Using C# to Recursively Call FindControl in ASP.Net
Recursively Call FindControl using this function which will not only search on the page, but the component containers as well.

By Tim Trott | C# ASP.Net MVC | January 29, 2010

| (3) | (0)

In ASP.Net I often need to Recursively Call FindControl to get an object reference to a control on the ASPX page. The only problem with this is that you need to know the control that it is contained with. This recursive method will search for a given control within a parent control and all its child controls.

public static Control FindControlRecursive(Control container, string name)
{
    if ((container.ID != null) && (container.ID.Equals(name)))
        return container;

    foreach (Control ctrl in container.Controls)
    {
        Control foundCtrl = FindControlRecursive(ctrl, name);
        if (foundCtrl != null)
            return foundCtrl;
    }
    return null;
}

Usage

You need to pass in two parameters, a reference to a control to look into and the name of the control to find.

Example:

Control myControl = FindControlRecursive(PlaceHolder1, "myControl");

CommentsShare your thoughts in the comments below

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This post has 3 comment(s). Why not join the discussion!

AL

On Wednesday 22nd of March 2023, Alberto Lepore said

Very effactive way to find controls recursively in asp page, I have adapted your code to my custom needs. It was helpful. Thx
TI
On Tuesday 5th of June 2012, Tigrou said

@roy : your function is nice but return type should be T instead of Control, otherwise using templates is pretty useless....
C#
```
private T GetControl<T>(Control Container, string ControlID) where T : Control
```

On Monday 19th of December 2011, Roy said

Good post. This is the one we use.

private Control GetControl<T>(Control Container, string ControlID) where T : Control
{
T result = Container.FindControl(ControlID) as T;


if (result == null)
{
foreach (Control c in Container.Controls)
{
result = this.GetControl<T>(c, ControlID) as T;

if (result != null)
{
break;
}
}
}

return result;
}