Themes for Custom Controls in ASP.NET
Q: How do you skin custom controls and user controls in ASP.NET 2.0?
A: You can use an @ Register directive in the .skin file. Once the control is registered, skinning works just as you'd expect. For instance, the following control:
namespace OdeToCode.WebControls
{
public class MyCalendar :
System.Web.UI.WebControls.Calendar
{
// ...
}
}
Can be skinned like so:
<%@ Register TagPrefix="OTC" namespace="OdeToCode.WebControls" %>
<OTC:MyCalendar runat="server" BackColor="White" BorderColor="#EFE6F7">
<SelectedDayStyle BackColor="#41519A" ForeColor="White" />
<SelectorStyle BackColor="#41519A" />
</OTC:MyCalendar>
The above Register directive assumes your control is defined in App_Code, otherwise you'll need to add the Assembly attribute to specify the assembly. It’s also important to note that a skin defined using <asp:Calendar> will not apply to the MyCalendar control, even though they have an inheritance relationship. The theme algorithm does an exact match on the control’s type.