Friday 2 September 2011

Vote for Telerik in 3 awards!


Don’t forget to vote for Telerik for the following awards:
The voting takes just 5 minutes!

Vote for Telerik in 20 categories in the DevProConnections awards: http://svy.mk/p5AFHp

Vote for Telerik in TWO categories in the ATI Automation Awards: http://tlrk.it/oDFXRp

Vote for Telerik in TWO categories in the SQL Server Awards: http://svy.mk/qtztf2

JustCode Q2 SP1 Available Next Week

Telerik announced async support would be available in the upcoming service pack for JustCode. This will be expanded to include async support for Silverlight and WP7 apps, and they’re adding support for MbUnitV3 and Gallio. This is targeted for release next week. They will add support for Razor and CSS 3 In the first internal build after the service pack. This will be available in mid-September.
Telerik will add support for Razor and CSS 3 In the first internal build after the service pack. This will be available in mid-September

Wednesday 13 July 2011

New version of Telerik Controls available.

The following products have been updated with new versions available today (13th July 2011)
  • RadControls for WinForms
  • RadControls for ASP.NET AJAX
  • Extensions for ASP.NET MVC
  • Reporting
  • RadControls for WPF
  • RadControls for Silverlight
  • RadControls for Windows Phone
  • Open Access ORM
  • Just Code
  • Just Mock
  • Test Studio Express (as of 12th July 2011)
  • Just Trace
View the Release Notes for RadControls for WinForms here

Thursday 30 June 2011

Telerik WinForms Q2 2011 is coming soon

It's almost that time again when Telerik plan to release another seasonal batch of updates and new controls into it's WinForms offerings.

Expect to see a range of enhancements, as well as a new RadPropertyGrid. This powerful control will provide a sophisticated Visual Studio-style property grid, and will allow for theming and customizations. Developers will be able to easily create a hierarchical list of editable properties and represent any data type or sub-item. Different types of editors will be available depending on the type of the corresponding object properties.

Also be prepared for a new ListView control.
The ListView control is a databound control that will support different views: Tile View, Details View, and more. It will be based on Telerik's generic data layer (which is already in use by RadGridView and other controls). It will support data operations such as grouping, filtering and sorting. Of course it will support Telerik's advanced theming mechanism and will allow editing of different data types.

To learn more, register on the What's New Webinars that are coming soon and see the Roadmap

Thursday 28 April 2011

Q2 2011 RadControls for Winforms Roadmap

The roadmap for Q2 2011 RadControls for WinForms is now available. There are again, a host of additional features and controls that have been much requested on the Telerik Winforms forums.

These include

Property Grid
This powerful control will provide a sophisticated Visual Studio-style property grid, and will allow for theming and customizations. Developers will be able to easily create a hierarchical list of editable properties and represent any data type or sub-item. Different types of editors will be available depending on the type of the corresponding object properties.

ListView Control
The ListView control is a databound control that will support different views: Tile View, Details View, and more. It will be based on our generic data layer (which is already in use by RadGridView and other controls). It will support data operations such as grouping, filtering and sorting. Of course it will support our advanced theming mechanism and will allow editing of different data types.

For full information on the Q2 2011 roadmap, see this link

Wednesday 20 April 2011

RadControls for WinForms 2011.1 11.419 is ready

Keeping to Telerik's promise of an aggressive release straegy, the Q1 2011 SP1 for WinForms is now available for download. For more information on what's in this new service pack, visit the SP1 release notes

Thursday 7 April 2011

RadWizard Localization

The new RadWizard from Telerik for WinForms is a great way of splitting up complex tasks into smaller chunks. If you wish to localize the RadWizard into another language it should be possible to give it a RadLocalizationProvider, just like you can with many of the other RadControls. However, this is not yet in the documentation so as this has just been brought up on the WinForms forums, I thought I would add a quick post to describe localization of the RadWizard.

First, create your own localization provider for RadWizard.

public class CustomRadWizardLocalizationProvider : RadWizardLocalizationProvider
{
    public override string GetLocalizedString(string id)
    {
        switch (id)
        {
            case RadWizardStringId.BackButtonText: return "<   L_Back";
            case RadWizardStringId.NextButtonText: return "L_Next   >";
            case RadWizardStringId.CancelButtonText: return "L_Cancel";
            case RadWizardStringId.FinishButtonText: return "L_Finish";
            case RadWizardStringId.HelpButtonText: return "<html><u>L_Help</u></html>";
            default: return string.Empty;
        }
    }
}

and then simply set the current provider as shown
public Form1()
{
    RadWizardLocalizationProvider.CurrentProvider = new CustomRadWizardLocalizationProvider();
    InitializeComponent();
}

Thursday 31 March 2011

Just one more thing

JustCode and JustMock are powerful tools from Telerik that help increase your developer productivity as you write and test code.

They go far beyond the power built into Visual Studio - without slowing it down.

True to Telerik's commitment to deliver more than expected, they will be welcoming a brand new member to the Just* product family. Join Telerik as they unveil Just One More Thing that will help you create better software.

All live attendees will receive a free license for the revealed product as soon as the commercial version is out. You won’t want to miss this exciting event. Surprises will abound.

To register, visit this link

RadTreeView Composite Filtering

If you've seen the latest release of the RadTreeView for WinForms from Telerik, then you can't have failed to notice the new filtering possibility.

As per the RadTreeView Filtering Help Topic you simply set Filter property to be the text of the node that you wish to filter. E.g.

this.radTreeView1.Filter = "new";

But, what's not mentioned either in the help or in the demo, is that you can be more verbose with your filtering criteria. Because the RadTreeView now contains a similar engine to the other RadControls, such as the RadGridView, it's possible to add CompositeFilters to the RadTreeView too.

For exmaple, if you would like to filter to find nodes that are either called Node2, or Node 9 then you can define a composite filter as follows:

CompositeFilterDescriptor compositeFilter = new CompositeFilterDescriptor();
compositeFilter.FilterDescriptors.Add(new FilterDescriptor("Text", FilterOperator.IsEqualTo, "Node2"));
compositeFilter.FilterDescriptors.Add(new FilterDescriptor("Text", FilterOperator.IsEqualTo, "Node9"));
compositeFilter.LogicalOperator = FilterLogicalOperator.Or;
this.radTreeView1.FilterDescriptors.Add(compositeFilter);





Friday 25 March 2011

Q1 2011 Whats New Webinars available on Telerik TV

If you missed the What's New Webinars (as I did) for Desktop and Phone for Q1 2011, then they are now available on Telerik TV.


Q1 2011 : What's new in Desktop and Phone

Q1 2011 : What's new in Telerik Reporting

Wednesday 16 March 2011

RadControls for WinForms Q1 2011 is here

The RadControls for WinForms 2011 Q1 release is here and ready to download. Containing

New Controls:
  • RadWizard
  • RadSeparator
New Support
  • MSAA Support where applicable making RadCntrols the first to be fully compliant
New Tools
  • Theme Viewer - allowing for themes to be viewed in action
Fixes and Enhancements
  • 9 additions to the RadGridView including mixed more hierarchy (self referencing and standard hierarchy mix)
  • 9 additions to the RadScheduler including inline view, logical views and half hour timescales
  • 41 additions to the RadTreeView including sorting and filtering support, node formatting and alternating row colour. Plus huge performance improvements.
For full details on the release, have a look at the release notes for 2011 Q1 or visit the Telerik WinForms Product Page

Monday 14 March 2011

Telerik expands into UK and Australia

Being based in the UK, it's exciting to see that Telerik are expanding its operation into UK, based in London and run by Telerik’s Country Managers, in London - Dimo Iliev and Alan Cotterell

For more information, see this company announcement from Telerik

Monday 7 March 2011

Unable to load one or more of the requested types - Don't blame Open Access

I've just been writing a new small windows service project using VS2010, .NET 4.0 and Telerik Open Access.

I first created my shell for the Windows Service that contained a timer ready to start running the required functionality. I had created the setup and deployment project and it would install fine to the services list and write event log entries as required on the timer_elapsed event. All good so far.
I then added my Open Access rlinq diagram with a couple of tables from a MySql database. All fine too, right up to the point where I went to install the service.
This time I recieved the dreaded "unable to load one or more of the requested types" error message during the install.

I ensured that all of the required assemblies were being copied (though shouldn't have been needed as this error was generated on my development machine where the assemblies are in the GAC).

After a frustrating hour it turned out that Visual Studio didn't refresh the dependant files. It looked like they were at first. I had followed other suggestions about deleting the obj and bin folders, but simply deleting and re-adding the set up project did the trick.

Thursday 24 February 2011

First preview of new Telerik RadWizard for Winforms

As you may know the Telerik Roadmap for Q1 2011 for WinForms includes a long awaited RadWizard control that allows you to break down your complex processes into simple steps, much like installation wizards.

The Telerik Blogs have just released the first visual preview and information about the new RadWizard which can be found in this blog post by the WinForms team.


Wednesday 16 February 2011

Resolve Cannot find resource XXX.rlinq embedded in assembly - Telerik Open Access

Just recently, I've been playing with Telerik's Open Access ORM. Now that I have it all set up and working correctly, I find it a joy to use. Unlike the ORMs of old, there is no complex XML configuration. Like an old DBA friend of mine used to say, it's no longer like kicking a whale up a beach.

When I started with it, I went through the on-line tutorial, and follwed everything it said to get my first test solution up and running. but I received an error.

Cannot find resource XXX.rlinq embedded in assembly XXX.

I also noticed that the rlinq diagram had not mapped the types correctly.












After a few attempts, I went to the Telerik Forums, and eventually got my answer. This is an issue that will soon be fixed in the next release, but the workaround is so simple.

In Visual Studio 2010, when you start a new project it adds the project to a temp location until you decide to save the solution in it's 'real' project location (E.g. in your Projects directory).

Simply ensure that you have built and saved your solution before adding your rlinq diagram and it will all work like a dream,

If you experience the error in the screenshot above where the types have not been created correctly, then closing and re-opening the rlinq diagram solves this.

This is due to be resolved in the next release, but until then, I hope someone finds this of use.

Tuesday 15 February 2011

Better debugging with RadControlSpy

Telerik controls are simple wrappers and do not implement detailed functionality. Rather, each control has as a direct descendant an instance of the RootRadElement class. This RootRadElement wraps the actual functionality of the control and acts to transfer events to and from the RadControl class.

In turn, the RootRadElement has a descendant tree of RadElement classes that implement the actual logic required by the control. Because of this, when you want to change a property of a RadControl or add a new element to extend it, you will find the RadControlSpyForm really useful.

The RadControlSpyForm is a tool to let you examine the detailed internal structure of any RadControl. It is not a stand-alone tool. Rather, the Control Spy is supplied as part of a library that you compile into your application. After adding this library, you can start the Control Spy and use it to examine and alter properties of any RadControl which is currently running.

So, let's start with a simple scenario. You have a RadListControl on your form, and you change the back color property.

Me.RadListControl1.BackColor = Color.Red

but when you run your application, you see that the back color has not changed.



So, we need RadControlSpy.
  • Add a reference to the RadControlSpy assembly. By default, you can find a copy in C:\Program Files\Telerik\Telerik RadControls for WinForms<current version>\Examples\bin
  • In your form load event, add the following (VB example)
        Dim form As New RadControlSpy.RadControlSpyForm()
        form.Show()





So, we were able to find the correct area to set the back color for the list control. RadControlSpy is really powerful and is useful for finding out all sorts of information about your RadControls.

Wednesday 9 February 2011

Get FREE licenses for the next release of Just Code

Just Code (Telerik's add-in for Visual Studio 2005, 2008 and 2010 that peforms navigation, refactoring and code analysis for C# and VB.Net) is soon to get decompile features that will allow decompilation of both members and types.

Telerik are also giving away free licenses of the next release of Just Code to the first 500 people that send Telerik an e-mail to decompile@telerik.com. No need for any special format - your name and (optional) some ideas on what decompilation features you would like to see most would be welcome.

For more information, see the Telerik Blogs

Saturday 29 January 2011

Adding a RadContextMenu to a Command Button in RadGridView

Out-of-the-box, the RadGridView does a really good job of manking context menus in the RadGridView a simple process by handling the ContextMenuOpening event handler.

If however you have a GridViewCommandColumn in your RadGridView and you want to add a context menu to your command button, then the ContextMenuOpening event doesn't fire for this, as the command button is a RadButtonElement inside the CellElement.

it is though, quite a simple process to add a RadContextMenu to a command button.

  • Subscribe to the CellFormatting event and add a MouseDown event handler on the command button

    Private Sub RadGridView1_CellFormatting(ByVal sender As System.Object,
                                            ByVal e As Telerik.WinControls.UI.CellFormattingEventArgs) Handles RadGridView1.CellFormatting

        If TypeOf e.CellElement Is GridCommandCellElement Then
            If e.CellElement.Tag Is Nothing Then
                AddHandler CType(e.CellElement, GridCommandCellElement).CommandButton.MouseDown, AddressOf Button_MouseDown
            End If
            e.CellElement.Tag = True
        End If
    End Sub

  • Handle the MouseDown event, and create your context menu
    Private Sub Button_MouseDown(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As MouseEventArgs)
        If e.Button = MouseButtons.Right Then
            Dim menu As New RadContextMenu()

            Dim item1 As New RadMenuItem("Menu Item 1")
            RemoveHandler item1.Click, AddressOf Item_Click
            AddHandler item1.Click, AddressOf Item_Click
            menu.Items.Add(item1)
            menu.Show(Control.MousePosition)
        Else
            MyBase.OnMouseDown(e)
        End If
    End Sub

  • And lastly, handle the click of the context menu
    Private Sub Item_Click(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As EventArgs)
MessageBox.Show("You clicked the item menu in row: " & Me.RadGridView1.CurrentRow.Index.ToString() &
       " cell: " & Me.RadGridView1.CurrentColumn.Index.ToString())
    End Sub



Friday 28 January 2011

Error 1001. Error 1001. Unable to get installer types in the assembly. --> Unable to load one or more of the requested types

today, a non-Telerik blog post,

We have several Visual Studio solutions here. Some are .NET 4.0, and some are .NET 2.0. The one that we were having an issue with was an older .NET 2.0 solution that we decided to start developing in Visual Studio 2010, but still targeting the .NET 2.0 runtime.

No changes were made to the projects in the solution. We just re-compiled in Visual Studio 2010. However, when we came to run the install, it would fail with the following error message:

Error 1001. Error 1001. Unable to get installer types in the assembly. --> Unable to load one or more of the requested types

There are several ways of finding out what the issue is here though we were up against a tight deadline. The issue though I think is due to the main executable in the solution having an installer file and therefore a custom action in the set up project. Even though the target framework is still .NET 2.0, the resulting Setup.exe and msi were different sizes to those produced under VS2005. The solution was to start a new blank solution and re-import all the .NET 2.0 projects back into that again. The installation then went through with no issues first time.

Hope that helps someone.

Wednesday 26 January 2011

Getting the most from Telerik Support (re-post from Stefan at Telerik)

I happened upon the following on Telerik's Facebook page which was published by Stefan, but thought it had some great information that I would regurgitate here.

Stefan writes...

The two main routes you can take to get assistance from the Telerik Support Staff are pretty well-known: posting an inquiry in the Telerik public forum or creating a support ticket. It is up to you to decide which of these two paths to choose and that is why I would like to underline that the purpose of the next paragraphs is to provide general guidelines instead of influencing directly your choice.

Forum Posts
The forum posts have 72 hours response time and this is the place where you can get answers from the Telerik Support Staff as well as from Telerik community members. The discussions there are public and can be browsed/searched by other site visitors. In addition, you can use the support search facilities on telerik.com to find answers to your questions quickly and without the need to wait until someone responds to them.
Although around 95% of the forum posts are handled by Telerikers, the response time in the forums is not 100% guaranteed. General instructions about how to use the Telerik forums can be found here.

*Note: People answering questions in the forums (with replies marked as answers) can earn Telerik points or MVP tokens which can be used for future discounts when upgrading/purchasing our controls or gain Telerik MVP status respectively. This stimulates developers to help each-other and thus becomes a 'natural extension' of the Telerik support service.

Support Tickets
On the other hand, the support tickets are the private channel which you can use to communicate with Telerik (for support-related questions). The response time in them depends on the support package you received with your purchase. Furthermore, the support tickets are considered with higher priority over the forum threads and allow code file attachments as opposed to the forums which permit image attachments only.

There are also several mandatory fields you have to fill in when creating a support ticket (after choosing a particular Telerik product) and specifying those correctly can be very important for replicating your case and tracking down a particular issue. They are present in 'Step1: Software you are using' on the Support Tickets-> Write Support Ticket page. Another important part of your message is the description itself - it should provide all the necessary details and outline your main configuration settings. Including code snippets, screenshots, videos, stack trace of exceptions or stand-alone sample project can speed up the resolution (their effectiveness may vary depending on the actual case). Those are entered in 'Step2: Describe your question' on the same page specified above.

Below are some extra 'in-house' tips I would like to share that are quite useful and turn out to be real time-savers in our daily support communication:

1.Do not include Telerik controls assemblies in sample projects attached to tickets - instead select the exact version of the respective dlls from the dropdown when starting the support thread. This will spare 5 to 6MB being uploaded/downloaded afterwards. For instance, see how to check the exact version of Telerik.Web.UI.dll here.
2.Screenshots - avoid using .bmp format, instead convert the images to .png or .jpeg to reduce their size
3.Do not reply to automated emails which notify that your support ticket/forum post has been answered. Post replies in support tickets/forum threads only. Use merely those two support channels for technical questions (instead of writing to clientservice@telerik.com or support@telerik.com) - thus your support history can be easily tracked and your questions will reach the relevant support personnel faster.
4.You may share video content using Jing to avoid uploading videos in a support ticket.
5.Strip down as much custom code from sample projects as possible and remove any unnecessary/unrelated dependencies. In case you work under DotNetNuke, Sharepoint or other custom environment, check whether there are any differences in the code execution inside and outside of that environment. When you are not able to share the data source due to some reason (db policies, NDA, etc.), consider generating a dummy/sample data source for testing purposes. This, for example, can be manually generated asp DataTable in case your control is data-bound.

Once again, I stress on the fact that it is your decision whether you will use the private support system or the public forums to share this information and get an answer/feedback from us. Of course, the fastest means to find answers/solutions is to dive into the vast support resources available on our site following the tips from these sources:

Video

Blog Post

Thursday 13 January 2011

Exchange your Telerik Skins and Themes

Many people know about the Telerik Code Library, a place where you can post code samples to share with the Telerik community.

Most people though don't know that you can also do the same with your skins and themes. The Telerik Skin Exchange Program allows users to post skins and themes for RadControls for WinForms and ASP.NET. If you've created a great new skin or theme, share it with the Telerik community.

Monday 10 January 2011

Microsoft Active Accessibility and Telerik RadControls for WinForms

Microsoft® Active Accessibility® 2.0 is a COM-based technology that improves the way accessibility aids work with applications running on Microsoft Windows®. It provides dynamic-link libraries that are incorporated into the operating system as well as a COM interface and application programming elements that provide reliable methods for exposing information about user interface elements.

The good news for users of Telerik RadControls for WinForms is that Telerik plan to add full MSAA (Microsoft Active Accessibility) compatibility in Q1 2011, which will make the Telerik WinForms suite the first suite to be fully compliant with the latest user interface accessibility and UI automation standards.

For more information on upcoming features, visit the Telerik Roadmap

Tuesday 4 January 2011

Upcoming Telerik Events

Codemash Ohio | Telerik
12 Jan 2011 – 14 Jan 2011
Sandusky , USA
Telerik will be a Platinum sponsor of the Codemash conference which takes place Jan 12 -14 at the Kalahari resort in Sandusky, OH.
Visit the Telerik booth to get some cool t shirts and learn more about our TeamProductivity and DeveloperProductivity tools.

Internet World London 2011 | Telerik
10 May 2011 – 12 May 2011
London , UNITED KINGDOM
Telerik will exhibit at the 12th edition of Internet World – the biggest UK event for Digital Marketing, Web 2.0 & Social Media, eCommerce, Content Management & Hosting which will take place 10 - 12 May, 2011 at Earls Court 2 in London.

Agile Development and Testing India | Telerik
18 Jan 2011 – 18 Jan 2011
Pune , INDIA
Telerik will be organizing a free training on January 18, 2011 in Pune, India

For more information on all upcoming Telerik events, have a look at the Telerik Events Page