RadGrid for ASP.NET AJAX

You can load the structure of a RadGrid control from a file containing its XML representation. This approach is useful when you want to load grid instances with equal predefined settings on different pages of your web site.

The following steps describe how to import the structure of a grid:

1. Create an XSL file that contains the grid structure you want to import and a dummy XML file for receiving the grid structure.

2. On the ASPX file for the Web page, add a PlaceHolder control to receive the grid, plus any other elements you want (such as data source controls).

3. In the Page_Init event handler of your Web page

   1. Load an XPathDocument with the dummy XML file and an XslCompiledTransform object with the XSL file you created.

   2. Create a StringWriter.

   3. With the XslCompiledTransform object, use the StringWriter to transform the XSL definition to the XML file. This loads the transformed XML file into the StringWriter.

   4. Create a StringBuilder object, and initialize it with the "<%@ Register >" directive for the Telerik.Web.UI assembly.

   5. Load the contents of the StringWriter (the grid structure) into your StringBuilder object.

   6. Using the StringBuilder, remove theXML file header and xmlns string.

   7. Call Page.ParseControl, passing in the contents of the StringBuilder, to create an instance of the grid based on the structure that the StringBuilder contains.

   8. Add the grid instance to the PlaceHolder control in the ASPX file for the Web page.

Note
The grid should be loaded and added to the Web page in the Page_Init event handler.

CopyXML

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0"
   xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform"
   xmlns:telerik="remove">
 <xsl:template match="/">
   <div>
     <telerik:RadGrid
         ID="RadGrid1" runat="server"
         DataSourceID="SqlDataSource1";
         Width="95%"
         AllowFilteringByColumn="True"
         AllowSorting="True"
         PageSize="15"
         ShowFooter="True"
         ShowGroupPanel="True"
         AllowPaging="True"
         AllowMultiRowSelection="True">
       <HeaderStyle Width="150px" />
       <ClientSettings
            ReorderColumnsOnClient="True"
            AllowDragToGroup="True"
            AllowColumnsReorder="True">
         <Scrolling
           AllowScroll="True"
           UseStaticHeaders="True">
         </Scrolling>
         <Resizing
           AllowRowResize="True"
           AllowColumnResize="True">
         </Resizing>
         <Selecting AllowRowSelect="True" />
       </ClientSettings>
     </telerik:RadGrid>
   </div>
 </xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>

CopyXML

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<root>
    <foo/>
</root>

In the code-behind:

• C#
• VB.NET

CopyC#

public void Page_Init(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    XPathDocument MyXPathDocument = new XPathDocument(Server.MapPath("XMLFile.xml"));
    XslCompiledTransform MyXslTransform = new XslCompiledTransform();
    MyXslTransform.Load(Server.MapPath("XSLTFile.xsl"));
    StringWriter MyStringWriter = new StringWriter();
    MyXslTransform.Transform(MyXPathDocument, null, MyStringWriter);
    StringBuilder MyStringBuilder = new StringBuilder();
    MyStringBuilder.Append(@"<%@ Register Assembly=""Telerik.Web.UI"" Namespace=""Telerik.Web.UI"" TagPrefix=""telerik"" %>");
    MyStringBuilder.Append(MyStringWriter.ToString());
    MyStringBuilder = MyStringBuilder.Replace("xmlns:telerik=\"remove\"", "");
    MyStringBuilder = MyStringBuilder.Replace(@"<?xml version=""1.0"" encoding=""utf-16""?>", "");
    Control ctrl = Page.ParseControl(MyStringBuilder.ToString());
    PlaceHolder1.Controls.Add(ctrl);
}

CopyVB.NET

    Protected Sub Page_Init(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Me.Init
        Dim MyXPathDocument As XPathDocument = New XPathDocument(Server.MapPath("~/App_Data/XMLFile.xml"))
        Dim MyXslTransform As XslCompiledTransform = New XslCompiledTransform()
        MyXslTransform.Load(Server.MapPath("~/App_Data/XSLTFile.xsl"))
        Dim MyStringWriter As StringWriter = New StringWriter()
        MyXslTransform.Transform(MyXPathDocument, Nothing, MyStringWriter)
        Dim MyStringBuilder As StringBuilder = New StringBuilder()
        MyStringBuilder.Append("<%@ Register Assembly=""Telerik.Web.UI"" Namespace=""Telerik.Web.UI"" TagPrefix=""telerik"" %>")
        MyStringBuilder.Append(MyStringWriter.ToString())
        MyStringBuilder = MyStringBuilder.Replace("xmlns:telerik=""remove""", "")
        MyStringBuilder = MyStringBuilder.Replace("<?xml version=""1.0"" encoding=""utf-16""?>", "")
        Dim ctrl As Control = Page.ParseControl(MyStringBuilder.ToString())
        PlaceHolder1.Controls.Add(ctrl)
    End Sub

For a live example that shows this technique in practice, see Programmatic Creation from XML.