Export styles not being applied in IE

[Adam]

I'm having a problem with PDF exporting from RadGrid.

Basically the programmatic styles I apply to the columns and cells are not getting applied if I export using Internet Explorer. Firefox and Chrome work fine. I'm utterly at a loss as to how this happens, here is the style-specific code I use:

protected void btnExport_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        isExport = true;
        List_SelectedIndexChanged(new object(), new EventArgs()); //this applies a filter expression based on front end controls
        ApplyColumnSettings();

        G1.ExportSettings.ExportOnlyData = true;
        G1.ExportSettings.OpenInNewWindow = true;
        G1.ExportSettings.FileName = "FileName";
        G1.ExportSettings.Pdf.Title = "Title";
        G1.ExportSettings.Pdf.Author = "Author";
        expanded = new bool[G1.Items.Count];
        foreach (GridDataItem i in G1.Items)
        {
            if (i.Expanded)
                expanded[i.ItemIndex] = true;
            else
                expanded[i.ItemIndex] = false;
        }
        G1.MasterTableView.ExportToPdf();
    }
protected void ApplyColumnSettings()
    {
        foreach (GridColumn col in G1.MasterTableView.Columns)
        {
            switch (col.UniqueName)
            {
                case "exCol": col.Visible = false; break;
                case "ExpandColumn": col.Visible = false; break;
                case "ItemNumber": col.Visible = false; break;
                case "ItemNumberLink": col.Visible = true; col.HeaderStyle.Width = Unit.Pixel(37);break;
                case "COURSE_ID": col.HeaderStyle.Width = Unit.Pixel(130); break;
                case "COURSE_TITLE": col.HeaderStyle.Width = Unit.Pixel(255); break;
                case "INSTR_NAME": col.HeaderStyle.Width = Unit.Pixel(80); break;
                case "day_CD": col.HeaderStyle.Width = Unit.Pixel(100); break;
                case "time": col.HeaderStyle.Width = Unit.Pixel(120); break;
                case "room_loc": col.HeaderStyle.Width = Unit.Pixel(130); break;
                case "BRANCH": col.HeaderStyle.Width = Unit.Pixel(100); break;
                case "type": col.HeaderStyle.Width = Unit.Pixel(70); break;
                case "SeatsLeft": col.HeaderStyle.Width = Unit.Pixel(70); break;
                case "cr": col.HeaderStyle.Width = Unit.Pixel(50); break;

            }
        }
    }

    protected void G1_ItemCreated(object sender, GridItemEventArgs e)
    {
        if (isExport)
            ApplyPDFStyles(e.Item);
    }

protected void ApplyPDFStyles(GridItem item)
    {
        if (item is GridHeaderItem)
            item.Style["background-color"] = "#EEEEEE";
        foreach (TableCell cell in item.Cells)
            cell.Style["text-align"] = "left";

    }

I've attached a picture showing how the header styles come out (the data fallows the same patterns), notice how the far right column gets chomped off all together...

Any ideas?

[Adam]

I have done some more debugging and found what I believe to be a bug or at least an oversight with how the Export to PDF works.

I compared the raw HTML which I captured from the OnPdfExporting event.

I noticed that the HTML generated for Chrome was not the same as the html generated for IE, it was very close, but there was 1 subtle difference:

    <colgroup>
        <col style="width:20px;display:none;" />
        <col  />
        <col  />
        <col  />
        <col  />
        <col  />
        <col  />
        <col  />
        <col  />
        <col  />
        <col  />
        <col  />
        <col  />
        <col  />
</colgroup>

In chrome, the first <col> tag has a display:none style, where as in IE, the <col> tag is simply not there (so there is 1 less ,<col> tag in the <colgroup>).

I tracked down what the first row is, it is the default Expand column built into the rad grid. In my code however I have this:

protected void G1_DataBound(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
     G1.MasterTableView.GetColumn("ExpandColumn").Display = false;
}

Because want the grid to be expand/collapsible, but i had the row expand/collapse functionality manually added in elsewhere.

So basically the situation is that setting the .Display property of a Grid column to false makes the column get deleted from the html rendering, which causes the last column to get cut off in the PDF rendering because it's expecting 1 less column...

I'd be appreciative of one anyones (especially Telerik developers) thoughts on this as well as any good work around...

Using 2010.1.309.35 (I've also tested with Q3 2009 and it's the same).

[Daniel]

Hello Adam,

I answered in the support ticket you submitted. I suppose the problem is related to browser behavior. Either way, when we identify the exact issue I will post the solution here.

Regards,
Daniel
the Telerik team

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[Daniel]

As I thought, the problem arises when one set visibility:hidden to a col element in Internet Explorer 7 (or IE8 compatibility mode) - this will hide the neighboring column.

In the scenario below, if you want to hide the column you can use one of the following options:

1) Use HideStructureColumns

<ExportSettings HideStructureColumns="true" />
<MasterTableView...

2) Set the column width to 1px

protected void  RadGrid1_DataBound(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    RadGrid1.MasterTableView.GetColumn("ExpandColumn").HeaderStyle.Width = 1;
}

Regards,
Daniel
the Telerik team

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[Adam]

Setting the header column width to 1 worked well for my situation (HideStructureColumns does work as advertised also).
Thanks for the help!