Telerik DNN Partnership Q&A

DotNetNuke Corp. and Telerik have entered into an OEM agreement in which Telerik’s RadControls ASP.NET AJAX will be integrated into the DotNetNuke platform starting with version 5.2 of DNN. The Telerik RadControls for ASP.NET AJAX will provide developers with a richer toolset for developing dynamic, engaging user interfaces in the DotNetNuke platform.

The addition of Telerik RadControls will increase the functionality of the DotNetNuke web content management system and application development framework and provide a richer toolset for web developers. DotNetNuke Professional Edition customers will realize significantly more benefits including development rights for the RadControls toolset by an unlimited number of developers working within the Professional Edition licensed instance. The standard list price for the Telerik RadControls toolset is $999 per year per developer. Professional Edition customers will also benefit from new content editing features in the RadEditors rich text editor which is only available in the Professional Edition.

Telerik Web Controls will be distributed with every DotNetNuke Community and Professional Edition download, providing Telerik with exposure to the large and growing community of DotNetNuke developers.

While both DotNetNuke and Sitefinity are in the Web Content Management System market, the two do not compete directly. As the leading ASP.NET AJAX user interface technology, Telerik RadControls was the optimal choice for enhancing the DotNetNuke platform, allowing developers to create more dynamic, interactive experiences for visitors to DotNetNuke web sites.

No, Telerik RadControls that you received as part of your DotNetNuke license can be used only for development in the DNN ecosystem. If you want to use Telerik RadControls for applications outside DNN, you need to purchase a license from Telerik.

DotNetNuke Professional Edition customers will receive a development license for Telerik RadControls which allows any number of developers within their organization to develop using the full toolset within that instance of DotNetNuke. Professional Edition content editors will also benefit from the Telerik RadEditor which provides more flexibility and additional features for editing web site content.

DotNetNuke Community Edition users will be able to develop using RadControls through standard user interface extensions  provided in the DotNetNuke platform. Community Edition developers will have more limited access to the Telerik RadControls than Professional Edition developers and will not have full developer license rights to use the Telerik RadControls toolset. Community Edition developers will only be able to develop though standard user interface extensions provided with the core platform.

You still receive the same rights with your RadControls license and you are allowed to develop DNN modules in both Community and Professional editions. The only thing that changes is that now you have to use the RadControls DLL that comes with DNN Commmunity Edition for redistribution or remove the DLL from DNN solutions or modules offered to third parties (these third parties can use the DNN RadControls DLL version they own).

Here is the detailed table which describes the licensing and redistribution of Telerik RadControls for ASP.NET AJAX within DotNetNuke:

DNN Licensing Scheme	Community Edition	Professional Edition
Run-time License	Yes (within the DNN instance with which the RadControls were bundled)	Yes (within the DNN instance with which the RadControls were bundled)
Development License	No	Yes (by any number of developers within an organization for development for that instance of DNN)
Developer Usage	Only through abstract "wrappers" provided by the DNN platform (i.e. skin objects, providers, etc.)	Native development permitted (i.e. <telerik:RadGrid ID="RadGrid1" runat="server" />)
Redistribution of Telerik RadControls for ASP.NET AJAX	Only within the DNN instance with which the RAD Controls were bundled (cannot be redistributed separately or as part of any other packaged solution such as a DNN module)	Only within the DNN instance with which the RAD Controls were bundled (cannot be redistributed separately or as part of any other packaged solution such as a DNN module)

The table below shows the development and deployment scenarios and the restrictions that should be observed:

Developer Scenario	Community Edition Deployment	Professional Edition Deployment
Community Edition Developer creates Module using "wrappers"	Allowed	Allowed
Commercial Edition Developer creates Module using "wrappers"	Allowed	Allowed
Community Edition Developer creates Module using Telerik RadControls directly	Not Allowed*	Not Allowed*. Even though you  are running on Commercial Edition, the original developer do not have rights to develop the Module using Telerik RadControls for ASP.NET AJAX directly (because they were using Community Edition)
Commercial Edition Developer creates Module using Telerik RadControls for ASP.NET AJAX directly	Allowed. The original developer had rights to develop using Telerik directly (through their Commercial Edition license) so usage of the Module is allowed.	Allowed
Developer who has purchased a valid Telerik Developer License creates a Module using Telerik RadControls for ASP.NET AJAX directly	Allowed. If a developer purchased a valid dev license from Telerik, there are no restrictions on usage. However the developer is not allowed to redistribute the Telerik DLLs with their Module package - they need to exclude it and rely on the DLLs which exists in the DotNetNuke framework.	Allowed

*unless you are an existing Telerik customer and hold a RadControls for ASP.NET AJAX license

Pricing for the DotNetNuke Professional Edition is unchanged. A Professional Edition subscription is $1,999 per instance per year. Professional Edition subscriptions will now include full development rights to Telerik RadControls for ASP.NET AJAX for an unlimited number of developers working within the licensed Professional Edition 5.2 instance. Telerik RadControls developer licenses are normally priced at $999 per year per developer.

After you complete the implementation of the DNN module, zip the files and specify in readme file the version of the Telerik.Web.UI.dll the module is built against. Take into account that you have to exclude the Telerik.Web.UI assembly from the archive to prevent conflicts with the license agreement of DNN commercial modules distribution.

Note:  Adding <bindingRedirects> when installing new modules using RadControls is not supported by the automatic installation, hence you need to include them manually in the DNN Web.config file.

Unfortunately, there is no way to use two different versions of the Telerik.Web.UI assembly in the same web application. If you have modules compiled against different RadControls versions, you should modify the DNN Web.config file and add a <bindingRedirect> element to redirect the older version to the new one.

Please review the following KB article:
http://www.telerik.com/help/aspnet-ajax/editor-content-area-appearance-problems.html

By default, the editor copies all styles from the page (skin, portal styles, etc.). To override them, set the CssFiles editor property. In DNN this can be done either from the editor configuration file (Website\DesktopModules\TelerikWebUI\RadEditorProvider\ConfigFile.xml) or through the editor provider configuration in the Web.config file.

Download the version of RadControls for ASP.NET AJAX you have under your Telerik account and add a reference to it inside your DNN project (either in the /bin folder or Global Assembly Cache). In case you have <bindingRedirect> element inside DNN’s web config file, modify it to match the assembly version number of Telerik.Web.UI.dll and Telerik.Web.Design.dll, for example:

NET 3.5:
<dependentAssembly>
  <assemblyIdentity name="Telerik.Web.UI" publicKeyToken="121fae78165ba3d4"/>
      <bindingRedirect oldVersion="2008.0.0.0-2020.0.0.0" newVersion="2009.2.701.35"/>
</dependentAssembly>
<dependentAssembly>
  <assemblyIdentity name="Telerik.Web.Design " publicKeyToken="121fae78165ba3d4"/>
      <bindingRedirect oldVersion="2008.0.0.0-2020.0.0.0" newVersion="2009.2.701.35"/>
</dependentAssembly>

NET 2:
<dependentAssembly>
  <assemblyIdentity name="Telerik.Web.UI" publicKeyToken="121fae78165ba3d4"/>
      <bindingRedirect oldVersion="2008.0.0.0-2020.0.0.0" newVersion="2009.2.701.20"/>
</dependentAssembly>
<dependentAssembly>
  <assemblyIdentity name="Telerik.Web.Design " publicKeyToken="121fae78165ba3d4"/>
      <bindingRedirect oldVersion="2008.0.0.0-2020.0.0.0" newVersion="2009.2.701.20"/>
</dependentAssembly>

DotNetNuke Community/Professional v5.4.0 or later is shipped with integrated RadEditor for ASP.NET AJAX provider. Hence you do not need to to use the separate RadEditor DNN provider available on telerik.com. Also note that any questions concerning the DNN integrated RadEditor provider should be directed to the DotNetNuke forums or support.