Install of RadControls AJAX doesn't work: no design view, Could not load file or assembly 'Telerik.Web.UI'

[Rich]

I'm extremely frustrated.

I was sincerely hoping by now (after 4 years of using radcontrols) the install would simply work.

2 months ago i installed trial version of RadControls ASP.NET AJAX. The controls in design view never rendered "unknown server tag". I spent some time trying to resolve this, gacutil etc. didn't work. Also had problems getting my project to see the telerik dll and build. After some pain, i was able to build and publish my project.

I've now bought the controls and have re-installed. The controls still don't render. So today i've had some time to take another run at getting this working. No love. I am very disappointed that i have to spend my time trying to get something that should simply work working. I need to work on what people pay me for.. not this.. blah blah blah. Did i mention i am frustrated?

After a another gacutil run i had the controls rendering in design view but upon running/debugging my app i get the following error:

 

Server Error in '/' Application.

---

Parser Error

Description: An error occurred during the parsing of a resource required to service this request. Please review the following specific parse error details and modify your source file appropriately.

Parser Error Message: Could not load file or assembly 'Telerik.Web.UI' or one of its dependencies. The system cannot find the file specified.

Source Error:

[No relevant source lines]

Source File: none    Line: 0

Assembly Load Trace: The following information can be helpful to determine why the assembly 'Telerik.Web.UI' could not be loaded.

=== Pre-bind state information === LOG: User = TCRUISE\rich LOG: DisplayName = Telerik.Web.UI (Partial) LOG: Appbase = file:///F:/ProjectSourceCode/Propurchaser/trunk/Admin/ LOG: Initial PrivatePath = F:\ProjectSourceCode\Propurchaser\trunk\Admin\bin Calling assembly : (Unknown). === LOG: This bind starts in default load context. LOG: Using application configuration file: F:\ProjectSourceCode\Propurchaser\trunk\Admin\web.config LOG: Using machine configuration file from C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\config\machine.config. LOG: Policy not being applied to reference at this time (private, custom, partial, or location-based assembly bind). LOG: The same bind was seen before, and was failed with hr = 0x80070002.

I've tried removing and re-adding the references etc. This broke the design view and the app still doesn't build.

I am running VS 2008 with SP1 on a Vista ultimate machine, 64 bit. I can't imagine spending another 5 minutes dealing with this. I'm not the greatest programmer as is.. so any extra time i can actually get PROGRAMMING rather than system administering my useless machine is always a good thing. Someone at Telerik please give me the magic solution. I want to see my controls in design view and i want my application to run (see the telerik dll's). Not one or the other.. both at the same time. Please help. thanks.

webconfig.. someone will probably ask:

<

 

httpHandlers>

 

<

 

add verb="*" path="Telerik.Web.UI.WebResource.axd" type="Telerik.Web.UI.WebResource, Telerik.Web.UI" validate="false"/>

 

<

 

controls>

 

<

 

add tagPrefix="telerik" namespace="Telerik.Web.UI" assembly="Telerik.Web.UI"/>

 

[Shinu]

Hi Rich,

I have found the following forum links which discusses about a similar issue. Go through it and see if it shed light on the above mentioned  issue.
Could not load file or assembly
Error Creating Control

Shinu

[Rich]

Thanks for your help. I've read all these articles. None of them work. I've tried adding and removing everything from gac.. They seem to remove themselves after i add references in the project. Now nothing works for me. Project won't run and cannot see the controls in design view. Same old crap.

Someone from telerik needs to respond (AFTER fully reading my original message). this is so frustrating.

[Atanas Korchev]

Hello Rich,

If the controls fail in design time you can check this blog post. It explains why this happens and proposes a few workarounds.

If they fail in runtime this means that your web site is not referencing properly the Telerik.Web.UI.dll assembly. You can check if it is located in the bin folder of your web site. If deployed in GAC check your web.config file for a reference of Telerik.Web.UI.dll within the <assemblies> tag. Also make sure the version is correct.

Regards,
Albert
the Telerik team

Instantly find answers to your questions on the new Telerik Support Portal.
Check out the tips for optimizing your support resource searches.

[Rich]

Hi thanks,

I am running a new, clean install of VS 2008 SP1. So i used the radcontrols .exe installer package. Which is why i'm suprised the design time doesn't work. Runtime work(ed) until i tried some of the things listed in the blog and all the other forum articles talking about the same issue.

Here's some more info referencing the article:

1.
a. I have no bin folder. My project is a web application. Some of these articles could be updated to reflect that if possible might save some confusion. Again i am no pro. These things are confusing to me. Which is why i appreciate the included controls in VS. They just work. design and runtime. Challenge for Telerik would be to have their controls work in the same easy way the native VS controls do. Imagine the time you would save answering questions like these? supporting these issues? A lot of novice VS users/programmers are probably very unproductive with telerik if they encounter these problems. Telerik controls are AMAZING. getting them working, my experience has been difficult.  But i digress.
b. When i manually removed the design.dll from the GAC it broke the runtime. couldn't tell you why. Did i miss something?
so this option did not work for me.

2. to keep it short.. this did the same. broke with the design and runtime. Also, this suggests that i name the version of the dll i am using in my web config. Many forum posts and telerik documentation for newer version/fresh installs suggest that you do not need to specify the version. So do certain installs require the version to be specified? If so why? This might help people determine whether or not there specific setup requires the version to be specified.

3. I don't have a PublicAssemblies folder in c:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\Common7\IDE\ What does this mean? where else should i look?

So after another fresh uninstall and re-install, making sure everything was removed from the GAC before re-installing my design view is still broken. Adding a new reference to my project for the Telerik.Web.UI has fixed my runtime.

So what can i do? I don't want to know about any of this but since i'm required to spend the time i hope you can appreciate my feedback. Clearly i'm doing something wrong. I think it should be a mandate to have telerik as easy to install and get working in any project as the native VS controls. Judging by the huge number of posts on the subject it would seem to make sense to improve the install rather than train the users.. If your competitors controls are just as difficult to install i'm sure you could double your customer base by having the best controls that just work. Just my 2 cents. Thanks for you help.. Please let me know if you have any other ideas.

[illumination]

have you tried to see this posting? http://www.telerik.com/community/forums/aspnet-ajax/vs-extensions/install-error.aspx

[Rich]

thanks for the reply.

I think i've finally resolved the issue.

I have VS installed on a non-system drive. VS will store temp bin folders in a projects folder for each user on your machine. Also, these bins can be stored in an additional 2 places if you have VS installed anywhere other than the c drive. If you have installed more than 1 (even if you've UNinstalled previous versions) your design view can still fail as these old references to the telerik.web.design.dll are not completely removed with the uninstall. Track them all down and remove after uninstalling telerik. delete the temp project folders, re-install telerik, re-add references to your project and everything works (for me anyway). You may have to re-add some of the telerik controls to your pages. Sorry i am not being more accurate

I will post more when if i get a chance. I need to catch up on some actual work. I truly appreciate all the help.

Rich