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FindControl Help! ddl inside usercontrol from another control using formview control

Hello EE!

I think I'm close to getting what I need but my code bombs and I believe my formview code is to blame and how I'm trying to locate the control I need. On my page (lets call it page.aspx) I have two web user controls (lets call them jc.ascx and ec.ascx). In jc.ascx I have a formview control which has a _ModeChanging event. In this event I am trying to get a hold of a dropdownlist control which resides in my ec.ascx which is on the same page. However, I don't think I'm using findcontrol right to navigate to the control.

My page.aspx control structure is as follows:

<..."ID="TabContainer1"...>
<..."ID="COSTab"...>
<..."ID="COSUpdatePanel"...>

' This is ec.ascx
<..."ID="EmpClassChange"...>
<..."ID="ClassControl1"...> <---- Trying to find a DDL control in here (ddl control is returned through a public function)
</... "ID="EmpClassChange"...>

' This is jc.ascx
<..."ID="JobChange"...>
<..."ID="JobControl1"...> <----- From a formview within here
</... "ID="JobChange"...>

</..."ID="COSUpdatePanel"...>
</..."ID="COSTab"...>
</..."ID="TabContainer1"...>

Both code attempts shown below result in a 'Object reference not set to an instance of an object.' error in my _ModeChanging event.

I thought maybe this would do it... but no luck!!
Any thoughts on what I might be doing wrong?? I appreciate the assistance in advance.

Thanks,
sk1922

'1st code attempt
                Dim tbContainer As AjaxControlToolkit.TabContainer = DirectCast(Parent.FindControl("TabContainer1"), AjaxControlToolkit.TabContainer)
                Dim pnl As Panel = DirectCast(tbContainer.FindControl("COS").FindControl("COSUpdatePanel").FindControl("EmpClassChange"), Panel)
                Dim ddl As DropDownList = CType(pnl.FindControl("ClassControl1"), modules_ClassControl).GetEmpClassDDL
                ddl.Enabled = False


'2nd code attempt
                'Dim ddl As DropDownList = CType(CType(Parent.FindControl("TabContainer1").FindControl("COS").FindControl("COSUpdatePanel").FindControl("EmpClassChange"), Panel).FindControl("ClassControl1"), modules_ClassControl).GetEmpClassDDL
                'ddl.Enabled = False

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ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

Alfred A.

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Alfred A.

Example use of the functions above (2nd function)

Dim ddl As DropDownList = CType(FindControlRecursive(TabContainer1, "EmpClassDDL"),DropDownList)

sk1922

ASKER

Sorry for the delay in getting back on this. That worked well for me!!

Thanks!