Today I have just migrated my code from mvc preview 2 to mvc preiview 5. I can see some of the html helper methods are not present anymore. Same is the case for Html.RenderUserControl. Is there any for mvc preview 5 to have the same effect of Html.RenderUserControl?

Well obviously I can put a panel inside the view page/view content page and add a UserControl programatically. As well I can return a View for the user control from a controller. But not considering these two option can i have the same effect of Html.RenderUserControl at mvc preview 5 in some different way?

 ditto..I don't want to go back to Web Forms...no panels..yuck.....

seriously, I have a large project that makes heavy use of RenderUserControl....what is a lead developer to do?

 Ok, so user controls are not exactly so MVCish....and I am hearing a lot of chatter about partial views....am I supposed to refactor all my UCs into PVs? and use html.renderpartialview ?

<% Html.RenderPartial("~/Views/Shared/MyControl.ascx") %>
<% Html.RenderPartial("MyControl") %>

You can specify the full path to your user control as in the first example.  Or, if your user control is in the ~/Views/Shared folder, you can use the second example.

I think I must be missing something (on account of it not working...). I had a few ViewUserControl derived .ascx files that I was including using RenderUserControl. I'm fine about now switching over to RenderPartial, but what do I need to do to my .ascx files to get them to work as before? I'm currently getting a HttpUnhandledException error. Thanks in advance.

Can you post the error message and stack trace?

Here'tis

System.Web.HttpUnhandledException was unhandled by user code Message="Exception of type 'System.Web.HttpUnhandledException' was thrown."

Source="System.Web"
ErrorCode=-2147467259

StackTrace: at System.Web.UI.Page.HandleError(Exception e)
at System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequestMain(Boolean includeStagesBeforeAsyncPoint, Boolean includeStagesAfterAsyncPoint)
at System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequest(Boolean includeStagesBeforeAsyncPoint, Boolean includeStagesAfterAsyncPoint)
at System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequest()
at System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequestWithNoAssert(HttpContext context)
at System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequest(HttpContext context)
at System.Web.Mvc.ViewPage.RenderView(ViewContext viewContext)
at System.Web.Mvc.ViewUserControl.RenderView(ViewContext viewContext)
at System.Web.Mvc.WebFormView.RenderViewUserControl(ViewContext context, ViewUserControl control)
at System.Web.Mvc.WebFormView.Render(ViewContext viewContext, TextWriter writer)
at System.Web.Mvc.HtmlHelper.RenderPartialInternal(String partialViewName, ViewDataDictionary viewData, IViewEngine engine)
at System.Web.Mvc.HtmlHelper.RenderPartial(String partialViewName)
at ASP.views_home_index_aspx.__Render__control1(HtmlTextWriter __w, Control parameterContainer) in c:\Users\darren.oster\Documents\Visual Studio 2008\Projects\GlenmoreParkAnglicanWebsite\GPACWeb\Views\Home\Index.aspx:line 78
at System.Web.UI.Control.RenderChildrenInternal(HtmlTextWriter writer, ICollection children)
at System.Web.UI.Control.RenderChildren(HtmlTextWriter writer)
at System.Web.UI.Page.Render(HtmlTextWriter writer)
at System.Web.Mvc.ViewPage.Render(HtmlTextWriter writer)
at System.Web.UI.Control.RenderControlInternal(HtmlTextWriter writer, ControlAdapter adapter)
at System.Web.UI.Control.RenderControl(HtmlTextWriter writer, ControlAdapter adapter)
at System.Web.UI.Control.RenderControl(HtmlTextWriter writer)
at System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequestMain(Boolean includeStagesBeforeAsyncPoint, Boolean includeStagesAfterAsyncPoint)

InnerException: System.Web.HttpException Message="Multiple controls with the same ID '__Page' were found. Trace requires that controls have unique IDs."
Source="System.Web"
ErrorCode=-2147467259
StackTrace: at System.Web.TraceContext.AddNewControl(String id, String parentId, String type, Int32 viewStateSize, Int32 controlStateSize)
at System.Web.UI.Control.BuildProfileTree(String parentId, Boolean calcViewState)
at System.Web.UI.Page.BuildPageProfileTree(Boolean enableViewState)
at System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequestMain(Boolean includeStagesBeforeAsyncPoint, Boolean includeStagesAfterAsyncPoint)

InnerException:

I found the issue: I created a new MVC project in VS and compared web.config files - there was a line in my web.config,

<trace enabled="true" localOnly="false" />

that wasn't in the new project.  I removed this line, and everything started working again.

Not sure how it got in there in the first place, but there you go