can't find control in FormView?

Question

I need find this <a> tag resided in a FormView control, I need to remove this a tag depending on the condition but I can't find it using FormView.FindControl method

<asp:UpdatePanel ID="upDiscipline" runat="server">
   <ContentTemplate>
        <asp:FormView ID="fvMediaIntro" runat="server">
           <ItemTemplate>           
                  <div class="clipControls">
                     <a runat="server" id="iNeedToFindThis" href="#">here</a>
                  </div>
           </ItemTemplate>
   </ContentTemplate>
</asp:UpdatePanel>

I tried fvMediaIntro.FindControl() and fvMediaIntro.Row.FindControl(), neither worked. Any idea please??

Answer 1

FindControl will work only after those controls are created i.e when data is bound to the FormView. So you need to use appropriate event on FormView such ItemCreated or DataBound. For example,

protected void fvMediaIntro_ItemCreated(Object sender, EventArgs e)
{
   var control = fvMediaIntro.Row.FindControl("iNeedToFindThis") as HtmlAnchor;
}

Assuming, you are binding in page_load or using mark-up, you can also use prerender event of parent page/control safely to do FindControl.