OK, What have you done, it works again if I remove the EmptyMessage tag.

A

Hi Andy,

I suspect that this is related to the same update in Q2-2011 that caused us quite a bit of pain as well.

In prior releases of the control, if you bind data to a RadComboBox while setting the EmptyMessage property on the control the first item that was bound was automatically selected and the SelectedIndex was 0.

In the most recent release, the same code no longer selects the first item, and the SelectedIndex is -1.

In my opinion, this should have been noted as a breaking change in the release because we have tons of code that "broke" because core functionality changed.

Telerik's suggestion on my post was to change our binding code, so we automatically set SelectedIndex to 0 after binding, which sort-of works.  Some of the time.  :-)

Anyway, hopefully this helps you track down the problem you are having a little easier.

Good luck,
Thad

Hi Thad,

At the RadComboBox section in Q2 2011 (version 2011.2.712) Release Notes the new EmptyMessage improvement has been already described:
“Added: Improved EmptyMessage to show regardless of the value of the AllowCustomText and EnableLoadOnDemand properties”

All the best,
Kalina
the Telerik team

Hi Kalina,

Yes, we saw that in the release notes prior to upgrading, but had no clue the magnitude of changes necessary on our part if we were to implement the upgrade.  Unless it is specifically noted, we expect core functionality to remain the same.

Based on the forum post that I submitted regarding this issue, I understand the reason the change was necessary in order to accomplish the task you were trying to accomplish and I understand how to work around the change.  But the honest truth is that after upgrading to the Q2 release our entire site needed to be retested because almost 95% of the RadComboBoxes no longer functioned as they did before, and validators no longer caught when an item was not selected.  It's kind of a big deal when that much breaks.  :-)

But back on topic, it seems that Andy is possibly also experiencing a side-effect of the change.  I was just informing him of that core change so that he could more easily track down the problem within his code and do what is necessary in order to fix it.

Happy afternoon!
Thad

Hello Thad,

Thank you for your feedback.

It was our mistake to mention the change only in the release notes and not announce it with its complications on a more visible place. We did so just now in the forums.

Please excuse us for the inconvenience we caused with our omission.

Greetings,
Simon
the Telerik team

Hi Simon,

I greatly appreciate the responsiveness of your team to the feedback provided by the user community in these forums.  Many thanks for that!

Thad