Code behind file not recognizing controls in *.ascx

Question

I have a QuestionControl.ascx and a QuestionControl.ascx.cs code behind file I copied to a new project. When I build the project any references in the code behind file to controls declared in the ascx gives me this error:

'QuestionControl' does not contain a definition for 'rdbtnlstQuestion1' and no extension method 'rdbtnlstQuestion1' accepting a first argument of type 'QuestionControl' could be found (are you missing a using directive or an assembly reference?)

This is at the top of my *.ascx:

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

I've also tried CodeBehind:

<%@ Control Language="C#" AutoEventWireup="true" CodeBehind="QuestionControl.ascx.cs" Inherits="QuestionControl" %>

This is the top of my class in the codebehind file, it is not contained in a namespace:

public partial class QuestionControl : System.Web.UI.UserControl
{

Answer 1

Try deleting your designer file. VS.NET should recreate it for you when you open the ascx file. I've had problems like this in the past where the designer gets out-of-sync for some reason, and deleting it usually fixes the problem.

Answer 2

Another solution is to:

• open your .ascx page in design view
• right click anywhere on the page and select Refresh

(.ascx.designer.cs file may need to to be closed while doing refresh for this to work)

Answer 3

In VS2017 there is no option 'Convert to Web Application' in the context menu of the .ascx file. Instead you need to select to .ascx file then click on 'Project' in the upper menu and select 'Convert to Web Application' (which is all the way down in the Project menu.

Answer 4

What worked form me was listed on another SO answer and I can't find it so I'm repeating it here.

Try deleting your "ReflectedSchemas" folder in

C:\\Users\\YOURUSENAME\\AppData\\Roaming\\Microsoft\\VisualStudio\\15.0_079f391b\\ReflectedSchemas

This worked for me. Sometimes I get the "unrecognized" errors, and I delete this folder again. Many thanks to the OP. Been driving me crazy for years. Now I have no "squiggles" in the HTML and no "red bars" in the code behind (aspx.cs)

Answer 5

I had problems for example creating a dropdownlist inside a gridview. What I did is creating the ddl outside of the gv until the desinger.cs recognized it and afterwards moved the control inside the gv... hope this helps

Answer 6

I was having the same issue, the code-behind didn't recognize the controls on the .aspx page. I'm using VS 2012. I right-clicked the project; clicked on Convert to Web Application; and it added all the designer files that weren't there at all before. I rebuilt everything and it's good now.