>>>>Hi all,
>>>>
>>>>I have used place holder controls fairly often for adding user controls dynamically at runtime. Typically, I can access a placeholder directly and just add a control like this.
>>>>

>>>>ctrlSpecialSpecs specialSpecControl = (ctrlSpecialSpecs)Page.LoadControl("~/ORCSelection/UserControls/ctrlSpecialSpecs.ascx");
>>>>           
>>>>// Add the Control to the Placeholder
>>>>this.holdSpecialSpecs.Controls.Add(specialSpecControl);
>>>>

>>>>
>>>>Currently I have a place holder that is inside another complex control and accessing it this way just doesn't work as the control is not visible. I tried to do a find control like this, but get a null reference exception on the control.
>>>>

>>>>mmPlaceHolder defendantHolder = (mmPlaceHolder)this.Page.FindControl("holdDefendant");
>>>>defendantHolder.Controls.Add(defendantDisplay);
>>>>

>>>>
>>>>It is defined on the page like this; very straight forward.
>>>>

>>>> <mm:mmPlaceHolder ID="holdDefendant" runat="server" >
>>>> </mm:mmPlaceHolder>
>>>>

>>>>
>>>>Anybody have any ideas on how to get access to this control?
>>>>Thanks

Hi Robert,
I converted your code to C sharp and it works great plus solved the problem. I still have this in my page code but plan to move it somewhere more useful, possibly my base page class.
Thanks a bunch and also to Paul
Tim
>>>>Tim
>>>
>>>Based on a suggestion of Paul, here is what I use (sorry, we're a VB shop)
>>>
>>>

>>> '*****************************************************************************
>>>    'Description:
>>>    '   Recursively searches for a control with Id property = controlID
>>>    '   
>>>    'Input Parameters: 
>>>    '   Control to search
>>>    '   controlID to search for
>>>    ' 
>>>    'Returned:  
>>>    '   Control or Nothing
>>>    '
>>>    'Change Log:
>>>    '2009.12.24 hewbxk  Defect 2955   Created  
>>>    '
>>>    '*****************************************************************************
>>>    Public Function FindMyControl(Of T As Web.UI.Control)(ByVal controlToSearch As T, _
>>>        ByVal controlID As String) As Control
>>>
>>>        Dim matchingControl As Control = Nothing
>>>
>>>        Try
>>>            For Each subControl As Control In controlToSearch.Controls
>>>                If ((Not subControl.ID Is Nothing) AndAlso (subControl.ID.EndsWith(controlID))) Then
>>>                    matchingControl = subControl
>>>                    Exit For
>>>
>>>                Else
>>>                    If (Not matchingControl Is Nothing) Then    'found it
>>>                        Exit For
>>>
>>>                    ElseIf subControl.HasControls() Then
>>>                        matchingControl = Me.FindMyControl(subControl, controlID)
>>>
>>>                    End If
>>>
>>>                End If
>>>
>>>            Next
>>>
>>>        Catch objEx As Exception
>>>            Throw
>>>
>>>        Finally
>>>            FindMyControl = matchingControl
>>>
>>>        End Try
>>>
>>>    End Function
>>>

>>
>>Hi Bruce,
>>
>>Thanks for the VB code, I should be able to translate that no problem. I am guessing you have this in a general use place and must pass in the page. It is a recursive call to itself which is something I have seen but never done. I will see what I can do to utilize this. Thanks!!
>>Tim
>
>
>Yes, you can pass in anything that inherits from Web.UI.Control (which Page does). Hope it helps.