Using ParseControl and Subsequently Getting Specific Control Type

[Jordan S.]

Using .NET 3.5, I'm wondering how to get a control's specific type (e.g,.
"Button" and not simply "Control") after the control is inserted into a
control hierarchy - when ParseControl is used.

For example, I have the following code:

string str = "<table border=1><tr><t d>Hello
World</td></tr><tr><td><asp :Button ID=\"TestButton \" onclick=\"b_Cli ck\"
runat=\"server\ " Text=\"Button\" /></td></tr><tr><td>Good bye
Everybody!</td></tr></table>";
Control ctl = ParseControl(st r);
this.form1.Cont rols.Add(ctl);

This code inserts an html table that contains a Button into the
form1.Controls collection.

My question: How can I subsequently retrieve a Button type reference to the
inserted Button?

What I'm trying to do is implement logic that walks the control tree looking
for any Button and TextBox objects that may have been inserted into the
control tree. This logic may or may not encounter Button and/or TextBox
controls - depending on the contents of the string passed to ParseControl.
This logic that walks the control tree does not (and cannot) know ahead of
time if there are actually any Button or TextBox objects in the Control
hierarchy. So I can't use FindControl to find any particular Button or
TextBox instances.

Thanks.

[Jordan S.]

I found the answer:
In brief, you just cast the 'Control' typed object to the desired object
type, as in the following code.

There is really no mystery here and nothing at all complicated. The reason I
thought something was difficult was because I had a bug in my code in which
the recursive call passed the current control [in the recursive call] and
not the current child control of the current control. Consequently, the
recursive calls never went beyond the current control. Total error on my
part.

But for those interested, here is a method [sans bug] that will get the
first control of the type you want to retrieve from a control collection
[possibly populated via ParseControl]:
----------------------------------------------
private T FindFirstContro lRecursive<T>(C ontrol control) where T : Control
{
string theType = string.Empty;
foreach (Control subcontrol in control.Control s)
{
if (subcontrol is T)
{
return (T)subcontrol;
}
T nestedcontrol = FindFirstContro lRecursive<T>(s ubcontrol);
if (nestedcontrol != null)
return nestedcontrol;
}
return null;
}
----------------------------------------------
"Jordan S." <[e-mail] in message
news:OW******** ********@TK2MSF TNGP04.phx.gbl. ..

Using .NET 3.5, I'm wondering how to get a control's specific type (e.g,.
"Button" and not simply "Control") after the control is inserted into a
control hierarchy - when ParseControl is used.

For example, I have the following code:

string str = "<table border=1><tr><t d>Hello
World</td></tr><tr><td><asp :Button ID=\"TestButton \" onclick=\"b_Cli ck\"
runat=\"server\ " Text=\"Button\" /></td></tr><tr><td>Good bye
Everybody!</td></tr></table>";
Control ctl = ParseControl(st r);
this.form1.Cont rols.Add(ctl);

This code inserts an html table that contains a Button into the
form1.Controls collection.

My question: How can I subsequently retrieve a Button type reference to
the inserted Button?

What I'm trying to do is implement logic that walks the control tree
looking for any Button and TextBox objects that may have been inserted
into the control tree. This logic may or may not encounter Button and/or
TextBox controls - depending on the contents of the string passed to
ParseControl. This logic that walks the control tree does not (and cannot)
know ahead of time if there are actually any Button or TextBox objects in
the Control hierarchy. So I can't use FindControl to find any particular
Button or TextBox instances.

Thanks.