what is the best way to write code to a asp.net control in a masterpage

Question

I have a button that I've added to our masterpage in Sharepoint Designer. What is the best way to write c# code to that button? I'd like to do this in visual studio if possible. Thanks,

Answer 1

There are two ways you can consider:

1) If you want to directly access other controls on the master page in the *button_click* event handler, you should go for creating code behind for master page. You have to create a class and compile it to a dll, deploy to GAC.Then you can apply it to master page using below directive:

<%@ Master language="C#" Inherits="YourNamespace.YourMasterCodeBehindClass,
   YourNamespace, Version=1.0.0.0,
   Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=[assemblykey]" %>

2) If the functionality in the button is not dependent on other controls, You can just create a custom control with button and place it on master page after registering the tagprefix.

Answer 2

The main problem is control deployement. Basically, user control contains to parts - ascx fire and assembly. If you would like to use this control, first at all, you should place ascx file to the _ControlTemplates folder and assembly to the GAC, then reset iis. Thus I think that the best way is to use package for control deployment. In this case the easiest approach is to use Visual Studio that builds this package automatically.

Answer 3

You will need to make a few key decisions before selecting the strategy for button implementation and master page customization. Are you a farm admin? Do you control all site that you are targeting the master page for?
Here is a quick link for sandbox solution based master page customizations.
You will most likely have to develop a strategy to customize a master page in VS2010 and deploy it (either sandbox or farm solutions). Either way i'd suggest to build a custom user control to handle the button rendering and event handling. As long as control is deployed to the same site/site collection, you should be able to include it on a master page markup. Let me know if you need some examples.