It’s still long way to go for a final release of ASP.NET MVC, the one I’ve been using right now is just a December CTP. But, like me you might be experiencing this confusing problem. The server controls that you put in a View (ViewContentPage) can not be found in code-behind page. The reason behind it is – the Views don’t have a back-end designer code file. I believe it’s just a bug or they could not find time to fix/look into it. I’m sure it will be fixed in any of the upcoming versions.

To enable this, switch to Solution Explorer, right click on the View you are interested in, and choose Convert to Web Application. Now, you will find the server controls in code-behind file.