Cannot get feature checkboxlist to populate on SharePoint

Question

I have an ASPX page with code behind I am deploying under the Site Settings on a SharePoint site. The purpose is for the user to be presented with a checkboxlist of items that apply to this site and they can check/uncheck multiple items to control what of these things show on the site. I add the items programmatically in the code behind, but the settings page shows with everything except the checkbox list. No errors, just no checkbox list on the page. Buttons, labels, etc, everything else is there correctly.

ASPX CODE:

<%@ Page MasterPageFile="~/_layouts/application.master" Debug="true" Inherits="Company.Project.SiteConfiguration.ItemConfiguration,Company.Project.SiteConfiguration,Version=1.0.0.0,Culture=neutral,PublicKeyToken=xxxxxxxxx" %>
<%@ Import Namespace="Microsoft.SharePoint.ApplicationPages" %>
<%@ Register Tagprefix="SharePoint" Namespace="Microsoft.SharePoint.WebControls" Assembly="Microsoft.SharePoint, Version=12.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c" %>
<%@ Register Tagprefix="Utilities" Namespace="Microsoft.SharePoint.Utilities" Assembly="Microsoft.SharePoint, Version=12.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c" %>
<%@ Import Namespace="Microsoft.SharePoint" %>
<%@ Register TagPrefix="wssuc" TagName="InputFormSection" src="~/_controltemplates/InputFormSection.ascx" %>
<%@ Register TagPrefix="wssuc" TagName="InputFormControl" src="~/_controltemplates/InputFormControl.ascx" %>
<%@ Register TagPrefix="wssuc" TagName="ButtonSection" src="~/_controltemplates/ButtonSection.ascx" %>
<%@ Register Tagprefix="wssawc" Namespace="Microsoft.SharePoint.WebControls" Assembly="Microsoft.SharePoint, Version=12.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c" %>
<%@ Register Tagprefix="SharePoint" Namespace="Microsoft.SharePoint.WebControls" Assembly="Microsoft.SharePoint, Version=12.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c" %>
<%@ Register TagPrefix="spuc" Namespace="Microsoft.SharePoint.WebControls" Assembly="Microsoft.SharePoint, Version=12.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c" %>
    <asp:Content ID="Content1" contentplaceholderid="PlaceHolderPageTitle" runat="server">
        <SharePoint:EncodedLiteral runat="server" text="Site Item Settings" />
    </asp:Content>
    <asp:Content ID="Content2" contentplaceholderid="PlaceHolderPageTitleInTitleArea" runat="server">
        <asp:literal ID="Literal1" text='Items To Show On This Site' runat="server"/>
    </asp:Content>
    <asp:Content ID="Content3" contentplaceholderid="PlaceHolderPageDescription" runat="server"/>
    <asp:Content ID="Content4" contentplaceholderid="PlaceHolderAdditionalPageHead" runat="server">
    </asp:Content>
    <asp:Content ID="Content5" ContentPlaceHolderID="PlaceHolderMain" runat="server">
        <table class=propertysheet border="0" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="diidProjectPageOverview">
            <wssuc:InputFormSection Title="Company Project Items Site Settings" Description="Check the items to show on this site." runat="server">
                <Template_InputFormControls>
                        <wssuc:InputFormControl runat="server">
                            <Template_Control>                  
                                <spuc:InputFormCheckBoxList id="TheItems" runat="server" class="ms-authoringcontrols" />                
                            </Template_Control>     
                       </wssuc:InputFormControl>       
                </Template_InputFormControls>  
            </wssuc:InputFormSection> 
            <wssuc:ButtonSection runat="server">       
                <Template_Buttons>        
                    <asp:Button UseSubmitBehavior="false" runat="server" class="ms-ButtonHeightWidth" OnClick="Save_Click" Text="Save" id="Save" />    
                </Template_Buttons> 
            </wssuc:ButtonSection> 
        </table>
    </asp:Content>

CODE BEHIND:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Web;
using System.Web.UI;
using System.Web.UI.WebControls;
using Microsoft.SharePoint;
using Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration;
using Microsoft.SharePoint.ApplicationPages;
using Microsoft.SharePoint.Portal.WebControls;

namespace Company.Project.SiteConfiguration
{
    public class ItemConfiguration : Page
    {
        InputFormCheckBoxList TheItems;
        public System.Data.DataSet ds;
        Button Save;

        protected override void OnInit(EventArgs e)
        {
            base.OnInit(e);
            EnsureChildControls();
            Save = new Button();
            Save.Click += new EventHandler(Save_Click);
            SPWeb web = SPContext.Current.Web;
            TheItems = new InputFormCheckBoxList();
            GetTheItems();
        }

        protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {

        } 

        protected void Save_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            try
            {
                String saveTheItems = "";
                foreach (ListItem item in TheItems.Items)
                {
                    if (item.Selected == true)
                    {
                        saveTheItems += item.Value + ";";
                    }
                }
                using (Microsoft.SharePoint.SPSite mysite = new Microsoft.SharePoint.SPSite(SPContext.Current.Web.Url))
                {
                    using (Microsoft.SharePoint.SPWeb myweb = mysite.OpenWeb())
                    {
                        if (myweb.AllProperties.ContainsKey("Company.Project.TheItems"))
                        {
                            myweb.AllProperties.Remove("Company.Project.TheItems");
                            myweb.Update();
                            myweb.AllProperties.Add("Company.Project.ConnectionString", saveTheItems);
                            myweb.Update();
                        }
                        else
                        {
                            myweb.AllProperties.Add("Company.Project.ConnectionString", saveTheItems);
                            myweb.Update();
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
            catch (Exception ex)
            {
                System.Diagnostics.EventLog.WriteEntry("Company.Project.SiteConfiguration.ItemConfiguration", ex.Message + " || " + ex.StackTrace);
            }
        }

        private void GetTheItems()
        {
            try
            {
                ServiceConnectorDLL.Service svc = new ServiceConnectorDLL.Service(SPContext.Current.Web.Url);
                TheItems.Items.Clear();
                using (Microsoft.SharePoint.SPSite mysite = new Microsoft.SharePoint.SPSite(SPContext.Current.Web.Url))
                {
                    using (Microsoft.SharePoint.SPWeb myweb = mysite.OpenWeb())
                    {
                        if (myweb.AllProperties.ContainsKey("Company.Project.ConnectionString"))
                        {
                            String allTheItems = myweb.AllProperties["Company.Project.ConnectionString"].ToString();
                            ds = svc.RetrieveAllItemIDs();
                            foreach (System.Data.DataRow dr in ds.Tables[0].Rows)
                            {
                                ListItem it = new ListItem();
                                it.Text = dr["ItemName"].ToString();
                                it.Value = dr["ItemID"].ToString();
                                if (allTheItems.IndexOf(dr["ItemID"].ToString()) > 0)
                                {
                                    TheItems.Items.Add(it);
                                    TheItems.Items.FindByValue(it.Value).Selected = true;
                                }
                                else
                                {
                                    TheItems.Items.Add(it);
                                    TheItems.Items.FindByValue(it.Value).Selected = false;
                                }
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
                svc = null;
            }
            catch (Exception ex)
            {
                System.Diagnostics.EventLog.WriteEntry("Company.Project.SiteConfiguration.HospitalConfiguration", ex.Message + " || " + ex.StackTrace);
            }
        }
    }
}

Answer 1

• First: any control creation should be done in the CreateChildControls override.
• Second: TheItems = new InputFormCheckBoxList(); is unnecessary, as asp.net creates the control based on the aspx file (in a on the fly partial class.
• Third: Does GetTheItems databind the items to the checkboxlist? If not, everytime you postback, they get readded and any checked items are discarded. The list will keep growning. Bind the control to a collection if you haven;t done so already.