User control attributes

[modularbeing]

I am creating several user controls and when I add them to a page it creates the register prefix for the control but if I want to reference it in code I have to declare the control and then do a DirectCast to the instance of it on the page. Is there any way I can have the usercontrol insert this code as well. such as when you add any system based control to the webform? or is this only possible with custom controls?

thanks