Ok guys, here a new one for me.

I created a web page outside of DNN leveraging some basic AJAX RC functionality (UpdatePanel with a trigger for a drop down box).  The webpage works great.

I modded a skin to add the scriptmanager, and modded a containter to add an updatepanel and a contenttemplate.  Then have my Updatepanel and contenttemplate on the module I created from the basic webpage (copy and paste into the ASCX for the most part).  When I run the module in debug mode, the page will start to load, but when it gets to using a webcontrol, it throws a NullReferenceException.

Any ideas?

<code>
<!-- .ascx code -->
<asp:UpdatePanel ID="up3" runat="server">
    <ContentTemplate>
        <asp:Timer ID="tm1" runat="server" Interval="10000" Enabled="false" />
          <div style="background-color:White">
                <asp:DropDownList ID="ddl" runat="server" AutoPostBack="True" OnSelectedIndexChanged="ddl_change">
                </asp:DropDownList>
                &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
                Last Refresh:&nbsp;&nbsp;
                <asp:Label ID="lblTime" runat="server" />
                &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
                <asp:Button runat="server" ID="btnRefresh" OnClick="btn_click" Text="Refresh!!" />
            </div>
            <div style="background-color:White">
                <asp:GridView ID="gv" runat="server" AutoGenerateColumns="True" BackColor="White" BorderColor="#999999" BorderStyle="None" BorderWidth="1px" CellPadding="3" Font-Bold="True" Font-Names="Arial" Font-Size="Small" OnDataBound="CheckNumbers">
                    <FooterStyle BackColor="#CCCCCC" ForeColor="Black" />
                    <RowStyle BackColor="#EEEEEE" ForeColor="Black" HorizontalAlign="Center" />
                    <SelectedRowStyle BackColor="#008A8C" Font-Bold="True" ForeColor="White" />
                    <PagerStyle BackColor="#999999" ForeColor="Black" HorizontalAlign="Center" />
                    <HeaderStyle BackColor="#000084" Font-Bold="True" ForeColor="White" />
                    <AlternatingRowStyle BackColor="Gainsboro" HorizontalAlign="Center"/>
                </asp:GridView>
            </div>
    </ContentTemplate>
    <Triggers>
        <asp:AsyncPostBackTrigger ControlID="ddl" EventName="SelectedIndexChanged" />
    </Triggers>
</asp:UpdatePanel>


<!-- Code-Behind-->
protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
             pwd = new Password();
            string sqlconn = "Server=LBMSSQLT1\\sql2k5;Database=FSS;User Id=FSSAdmin;Password=" + pwd.Decrypt("WCAgCPig0csKp6MW6bmpOLOWmcqh/32gqbEkHVt/ORg=", "itsasecret");
            conn = new SqlConnection(sqlconn);
            if (!IsPostBack)
            {
                LoadDates();
            }
        }
 protected void LoadDates()
        {
            string sql = "SELECT AsOfDate FROM MON_RoutingCycleSession GROUP BY AsOfDate ORDER BY AsOfDate DESC";
            SqlDataAdapter da = new SqlDataAdapter(sql, conn);
            DataSet ds = new DataSet();
            da.Fill(ds);
            foreach (DataRow dr in ds.Tables[0].Rows)
            {
                if (!ddl.Items.Contains(new ListItem(dr["AsOfDate"].ToString()))) <<< THROWS EXCEPTION
                {
                    ddl.Items.Add(new ListItem(dr["AsOfDate"].ToString()));
                }
            }
        }
</code>