Telerik blogs
KUI_Roadmap_R2_2016

We discuss what to expect in the second major release of Telerik Kendo UI in 2016—previews of Angular 2 and React integrations, HTML Editor improvements, Bootstrap 4 + SASS and ASP.NET Core 1.0 RTM support, and more.

Given that the news about our plans for Telerik Kendo UI in 2016 is already out in the wild, I would like to provide you with an additional level of detail about what's coming in the second major release of Kendo UI for 2016. As usual, this entails not only new functionality up for the Kendo UI framework, but also for our Telerik UI for ASP.NET MVC, UI for JSP and UI for PHP products, all part of the Kendo UI Complete bundle.

How Do You Define a Roadmap?

As you may already know from past Kendo UI iterations and roadmap prioritization, the outcome from the following areas strongly influences the development direction of the product:

  • Industry research and analysis
  • Direct customer surveys and feedback (including our UserVoice portal) 
  • Forum posts and support requests
  • Input from Telerik leadership

With this in mind, here are our objectives and key deliverable for R2 2016, expected in the beginning of May.

Angular 2 and React Integrations (Previews)

Angular2-logoReact-logoKendoka

As I already elaborated on in an earlier blog posted in January, two major initiatives we are going to execute on this year are to deliver native Angular 2 and React integrations for Kendo UI. This would require removing the jQuery dependency and building Kendo UI components (on top of a common codebase) that align with the Angular 2 and React component concepts. It will also involve supporting a continuous delivery model via npm modules distribution for these integrations. Read more details in the blog linked above.

We see that these two frameworks are already getting great momentum and gradual adoption, and the future of the mobile web will definitely be influenced by the path they set forward.

The so-called 'first wave' of Kendo UI components for Angular 2 and React is expected to be released to the public around R2 2016 (May). Moreover, the npm distribution might also allow us to disclose very early pre-Alpha bits even a month or so earlier, so stay tuned for more info in the coming months!

Bootstrap 4 and SASS Support

Bootstrap-logo     Sass-logo

Another major piece of our R2'16 story will be the support for the next major version of the renowned Bootstrap framework (v4), and the introduction of SASS support for Kendo UI with a new Bootstrap 4 theme. With it we'll expose SASS variables as a theming API, and allow the translating of Bootstrap 4 SASS variables into Kendo UI widget configuration variables using SASS imports for this purpose.

As an end result, you'll be able to plug this mechanism seamlessly into your project when using the regular SASS styling workflow, and make the Kendo UI pieces blend with the style definitions of a Bootstrap 4 theme you chose for the project.

HTML Editor Features

With R2 our HTML Editor widget will receive some notable updates. It'll incorporate support for markdown (import and export), URL auto-detection and some other enhancements, which will make it even more flexible for your needs when editing HTML content.

VS Scaffolding Additions

The Visual Studio Scaffolder for Kendo UI widgets will be extended to support auto code generation for the TreeView. This will allow you to apply configuration settings and connect it to data by creating the respective controller-model relation and view from the Scaffolder UI.

Spreadsheet Enhancements

The Spreadsheet widget, officially released in R1 2016 and a cornerstone for building Excel-like interfaces for business web apps, will also receive updates and enhancements in the R2 timeframe. It'll become even more powerful and friendly to Excel-savvy users.

ASP.NET MVC Wrappers

ASP.NET Core 1.0 and MVC 6 Support

The RC2 and RTM releases of ASP.NET Core 1.0 (former ASP.NET 5 Core) and MVC 6 are coming in 2016, with no definite ETAs from Microsoft yet, as you can see from the public ASP.NET Core 1.0 Roadmap page. Regardless, our Telerik UI for ASP.NET MVC product already supports ASP.NET Core 1.0 RC1, and we'll extend this support to the upcoming RC2 and RTM updates.

Furthermore, a set of Tag Helpers for the ASP.NET MVC server wrappers of Kendo UI widgets (where applicable) are also within our scope towards R2'16. See how their syntax will look here.

New Visual Studio Dashboard Project Template

VS-Dashboard-Template

We'll also be expanding the set of predefined Visual Studio Project Templates for UI for ASP.NET MVC with a new Dashboard-like template, based on the Kendo UI App Template definition shipped in R1 2016. This template will become available with the R1 2016 SP1 release of the product, due in March.

VS Scaffolding Additions and More

With R2 our MVC Scaffolding utility will incorporate scaffolding capabilities for the TreeView MVC server wrapper. This will save you the hassle of manually generating boilerplate code for connecting a view (which hosts the treeview) to a controller and the corresponding model definition.

In addition, we'll introduce the option to assign a share data source among several MVC server wrappers, which is one of the most requested new features voted on our feedback portal.

How'll This Work for Me?

Wanna tell us how you are going to make use of these planned new additions for Kendo UI in your existing or future projects? Be the first to share in the comments section below. Also keep in mind that we operate in a dynamic environment, and our preliminary plans might undertake some changes going forward.

Got Feedback?

If you have suggestions or feature requests, visit our Feedback portal and submit them so they can be reviewed and voted on by the community, and prioritized for future development.


rahnev
About the Author

Stefan Rahnev

Stefan Rahnev (@StDiR) is Product Manager for Telerik Kendo UI living in Sofia, Bulgaria. He has been working for the company since 2005, when he started out as a regular support officer. His next steps at Telerik took him through the positions of Technical Support Director, co-team leader in one of the ASP.NET AJAX teams and unit manager for UI for ASP.NET AJAX and Kendo UI. Stefan’s main interests are web development, agile processes planning and management, client services and psychology.

Related Posts

Comments

Comments are disabled in preview mode.