I recently showed you how to get started working with the RadControls for ASP.NET AJAX on Azure. It’s really a lot easier than you might think. If you missed the first two posts (and the follow-up videos), here they are for quick reference:
RadControls for ASP.NET AJAX on Azure
Deploying RadControls to Azure
Today, I updated the live running Telerik demo on Azure to feature the complete Telerik Web Mail demo! That means you can now see almost all of the RadControls for ASP.NET AJAX running live on the Azure Cloud. Included in the demo are RadGrid, RadEditor, RadSplitter, RadMenu, RadAjax, RadTreeView, RadCombobox, RadScheduler, RadCalendar, RadWindow, RadSkinManager, RadStyleSheetManager, RadScriptManager, and RadPanelBar. This should be full “proof” that you’re ready to go if you want to build new applications for the Azure cloud with the RadControls for ASP.NET AJAX.
But what if you’re thinking about porting an existing app built with the RadControls to the cloud in the future? Fortunately, as the new live demo proves, that’s easy, too. The Web Mail application running on Azure is the exact same source as the app running off the cloud. The only change I’ve made- that is still a work in progress- is changing the way data access works (since I can’t run SQL Express on the Azure cloud…yet). Currently the app is using “dummy data” and XML data, but soon it will be wired-up to a external WCF service layer that will return database data to the cloud app. And whenever SQL Data Services for Azure makes table-based storage available, the demo will feature even more cloud integration.
There are a few features and pages (such as the Contacts page) that don’t currently fully function as a result of these data binding changes, but for the most part, you can interact with the app as normal and see the RadControls functioning correctly. So whether the cloud is for you or not, Telerik is here and ready to support your cloud UI development efforts!
Todd Anglin is Vice President of Product at Progress. Todd is responsible for leading the teams at Progress focused on NativeScript, a modern cross-platform solution for building native mobile apps with JavaScript. Todd is an author and frequent speaker on web and mobile app development. Follow Todd @toddanglin for his latest writings and industry insights.