Can I change a nested master page's master dynamically?

Question

Okay, so we all know about changing a master page dynamically in a page\'s OnPreInit event.

But what about a nested master page? Can I change a master\'s master?

Answer 1

We combine Andy's method with a "BasePage" class - we create a class that inherits from System.Web.UI.Page, and then all our pages inherit from this class.

Then, in our base page class, we can perform the relevant checks to see which root master page should be used - in our case we have a "Presentation" master, and an "Authoring" master - the presentation version has all the navigation and page furniture, along with heavy display CSS, while the authoring master has some extra JS for the authoring tools, lighter CSS, and no navigation (it's what we use when the user is actually authoring a page, rather than modifying the site layout).

This base page can then call Page.Master.MasterPageFile and set it to the Authoring master if that is the correct state for the page.