I'm sure that you can use the control template also and have it install the solution. I put a feature in this area: C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\12\TEMPLATE\CONTROLTEMPLATES and created a new web part feature using STSDev. Then I added code using this blog post: http://devpinoy.org/blogs/willydavidjr/archive/2008/03/18/creating-complex-web-parts-in-sharepoint-2007-using-web-user-control.aspx. It was pretty nifty if you don't feel like installing the SMARTPart (http://www.codeplex.com/smartpart), then you could do it this way. This is something I stumbled upon while playing with my Site Data Reports Web User Control. I'm not sure if I want to take it a step further. Someone suggested that I try to use some type of feature dependency option, where I have my user control in a feature and I call the SMARTPart somehow. I think I am going to play around with this idea over the upcoming week. For some reason I feel really sick today and can no longer stair at a computer. I will keep you guys updated on what I find. I'm not sure how far I am going to take this project. I may just post my STSDEV source files or find some way to package all these files into some sort of deployment file that installs everything in the right places. I have not created a deployment file in a while so bear with me plus I have a billion things to do as usual. But as most of you who read this blog know I probably will do it within the next month, because I like a good challenge.