Database Merge and Save to New Path

[Randy]

Hello,

I am evaluating the RichTextBox control for possible use.  I would like to know if this scenario can be accomplished using it.

1. There will be some RTF files on the web server, the files would contain tags or merge fields for a database merge.  These RTF files would serve as templates.  Admin users could edit the content using the RichTextBox and save the changed RTF file to the same folder.

2.  Other users would fill out a web form, the form data is stored in a database.

3. The form data is merged with the RTF template and the resulting new RTF file is stored in a new folder on the web server that is specific to the user.

4. The RTF from step 3 is converted to a PDF in the same folder.

If possible, steps 3 and 4 would be done programitically and the process would be invisible to the user. In other words the user does not need to open the document in the RichTextBox, choose a location, and save.  They simply fill out the form in step 2, click a button, and steps 3 and 4 are performed.

Thank you very much,

Randy

[Mike]

Hi Randy,

RadRichTextBox is currently available only for Silverlight 4 and the execution of the application is entirely client-side. I am afraid you will not be able able to reference Telerik.Windows.Documents assembly in any other type of application (wpf, winforms or asp.net apps). We are working on introducing WPF version for the next release - Q3 2010, expected in several months. The PDF support is also in our to-do list for Q3. However I cannot give you any time-frame for RTF format support. Currently we have DOCX, HTML, and XAML import/export support.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

Best wishes,
Mike
the Telerik team

[Randy]

Hi Mike,

Thank you for this information.

If I understand you, this means that files could be saved automatically on the client side but not on the server side.  Is that correct?

Thanks again, and I'll look forward to checking out the Q3 release.

Randy

[Mike]

Hi Randy,

I am afraid Silverlight has tight security and will neither let you open nor save files on the client automatically - these operation should be user-initiated. As far as I understand your scenario, the best approach in your case would be to manage the files on the server from the Silveright client using services. The problem in the case however is that currently you cannot use RadRichTextBox in this service application. We are working on porting our document management components to .Net 3.5 (WPF) for Q3.

Kind regards,
Mike
the Telerik team

[Randy]

Thanks again, Mike.

Concerning the user-initated opening and saving of files these files can be on the web server, correct?  (assuming the access permissions on the server are set to allow this)

Randy

[Ivailo Karamanolev]

Hi Randy,

Yes - your files can reside on the server, given appropriate technology to transfer them (WCF, RIA Services, etc.). The RadRichTextBox format providers can be used from code, without any user interaction. The security restrictions Mike mentioned are of concern only when saving to the client's machine. Let us know if you need any further assistance with the controls.

Greetings,
Ivailo
the Telerik team

[Randy]

Thank You very much!

Randy

[Randy]

Hello,

When loading a document from a web server, would you use an absolute or relative uri for this?  Can you post a code snippet that does this?

I would guess that a relative uri would work assuming the user is authenticated.  When loading images, it works to set the uri path relative to the clientbin folder in the .web project.   Would that be the case also with setting the path to a document?

Thank You,

Randy

[Ivailo Karamanolev]

Hello Randy,

RadRichTextBox doesn't work out of the box with loading documents from external sources as this responsibility falls outside it's feature set. It requires that you can open a stream to the document. Similar, Save functionality provides you with a stream that you can choose how to manage.

We have samples of loading documents using the client Open File Dialog:
http://demos.telerik.com/silverlight/#RichTextBox/MSWord

And also save/load from a DB using WCF RIA (uploaded in this forum thread):
http://www.telerik.com/community/forums/silverlight/general-discussions/keeping-format-of-msword.aspx

I hope this answers your question, get back to us if you have any further issues.

Regards,
Ivailo
the Telerik team