Can't find control in code in super class

Question

I have a number of pages

<%@ Page Language="C#" AutoEventWireup="True" CodeBehind="MyPage.aspx.cs" Inherits="MyPage " MasterPageFile="~/Site.master"  %>
<asp:Content ContentPlaceHolderID="commonForm" runat="server">
 <asp:Table runat="server">
  <asp:TableRow>
   <asp:TableCell ID="cellControl" />
  </asp:TableRow>
 </asp:Table>
</asp:Content>

public partial class MyPage : MySuperPage { }

and a super class for them:

public abstract class MySuperPage : Page
{
    public MySuperPage()
    {
        this.Load += new EventHandler(PageLoad);
    }

    // my own method
    protected void PageLoad(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        var c = this.FindControl("cellControl"); // null!
    }

    // auto event handling
    protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        var c = this.FindControl("cellControl"); // null!
    }
}

Why neither method can't find a control?

Answer 1

Seems to me you are trying to find control in the Page control collection what's wrong. You have to search table cell in Table control.

Upd. If you are using master page you can access its controls directly from page. First you have to declare master type:

<%@ MasterType VirtualPath="~/MasterPage.master" %>

Then declare public property (which can be some control too):

public string MyTitle
{
    get { return "BaseMaster Title"; }
}

Then you will able to write:

string text = Master.MyTitle;

or

Master.FindControl('Table1');

Answer 2

This is a duplicate of http://stackoverflow.com/questions/839794/finding-a-control-in-a-page-from-a-page-base-class

Answer 3

The most common solution I've seen is to do a recursive descent down the control tree until you find the control with the desired ID, e.g. http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000307.html