RadEditor and Community Server 2007 integration

It's been a while since I had to work with Telligent's Community Server software. Our last attempt to use RadEditor as the default editor was back in CS version 2.0. The latest version (2007) features a new and easier way to add new editors for the blogs/forums/etc. parts of Community Server. I decided to update our code and write a new wrapper for RadEditor 7.

The new code is cleaner, since it directly inherits from the RadEditor class instead of adding the editor as a child control:

public class RadEditorWrapper: RadEditor, ITextEditor, ITextControl
{...

The new wrapper is available for download here. Inside the archive you will find the Telerik.CommunityServer.RadEditorWrapper.dll assembly as well as the source code for the wrapper.

Here is what you need to do in order to install the new wrapper in a Community Server 2007 site:

1. You need a license for the ASP.NET RadEditor control.

2. Copy the Telerik.CommunityServer.RadEditorWrapper.dll from the wrapper archive and the RadEditor.Net2.dll and RadSpell.Net2.dll files from the editor installation to the Bin folder of your Community Server web site.

3. Copy the RadControls folder from your editor installation to the root of the Community Server web site.

4. Open the communityserver.config file from the root web site folder and add the following line in the <editors> section:

  <editor name="RadEditor" type="Telerik.CommunityServer.RadEditorWrapper, Telerik.CommunityServer.RadEditorWrapper" />

That's it!

Next time you are logged into your Community Server, go to your profile (click the Edit Profile link). Then click the Site Options tab and select RadEditor from the Content Editors list.

If you want to make RadEditor the default content editor for everybody, simply add the default="true" attribute to the editor entry in step 4. Make sure that you have only one default editor though (usually the Standard editor is set as default).

You can configure the editor from the usual places - RadControls/Editor/ToolsFile.xml controls the editor toolbar, while RadControls/Editor/ConfigFile.xml controls the other editor settings like image paths, etc.

If you have any suggestions/comments for the wrapper - feel free to share them!