Web Resources demystified: Part 2

By default RadControls (both “Classic” and “Prometheus”) utilize Web Resources to embed external files. By external files I mean the following:

• JavaScript files – they contain the code implementing the client-side features of the controls
• CSS files –they define the visual appearance of the controls
• Images –various GIF, JPG or PNG files used by the CSS files

RadControls "Classic" embed all JavaScript files and the default skin (thoughtfully named "Default"). If you use any other skin or create your own it will be served from the location specified via the SkinsPath property ("~/RadControls/<ControlName>/Skins" by default).

Reducing the number of requests to WebResource.axd

To reduce the number of requests to the Web Resource handler (ScriptResource.axd or WebResource.axd) we created the RadScriptManager and RadStyleSheetManager controls. Using them reduces the number of web resource requests. RadScriptManager and RadStyleSheetManager are described in greater detail in this blog post.

Disabling Web Resources for RadControls

Web Resources can be disabled altogether (with the exception of those used by the ASP.NET itself).

In RadControls "Classic" you can set the UseEmbeddedScripts property of every control to false. Then the JavaScript files will be requested from the location specified by the RadControlsDir property ("~/RadControls" by default). To disable embedded skins just set the Skin property of the control. To use the file-based version of the default skin set the Skin property to "Default".

Similar capabilities have been introduced in RadControls "Prometheus" in the Q3 2007 SP2 Release. You can set the EnableEmbeddedScripts property to false to disable registration of embedded JavaScript files. Then you need to register the required JavaScript with the ScriptManager (or RadScriptManager). Script registration is explained in details in this help topic.

To disable the embedded skins you can set the EnableEmbeddedSkins and EnableBaseStyleSheet properties to false.Then you need to register the CSS file of the skin you are currently using. All skins are installed in the [InstallDir]\Skins folder. For some controls (RadEditor, RadMenu, RadTreevView and others) you also need to register a base (common) CSS file. The base CSS file defines the common appearance of the control. For example for RadTreeView you need to register two files: