Accessing Controls Inside Templates

Updated on Aug 24, 2026

If your RadMenu has items with templates that have embedded controls, you may want to access the properties of those embedded controls. To get a reference to the embedded control, locate the RadMenuItem that has the template, and use its FindControl method.

For example, consider the following, very simple, menu:

ASP.NET

<telerik:RadMenu RenderMode="Lightweight" ID="RadMenu1" runat="server" Flow="Horizontal">
    <Items>
        <telerik:RadMenuItem runat="server" ExpandMode="ClientSide" Text="Color">
            <Items>
                <telerik:RadMenuItem runat="server" ExpandMode="ClientSide" Text="ColorPicker">
                    <ItemTemplate>
                        <telerik:RadColorPicker RenderMode="Lightweight" ID="RadColorPicker1" runat="server" Preset="Standard" ShowEmptyColor="False">
                        </telerik:RadColorPicker>
                    </ItemTemplate>
                    <GroupSettings ExpandDirection="Auto" Flow="Vertical" />
                </telerik:RadMenuItem>
            </Items>
            <GroupSettings ExpandDirection="Auto" Flow="Vertical" />
        </telerik:RadMenuItem>
    </Items>
</telerik:RadMenu>

To access the RadColorPicker in the item template, use the following code:

Server-side access

C#

RadMenuItem colorItem = RadMenu1.FindItemByText("ColorPicker"); 
RadColorPicker colors = (RadColorPicker)colorItem.FindControl("RadColorPicker1");

VB.NET

Dim colorItem As RadMenuItem = RadMenu1.FindItemByText("ColorPicker")
Dim colors As RadColorPicker = DirectCast(colorItem.FindControl("RadColorPicker1"), RadColorPicker)

Client-side access

JavaScript

var menu = $find("<%= RadMenu1.ClientID %>"); var item = menu.findItemByText("ColorPicker");
var datePicker = item.findControl("RadColorPicker1");

or

JavaScript

var datePicker = $find('<%= RadMenu1.FindItemByText("ColorPicker").FindControl("RadColorPicker1").ClientID %>');          

See Also

• Overview