Loading a custom control at runtime

You can load a server control to your page using the constructor of the control. For example a Literal control can be loaded as follows:

plhContainer.Controls.Add(
            new Literal
            {
                Text = string.Format("{0}.{1}",
                    method.ReflectedType.FullName, method.Name)
            });

When it comes to a custom control you also want the markup code of you custom control to be loaded too. So you need to tell the Page o load it for you:

var nameBox = (NameBox) Page.LoadControl("NameBox.ascx");

Basically, you could do this at any time, but it is recommanded to do this at Page_Load the reason is that this is the best place for the control to restore its state and receive postback events. Also the binding will take place after this method. Look at my previous post for the sequence of the events and method calls when page gets loaded.
It is also recomannded to set a unique ID to that control if you need to find that later using FindControl, or some one else want to find where you have put it 🙂

So, my load method will look like this:

     private void LoadMyControls()
     {
         var nameBox = (NameBox) Page.LoadControl("NameBox.ascx");
         // Give the user control a unique name by setting its ID property.
         // You can use this information to retrieve a reference to the control
         // when you need it with the Page.FindControl() method.
         nameBox.ID = "nameBox"; 
         nameBox.FirstName = "Asghar";
         nameBox.LastName = "Panahy";
         nameBox.ChangeRequest += ChangeName;
         plhContainer.Controls.Add(nameBox);
     }

When I call LoadMyControls() in Page_Load method, I see the following sequence in my output:

STARTING: MCTS._70_515.Resources._Default.Page_Init
STARTING: MCTS._70_515.Resources._Default.OnInit
STARTING: MCTS._70_515.Resources._Default.Page_Load
STARTING: MCTS._70_515.Resources.NameBox.Page_Init
STARTING: MCTS._70_515.Resources.NameBox.OnInit
STARTING: MCTS._70_515.Resources._Default.OnLoad
STARTING: MCTS._70_515.Resources.NameBox.Page_Load
STARTING: MCTS._70_515.Resources.NameBox.OnDataBinding
STARTING: MCTS._70_515.Resources.NameBox.get_LastName
STARTING: MCTS._70_515.Resources.NameBox.OnLoad
STARTING: MCTS._70_515.Resources._Default.OnPreRender
STARTING: MCTS._70_515.Resources.NameBox.OnPreRender
STARTING: MCTS._70_515.Resources.NameBox.OnUnload
STARTING: MCTS._70_515.Resources._Default.OnUnload

Notice that the custom control gets its data binded just after the page has passed Loading which is a good thing.