C# custom control to render other controls

Question

How can I use a custom control to render other controls? Obviously, at the Render stage, it is too late. test works as it does not contain <asp:sometag>, but test2 is what I want to be able to write out and render properly

 protected override void Render(HtmlTextWriter writer)
        {
            const string test = @"<a href='http://www.something.com'></a>";
            const string test2 = "<asp:HyperLink ID='HyperLink1' runat='server' NavigateUrl='www.something.com'>Some Text</asp:HyperLink>";

            writer.Write(test2);
        }

M4N M4N · Accepted Answer · 2011-07-07T15:37:50

You can override the CreateChildControls method as shown in this example:

protected override void CreateChildControls()
{
    // Add a LiteralControl to the current ControlCollection.
    this.Controls.Add(new LiteralControl("<h3>Value: "));

    // Create a text box control, set the default Text property, 
    // and add it to the ControlCollection.
    TextBox box = new TextBox();
    box.Text = "0";
    this.Controls.Add(box);

    this.Controls.Add(new LiteralControl("</h3>"));
}

Instead of the literal/textbox controls, you would instantiate and add a HyperLink control, e.g:

var link = new HyperLink();
link.NavigateUrl = "...";
link.Text = "...";
this.Controls.Add(link);

C# custom control to render other controls

1 Answers