Chapter 13. Custom Controls

In ASP.NET, Microsoft distinguishes between user controls , which are segments of ASP.NET pages that can be reused in other pages, and custom controls, which are compiled controls that act, from the client's perspective, much like web (ASP) controls. Custom controls can be created in one of three ways:

• By deriving a new custom control from an existing control (e.g., deriving your own specialized text box from asp:textbox). This is known as a derived custom control.

• By combining two or more existing controls into a new control. This is known as a composite custom control.

• By deriving from the base control class, thus creating a new custom control from scratch. This is known as a full custom control.