ASP.NET AJAX versus KendoUI clarification

[Mikael Kleinwort]

As I look a bit closer at the new KendoUI suite,  I am becoming increasingly confused. I am not sure, from a developer standpoint, where is the dividing line between the 2 products?

I am using the Telerik ASP.NET AJAX controls since many years. Now, reading about KendoUI, I would think that the technology and advantages of Kendo should be naturally a part of the controls I am actually using with the ASP.NET aAJAX cntrols as well.

The one point I seem to see is that Kendo obviously is platform independent (independent from ASP.NET), and as such, it needs to stand besides the Telerik ASP.NET AJAX controls as an independent product.

But as a current user of Telerik ASP.NET AJAX controls, I shouldn't need to decide between the two products, but I would expect that the ASP.NET controls just incorporate the Kendo advatages, without me having to learn anything new, or decide between 2 products. After all, this is why I am using these controls.

I would appreciate a high-level look by somebody at Telerik at this issue.

Regards, Mikael

[Iana Tsolova]

Hello MIkael,

As you found KendoUI is platform independent. It is made to work entire on the client, using HTML and javascript only. In the future we might have ASP.NET wrappers for the Kendo widgets but this is still in consideration phase.

The ASP.NET AJAX controls on the other hand are build as the native ASP.NET server controls, with all the Visual Studio integration, in correspondence with the ASP.NET Page lifecycle, leveraging all the good things of the MS AJAX Framework, providing rich client-side capabilities, etc.

We understand that now it might be hard to choose what to use. This basically should be an architecture decision based on the target users of your application and the goals of it. If the idea for everything working on the client fits your needs, you can try Kendo. If you still prefer the server-side approach, you should continue with ASP.NET AJAX components.

Regards,
Iana Tsolova
the Telerik team

[Mikael Kleinwort]

Hello Iana,

thank you for the clarification!

Regards, Mikael

[shankar]

My question is specific to RADHTML Charts vs. Kendo UI charts. What's the difference between these two when both use HTML5 and would render neatly in mobile devices as well? Is it merely the difference in implementation and no difference in rendering?

[Marin Bratanov]

Hi shankar,

The difference is in the platform and the way you can use the control/widget. 

RadHtmlChart for ASP.NET AJAX has ASP markup and can be easily bound to server datasources .NET offers. It can be created in the code-behind in an ASP context and is designed for this platform with all its specifics (e.g., it also offers a wizard in design-time to facilitate setup).

The Kendo widgets are JavaScript based and only need HTML and JavaScript, thus they can "live" in any environment that provides this. They are not optimized, however, for use with ASP.

Both RadHtmlChart and Kendo UI Chart use the same client-side rendering engine that results in SVG or VML (depending on the browser capabilities).


Regards,

Marin Bratanov
Telerik