"The Controls collection cannot be modified because the control contains code blocks"

Question

"The Controls collection cannot be modified because the control contains code blocks"

I am trying to create a simple user control that is a slider. When I add a AjaxToolkit SliderExtender to the user control I get this (*&$#()@# error:

Server Error in '/' Application. The Controls collection cannot be modified because the control contains code blocks (i.e. `<% ... %>`). Description: An unhandled exception occurred during the execution of the current web request. Please review the stack trace for more information about the error and where it originated in the code.

Exception Details: System.Web.HttpException: The Controls collection cannot be modified because the control contains code blocks (i.e. `<% ... %>`).

Source Error:

An unhandled exception was generated during the execution of the current web request. Information regarding the origin and location of the exception can be identified using the exception stack trace below.

Stack Trace:

[HttpException (0x80004005): The Controls collection cannot be modified because the control contains code blocks (i.e. `<% ... %>`).]    System.Web.UI.ControlCollection.Add(Control child) +8677431    AjaxControlToolkit.ScriptObjectBuilder.RegisterCssReferences(Control control) in d:\E\AjaxTk-AjaxControlToolkit\Release\AjaxControlToolkit\ExtenderBase\ScriptObjectBuilder.cs:293 AjaxControlToolkit.ExtenderControlBase.OnLoad(EventArgs e) in d:\E\AjaxTk-AjaxControlToolkit\Release\AjaxControlToolkit\ExtenderBase\ExtenderControlBase.cs:306 System.Web.UI.Control.LoadRecursive()
+50    System.Web.UI.Control.LoadRecursive()
+141    System.Web.UI.Control.LoadRecursive()
+141    System.Web.UI.Control.LoadRecursive()
+141    System.Web.UI.Control.LoadRecursive()             
+141    System.Web.UI.Control.LoadRecursive()
+141    System.Web.UI.Control.LoadRecursive()
+141    System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequestMain(Boolean includeStagesBeforeAsyncPoint, Boolean includeStagesAfterAsyncPoint) +627


Version Information: Microsoft .NET Framework Version:2.0.50727.3074; ASP.NET Version:2.0.50727.3074

I have tried putting a placeholder in the user control and adding the textbox and slider extender to the placeholder programmatically and I still get the error.

Here is the simple code:

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="width:100%">
    <tbody>
        <tr>
            <td></td>
            <td>
                <asp:Label ID="lblMaxValue" runat="server" Text="Maximum" CssClass="float_right" />
                <asp:Label ID="lblMinValue" runat="server" Text="Minimum" />
            </td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td style="width:60%;">
                <asp:CheckBox ID="chkOn" runat="server" />
                <asp:Label ID="lblPrefix" runat="server" />:&nbsp;
                <asp:Label ID="lblSliderValue" runat="server" />&nbsp;
                <asp:Label ID="lblSuffix" runat="server" />
            </td>
            <td style="text-align:right;width:40%;">                

                    <asp:TextBox ID="txtSlider" runat="server" Text="50" style="display:none;" />
                    <ajaxToolkit:SliderExtender ID="seSlider" runat="server" 
                        BehaviorID="seSlider" 
                        TargetControlID="txtSlider" 
                        BoundControlID="lblSliderValue" 
                        Orientation="Horizontal" 
                        EnableHandleAnimation="true" 
                        Length="200" 
                        Minimum="0" 
                        Maximum="100" 
                        Steps="1" />

            </td>
        </tr>
    </tbody>
</table>

What is the problem?

c#

asp.net

user-controls

asked on Stack Overflow Apr 22, 2009 by

Daniel P • edited Nov 27, 2019 by

Mahib

22 Answers

First, start the code block with <%# instead of <%= :

<head id="head1" runat="server">
  <title>My Page</title>
  <link href="css/common.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" />
  <script type="text/javascript" src="<%# ResolveUrl("~/javascript/leesUtils.js") %>"></script>
</head>

This changes the code block from a Response.Write code block to a databinding expression.
Since <%# ... %> databinding expressions aren't code blocks, the CLR won't complain. Then in the code for the master page, you'd add the following:

protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
  Page.Header.DataBind();    
}

answered on Stack Overflow Jul 24, 2009 by

Jalal El-Shaer • edited Oct 20, 2013 by

Jalal El-Shaer

I just ran into this problem as well but found another solution.

I found that wrapping the code blocks with a asp:PlaceHolder-tag solves the problem.

<asp:PlaceHolder runat="server">
  <meta name="ROBOTS" content="<%= this.ViewData["RobotsMeta"] %>" />
</asp:PlaceHolder>

(The CMS I'm using is inserting into the head-section from some code behind which restricted me from adding custom control blocks with various information like meta-tags etc so this is the only way it works for me.)

answered on Stack Overflow Apr 20, 2011 by

Jonas Stensved • edited Jun 12, 2015 by

John Saunders

I can confirm that moving the javascript with <% %> tags from the head to the form tag fixes this error

http://italez.wordpress.com/2010/06/22/ajaxcontroltoolkit-calendarextender-e-strana-eccezione/

answered on Stack Overflow Jun 23, 2010 by

ITalez • edited Jun 12, 2015 by

John Saunders

Place the javascript under a div tag.

<div runat="server"> //div tag must have runat server
  //Your Jave script code goes here....
</div>

It'll work!!

answered on Stack Overflow Jan 14, 2011 by

Anup • edited Nov 22, 2011 by

Brandon

you can do the same functionality if you are using script manager in your page. you have to just register the script like this

<asp:ScriptManager ID="ScriptManager1" runat="server" LoadScriptsBeforeUI="true"   EnablePageMethods="true">  
<Scripts>
      <asp:ScriptReference Path="~/Styles/javascript/jquery.min.js" />
</Scripts>
</asp:ScriptManager>

answered on Stack Overflow Sep 21, 2010 by

Mohan Prajapati • edited Nov 22, 2011 by

Brandon

I had same issue in the user control. My page that was hosting the control had comments in the head tag, I removed those comments, everything worked afterwards. Some posts also suggest removing scripts from head and placing them in the body.

answered on Stack Overflow May 14, 2009 by (unknown user)

I tried using <%# %> with no success. Then I changed Page.Header.DataBind(); in my code behind to this.Header.DataBind(); and it worked fine.

answered on Stack Overflow May 11, 2010 by

Nick • edited Jun 7, 2010 by

sth

In my case, I have replaced <%= %> with <%# %>, and it worked!

answered on Stack Overflow Jun 1, 2011 by

Iori-kyo • edited Jun 1, 2011 by

Andrei Sfat

Keep the java script code inside the body tag

<body> 
   <script type="text/javascript">
   </script>
</body>

answered on Stack Overflow Aug 16, 2013 by

Vikash pathak • edited Aug 16, 2013 by

Bidou

The "<%#" databinding technique will not directly work inside <link> tags in the <head> tag:

<head runat="server">

  <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" 
        href="css/style.css?v=<%# My.Constants.CSS_VERSION %>" />

</head>

The above code will evaluate to

<head>

  <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" 
        href="css/style.css?v=&lt;%# My.Constants.CSS_VERSION %>" />

</head>

Instead, you should do the following (note the two double quotes inside):

<head runat="server">

  <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" 
        href="css/style.css?v=<%# "" + My.Constants.CSS_VERSION %>" />

</head>

And you will get the desired result:

<head>

  <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="css/style.css?v=1.5" />

</head>

answered on Stack Overflow Mar 29, 2013 by

perryv

I had this problem, but not via the Header. My placeholder was in the body. So I replaced all the <%= with <%# and did

protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    Page.Header.DataBind();    
}

and it worked.

answered on Stack Overflow Sep 5, 2016 by

bcr

An alternative way is to have another .aspx page act as the page you want to link to.

This is what the header of the Masterpage looks like:

<head runat="server">
    <asp:ContentPlaceHolder ID="head" runat="server">
    </asp:ContentPlaceHolder>
    <link href="CSS/AccordionStyles.aspx" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" />
</head>

The referenced .aspx form contains your content:

<%@ Page Language="C#" AutoEventWireup="true" CodeBehind="AccordionStyles.aspx.cs" Inherits="IntranetConnectCMS.CSS.AccordionStyles" %>
.AccordionHeader
{
    cursor: pointer;
    background-image: url(<%=ResolveUrl("~/Images/Backgrounds/AccordionPaneHeaderClosed.png") %>);
    background-repeat: no-repeat;
}

.AccordionHeaderSelected
{
    cursor: pointer;
    background-image: url(<%=ResolveUrl("~/Images/Backgrounds/AccordionPaneHeaderOpen.png") %>);
    background-repeat: no-repeat;
}
.AccordionContent
{
    background-image: url(<%=ResolveUrl("~/Images/Backgrounds/AccordionPaneContent.png") %>);
    background-repeat: no-repeat;
}

Finally, you need the .aspx page to tell the browser you're sending CSS content:

protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    Response.ContentType = "text/css";
}

answered on Stack Overflow Oct 7, 2011 by

Hugo

I had the same problem, but it didn't have anything to do with JavaScript. Consider this code:

<input id="hdnTest" type="hidden" value='<%= hdnValue %>' />
<asp:PlaceHolder ID="phWrapper" runat="server"></asp:PlaceHolder>
<asp:PlaceHolder ID="phContent" runat="server" Visible="false">
    <b>test content</b>
</asp:PlaceHolder>

In this situation you'll get the same error even though PlaceHolders don't have any harmful code blocks, it happens because of the non-server control hdnTest uses code blocks.

Just add runat=server to the hdnTest and the problem is solved.

answered on Stack Overflow Jan 22, 2013 by

desperate man • edited Jun 2, 2013 by

desperate man

I also faced the same issue. I found the solutions like following.

Solution 1: I kept my script tag in the body.

<body>
   <form> . . . .  </form>
    <script type="text/javascript" src="<%= My.Working.Common.Util.GetSiteLocation()%>Scripts/Common.js"></script> </body>

Now conflicts regarding the tags will resolve.

Solution 2:

We can also solve this one of the above solutions like Replace the code block with <%# instead of <%= But the problem is it will give only relative path. If you want really absolute path it won't work.

Solution 1 works for me. Next is your choice.

answered on Stack Overflow Feb 19, 2013 by

Mihir

I solved an error similar to this by putting the <script> inside a contentplaceholder inside the <head> instead of putting the <script> outside the said contentplaceholder inside the <head>

answered on Stack Overflow Dec 9, 2013 by

Erickson Domingo • edited Dec 9, 2013 by

Taryn

I had the same issue with different circumstances.
I had simple element inside the body tag.
The solution was:

<asp:PlaceHolder ID="container" runat="server">
    <a id="child" href="<%# variable %>">Change me</a>
</asp:PlaceHolder>

protected new void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{    
    Page.Form.DataBind(); // I neded to Call DataBind on Form not on Header
    container.InnerHtml = "Simple text";
}

answered on Stack Overflow Feb 6, 2018 by

Peter

I had the same issue with my system, I removed the JavaScript code from the of my page and put it at body just before closing body tag

answered on Stack Overflow Jul 5, 2018 by

Jesse Mwangi

For some cases ResolveUrl and ResolveClientUrl works but not all times especially in case of js script files. What happens is it works for some pages but when you navigate to some other pages it might not work due to relative path of that particular page.

So finally my suggestion is always do a complete recheck of your site pages for whether all your javascript references are fine or not. Open your site in Google Chrome -> right click on the page -> click view source page -> HTML appears -> now click your JS hyperlinks; if its working fine it should open the js file in another browser window, otherwise it will not open.

answered on Stack Overflow Dec 21, 2011 by

mdhameed

Try writing your java script code outside the head tag it will definitely work.Its resolved when i copy and paste my Java Script code to the bottom of page. In the previous its placed in HEAD tag now just before closing the form tag.

    </div>
        <script>
                    function validate() {
                        try {

                        var username = document.getElementById("<%=txtUserName.ClientID%>").value;
                        var password = document.getElementById("<%=txtPWD.ClientID%>").value;

                            if (username == "" && password == "")
                                alert("Enter Username and Passowrd");
                            else {
                                if (username == "")
                                    alert("Enter Username");
                                else if (password == "")
                                    alert("Enter Password");
                            }

                        }

                    catch (err) {
                    }
                }
                </script>
</form>

answered on Stack Overflow Feb 5, 2014 by

Miank

Remove the part which has server tags and place it somewhere else if you want to add dynamic controls from code behind

I removed my JavaScript from the head section of page and added it to the body of the page and got it working

answered on Stack Overflow Jul 15, 2014 by

victor

In my case I got this error because I was wrongly setting InnerText to a div with html inside it.

Example:

SuccessMessagesContainer.InnerText = "";

   <div class="SuccessMessages ui-state-success" style="height: 25px; display: none;" id="SuccessMessagesContainer" runat="server">
      <table>
         <tr>
            <td style="width: 80px; vertical-align: middle; height: 18px; text-align: center;">
               <img src="<%=Image_success_icn %>" style="margin: 0 auto; height: 18px;
                  width: 18px;" />
            </td>
            <td id="SuccessMessage" style="vertical-align: middle;" class="SuccessMessage" runat="server" >
            </td>
         </tr>
      </table>
   </div>

answered on Stack Overflow Mar 17, 2016 by

live-love

Tags <%= %> not works into a tag with runat="server". Move your code with <%= %> into runat="server" to an other tag (body, head, ...), or remove runat="server" from container.

answered on Stack Overflow Oct 7, 2013 by

Eduardo Cuomo

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