or assembly 'App_Web_webusercontrol.ascx.cdcab7d2.dll' or one of its dependencies. The system cannot find the file specified.

Thanks and Regards

Preethi

MCPD 70-547: Creando y seleccionando Controles

SergioTarrillo's RichWeblog — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 10:10:35 GMT

Damos inicio a la serie de post, basados en los temas de preparación para el examen 70-547 . Si eres

DotNetNuke modules with Vis. Web Devel. 2008 Express | keyongtech

DotNetNuke modules with Vis. Web Devel. 2008 Express | keyongtech — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 20:32:42 GMT

PingBack from http://www.keyongtech.com/554064-dotnetnuke-modules-with-vis-web

Tagz | "David Ebbo's ASP.NET blog : Turning an ascx user control into a redistributable custom control" | Comments

Sat, 16 May 2009 20:12:02 GMT

PingBack from http://tagz.in/posts/23f/comments/

Misfit Geek Podcast

Misfit Geek — Thu, 28 May 2009 15:41:09 GMT

Click to Play Download the Current Episode MP3 WMA WMA (LoRes) ACC Episode #1 - Scott Hunter on the future of ASP.NET Development with Web Forms Scott Hunter is a Senior Program Manager Lead on the ASP.NET Team and, along with his team drives much of

Episode #1 - Scott Hunter on the Future of Web Forms

Misfit Geek — Thu, 28 May 2009 15:51:06 GMT

David Ebbo s blog Turning an ascx user control into a redistributable | Paid Surveys

Fri, 29 May 2009 22:55:43 GMT

PingBack from http://paidsurveyshub.info/story.php?title=david-ebbo-s-blog-turning-an-ascx-user-control-into-a-redistributable

David Ebbo s blog Turning an ascx user control into a redistributable | Cellulite Creams

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 04:37:56 GMT

PingBack from http://cellulitecreamsite.info/story.php?id=4239

David Ebbo s blog Turning an ascx user control into a redistributable | debt solutions

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 20:44:47 GMT

PingBack from http://debtsolutionsnow.info/story.php?id=13232