Using FindControl() to find control

Question

I have a Literal control that I am trying to locate so I can insert text into it. I have a Master page that contains several content placeholders.

<asp:Content ID="Content7" ContentPlaceHolderID="MainLinks" runat="server">
    <h3>Project Navigation</h3>
<ul class="rightColBoxNav">
<asp:Literal ID="litNavLinks" runat="server" />
</ul>
</asp:Content>

I keep getting "Object reference not set to an instance of an object." How do I locate this object so I can find and update it?

I have tried:

((Literal)Page.FindControl("litNavLinks")).Text = sb.ToString();
((Literal)Page.Page.FindControl("litNavLinks")).Text = sb.ToString();
((Literal)Page.FindControl("Content7").FindControl("litNavLinks")).Text = sb.ToString();

to no avail. How do I determine the location?

Answer 1

From within the masterpage:

var literal = (Literal)FindControl("MainLinks").FindControl("litNavLinks");
literal.Text = sb.ToString();

From within the view:

litNavLinks.Text = sb.ToString();

Answer 2

I would try a different approach.

How about using a user control and exposing the relevant properties to get or set the text value.

The property would be accessing the literal control. However, the page calling the property wouldn't be any wiser.

Remember we live in a OO world.