Using ASP.Net user controls ASCX in MOSS/WSSv3

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Chris Johnson has posted a great article on using ASP.Net ASCX user controls in MOSS/WSSv3. I have been recently creating custom controls in Visual Studio (i.e. Control Classes not ASCX). To use these I add the controls to the GAC and then add an entry to the web.config to make it a safe control. The benefit of the ASCX model is that you can develop the user control in a more visual manner.

The ASCX controls can be used in MOSS/WSSv3 via the following method:

1. Create a Directory called "usercontrols" in the root of your sharepoint web site on the file system E.g. C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\wss\VirtualDirectories\moss.litwareinc.com80\UserControls

2. Open IIS manager and in the root of your SharePoint site create a VirtualDirectory called "_controls" and point it to that newly created directory.

3. Put your user control in that newly created directory on the filesystem

4. Open the web.config file and add the following:

<SafeControl src="~/_controls/*" mce_src="~/_controls/*" IncludeSubFolders="True" Safe="True" AllowRemoteDesigner="True" /">

5. In your ASPX page add the following:

<%@ Register src="~/_controls/SomeControl.ascx" mce_src="~/_controls/SomeControl.ascx" TagName="somecontrol" TagPrefix="uc2" %">

And...

<uc2:somecontrol id="mycontrol1" runat="server"></uc2:somecontrol>

6. Run your ASPX page and your control should render correctly.