DropDown Tool Width Stability (IE7 prob)

[Robert]

Is there a dependable way to set a width attribute forDropDown Tools on Internet Explorer 7?

Sometimes the DropDowns render fine. [image 1]

Sometimes they don’t: [image 2] (this was over a callback cycle)

And then, sometimes, it appears to depend upon thepresence or absence of content in the ContentArea.

When this happens, you can see the Toolbar render fine,at first, but then, as the load finishes, it reorganizes, collapsing theDropDowns and rolling-up the controls to fill.

Anomaly does not present on FireFox3 or Chrome1. Does notpresent on IE6/Win2000, or Safari3/OSX, either.

Good Ol’ Explorer 7

Any magic bullet for this? Some way jam a width, or forcethe DropDown container to respond to the width of its content? Or maybe kickthe Toolbar to make it to re-render its component tools correctly?

Project:

• Project is an ASP.NET AJAX-Enabled Web Site, VB
• Editor Control is in a nested PageView (Tabbed MPV within a Tabbed MPV. MPVs are Width 100%, RenderSelectedPageOnly true)
• Editor Control has fixed height & width with EnableResize false, AutoResizeHeight false, and ToolbarMode default-- all set in ASPX
• Tools themselves are set in an external ToolsFile (Except for that blank button there at the end I’m still fiddling with. That’s in the VB)

Dev Specs:

• Telerik.Web.UI 2008.1.619.20 trial version (yeah, yeah)
• Microsoft .NET Framework Version 2.0.50727 SP1
• Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Version 8.0.50727.762
• Windows XP Pro SP3
• Internet Explorer 7.0.5730.13

Thanks in advance

[Robert]

(adding info)

Okay—

I’ve installed today’s 2008.3.1314 DEV version of the Telerik.Web.UI

The problem (inconsistent rendering of DropDowns in IE7) is still there, but interestingly. Can’t say that it changed, though, I am simply looking at it all differently.

The problem seems to be related to caching. Could there be an external file-loading, content-rendering, race condition that affects IE7?

When I set the Browser to “Always Refresh From Server,” I never see the anomaly.

If I set the browser to a normal caching scheme, and always clear the cache between selection of PageViews with and without the Editor, I never see the anomaly

If I set the browser to a normal caching scheme, and do nothing special, I almost always get the anomaly. (Often the first rendering is fine. It’s the successive selections of the PageView containing the Editor that show the problem.)

If I set the browser to a normal caching scheme, and EnableViewState on the Editor, I never see the anomaly. 

(Dang! I just now discovered this.  I’ve been shutting ViewState off on all the controls/processes not requiring it, to control bloat.)

Is EnableViewState true required for proper Editor rendering across nested PageViews (RenderSelectedPageOnly true) in IE7?

[Rumen]

Hello Robert,

It is not needed to enable the ViewState, because the problem could not be due to the ViewState.

If you are loading the editor with Ajax, it is possible that some of it skin css files are not loaded. In this case, my suggestion is to register the external skin of the control. The following KB article provides guidance how to do that:

Registering an external skin of RadEditor.

Best regards,
Rumen
the Telerik team

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