ASP.NET 2.0 MasterPages and FindControl()
The problem is that when you use MasterPages the page hierarchy drastically changes. Where a simple this.FindControl() used to give you a control instance you now have to drill into the container hierarchy pretty deeply just to get to the content container. So in the past I might have done this in my C# base class: protected Label lblError = null; protected DataGrid dgItemList = null; protected void AssignControls() { this.lblError = this.FindControl("lblError") as Label; this.dgItemList = this.FindControl("dgItemList") as DataGrid; } you now have to drill into the containership with code like this: protected void AssignControls() { this.lblError = this.Master.FindControl("Content").FindControl("lblError") as Label; this.dgItemList = this.Master.FindControl("Content").FindControl("dgItemList") as DataGrid; } This isn't so bad, except when you're trying to figure out how to get to your controls. It really seems lame tha...