Dynamic Control

Question

User132775050 posted

I have a control I wish to dynamically load onto an aspx page, using a helper class.  The control will be loaded onto a Master Page.

Folder Tree
~/ABC/ABCMaster.master
~/ABC/ABCMaster.master.vb
~/App_Code/Classes/ABCFieldTypes.vb
~/ControlsABC/CtlABCCustomerName.aspx  (This control is an asp:DropDownList)
~/ControlsABC/CtlABCCustomerName.aspx.vb
 

Master.vb
Here I call the function  RenderCriteriaTable 

    Public Sub RenderCriteriaTable(ByVal myArr(,) As String)
        Dim Tbl As HtmlTable = Me.tblCriteriaFields
        Dim index As Integer = 0

        For index = 0 To (myArr.Length / 3) - 1
            Dim TblRow As New HtmlTableRow
            TblRow = ABCFieldTypes.RenderRow(myArr(index, 0), myArr(index, 1), myArr(index, 2))

            'Create Row with Cells
            Tbl.Rows.Insert((Tbl.Rows.Count - 1), TblRow)
        Next
    End Sub

ABCFieldTypes.vb
Here is where I am trying to dynamically load the control 

    Public Shared Function RenderRow(ByVal FieldID As String, ByVal FieldType As Integer, ByVal ShowField As Integer)
        Dim TblRow As New HtmlTableRow
        'Cells 1 and 3 will always be the same

        'Cell 1
        Dim TblCell1 As New HtmlTableCell
        Dim lbl As New Label
        lbl.Text = FieldID
        lbl.ID = "lbl" & FieldID.Replace(" ", "_").ToString
        lbl.Font.Bold = True
        TblCell1.Controls.Add(lbl)
        TblRow.Cells.Add(TblCell1)

        'Cell 2
        Select Case FieldType
            Case FieldTypes.FieldNone
                TblRow.Cells.Add(BlankCell())
            Case FieldTypes.FieldTextBox
                Dim TblCell2 As New HtmlTableCell
                Dim txt As New BDK.WMS.Controls.TextBox.TextBox
                txt.ID = "txt" & FieldID.Replace(" ", "_").ToString
                TblCell2.Controls.Add(txt)
                TblRow.Cells.Add(TblCell2)
            Case FieldTypes.FieldDropDownList
                Dim TblCell2 As New HtmlTableCell
                Dim ddl As New UserControl
                ddl.LoadControl("~/ControlsABC/CtlAbcCustomerName.ascx")
                ddl.ID = "ddl" & FieldID.Replace(" ", "_").ToString
                TblCell2.Controls.Add(ddl)
                TblRow.Cells.Add(TblCell2)
        End Select

        'Cell 3
        If ShowField = ABCFieldTypes.ShowField.Yes Then
            Dim TblCell3 As New HtmlTableCell
            Dim chkbox As New CheckBox
            chkbox.ID = "chk" & FieldID.Replace(" ", "_").ToString
            chkbox.Visible = ShowField
            TblCell3.Controls.Add(chkbox)
            TblCell3.Align = "center"
            TblRow.Cells.Add(TblCell3)
        Else
            TblRow.Cells.Add(BlankCell())
        End If

        Return TblRow
    End Function

It seems as if the Control is found, but does not appear on the page.  Any ideas?  I've done some searching and came across something about Interfaces, but could not understand it. If possible I would like to be able to use the properties on the control that I've made public.  I can reference these if I register the control on the page manually.  I need the dynamics because different pages will have different controls.  One other thing, it seems to work if I place the control inside the App_Code directory, but I cannot use this as a solution.