Question

I have an .ascx user control that is in my search.aspx page. How do I grab a control from the .ascx user control in the search.aspx.cs code behind ?

keywordSearch.Value = "value"; 
// the code behind can't see the keywordSearch control

Answer 1

Normally inner controls are not exposed from templated user controls, because they’re declared as protected. You can however expose the control in a public property, like this:

public TextBox CustomerName {
    get { return txt_CustomerName; }
}

Edit: If you need to set the value of the control then you’re better off with a property that exposes the value, not the control:

public string CustomerName {
    get { return txt_CustomerName.Text; }
    set { txt_CustomerName.Text = value; }
}