ASP.NET - How do you reference a class that is not in app_code

Question

I have created a MasterPage called MyMasterPage.

public partial class MyMasterPage : System.Web.UI.MasterPage
{
    protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {

    }
}

I have also created a class called Class1 in app_code:

public class Class1
{
    public Class1()
    {
      MyMasterPage m;
    }
}

In Class1 I would like to reference MyMasterPage but I get a compiler warning:

The type or namespace name 'MyMasterPage' could not be found (are you missing a using directive or an assembly reference?)

What code do I need to add to get this to work?

The classes are in folders as follows:

alt text http://www.yart.com.au/stackoverflow/masterclass.png

Answer 1

You won't be able to reference MyMasterPage unless you put it under App_Code as well. Normally in such a situation you would create a base master page that inherits from MasterPage. e.g.

public partial class MasterPageBase : System.Web.UI.MasterPage
{
   // Declare the methods you want to call in Class1 as virtual
   public virtual void DoSomething() { }

}

Then in your actual master pages, instead of inheriting from System.Web.UI.MasterPage,inherit from your MasterPageBase. Overwrite the virtual methods in your inheriting pages.

public partial class MyMasterPage : MasterPageBase

In Class1 where you need to refer to it (and I'm assuming you get the master page from a Page class' MasterPage property, your code will look like...

public class Class1
{
    public Class1(Page Target)
    {
      MasterPageBase _m = (MasterPageBase)Target.MasterPage;
      // And I can call my overwritten methods
      _m.DoSomething();
    }
}

It's quite a long winded way but so far the only thing that I can think of that works given the ASP.NET model.