Kendo UI controls - declarative use documentation SUCKS !!!

[Aggelos]

Hi all, forgive for nagging, but as far as MVVM is concerned, the kendo UI documentation plainly pushes you away from any sort of declarative use of their controls.

There is not a single documentation page for any specific control, that illustrates declarative use. If you search for it, there is a single page tht deals with the issue with only generic info on it, and little or no regard for advanced use cases. For example ... how do I set the animation duration for a progress bar using declarative syntax ?

Right now the answer is "waste some time to try out all the different data-*** attributes you can think of, and all the kinds of values you can give them until you succeed"

I find that annoying [ to say the least ], but there is a more severe side-effect.

The junior programmer reading this documentation will NEVER spend additional time to try out stuff or even imagine that there is a declarative way of doing things. I've just finished porting to declarative a few hundred lines of code that were just there to initialize controls inside data-bound templates !  Meaning ... those junior devs will NEVER know what true MVVM is, and what it looks like.

And all that is the result of the wrong documentation. You guys should really think if you're competing with jQuery or Angular. And make it apparent too, because right now you're just pushing devs the wrong direction.

Sorry for the nagging, but I can't stand this anymore. 

[Atanas Korchev]

Hello,

Thank you for the honest feedback!

Indeed there isn't a specific page for every single widget. We are planning to address that in the future but it would take some time considering the growing number of Kendo UI widgets.

The linked help article tries to explain the rules to set every possible configuration option or event via data attributes:

Each widget configuration option can be set via a data attribute of the target element. Just add the "data-" prefix to the name of the configuration option and specify its value e.g.data-delay="100".

Options, which start with data do not require an additional "data" in the attribute name e.g. the dataTextField option is set via the data-text-field attribute anddataSource is set via the data-source attribute.

Complex configuration options are set as JavaScript object literals: data-source="{data: [{name: 'John Doe'},{name: 'Jane Doe'}]}".

The latter shows how to set a complex option such as the animation of the progress bar:

<div id="progress" data-role="progressbar" data-animation="{duration:1200}"></div>

Here is a live demo: http://jsbin.com/kefiveqe/1/edit

In short you can set all options available in the Configuration section from the API reference of the corresponding widget.

Feel free to let us know if you have any other questions!

Regards,
Atanas Korchev
Telerik

[Kurt]

I can only agree with Aggelos.
I have several times tried to use the API documentation and found no answer to my questions.
And with evenmore questions.

For instance, I am trying to build an Android App for the first time and want to use an external JSON file for data source.
And the example created in Visual Studio does that. My first thought was ..GREAT..  I can modify and get it to Work..

BUT WRONG...
kendo.data.ObservableObject.fn.init.apply()
is used in the example, but there is no explanation of these methods/events used by the ObservableObject class.

I cant find ANY description of WHY or HOW to use the "fn.init.apply()".

And I cant find ANY functional example on how to implement and use an external JSON file..

I.e. THE DOCUMENTATION IS LACKING BIG TIME...

But that only my humble opinion.
And if this the wrong place to post it. Let me know..

[danparker276]

Me too, I've been trying to find docs for "fn.init.apply()".  I guess you just have to stick it in there on an included javascript file or it won't work.

[Kurt]

@danparker276

I used a workaround, which worked perfectly regarding the use of .json files.

As you state combine it in a seperate JS file. I used jquery syntax to connect json data to my html element and the kendo.ui flawlessly displays the given information..

Worked perfectly.. JQUERY RULES!!!!!!!!

[Brette]

Not sure the documentation is the problem. The angular support for even basic use cases is barley supported. So far I feel dirty whenever I have to use their controls. Anyone used Wijmo? My guess is the experience would be similar.

[harald]

Does anyone know if this is this the case? 

 

[harald]

Does anyone know if this is still the case, i.e. lack of documentation? 

[Brette]

RUN!

[mark]

yep.  been looking for two days for any doco.  and we have 4 licenses.  tech support has not been forthcoming.  lots of talk, no action

[Dimo]

Hello Mark,

I am sorry to hear that our documentation is giving you a hard time. I checked the support history of your company and found an ongoing forum thread about the MVC Grid and the request parameters it sends to the server.

In case you need additional information on declarative widget initialization, which is not available online, please open a support ticket and we will readily provide it.

Regards,
Dimo
Telerik

[Christian]

Hello, though i actually agree with Aggelos in some matters, i don't really think Kendo UI is bad. I think the biggest flaw you guys have it's the little amount of documentation, and the lack of "real life" examples. You should be thinking about posting the manuals in other languages too. You guys do a very good job trying to answer all the questions you get, and that's very nice too.

My best regards and thank you!

Christian.

[Marin Bratanov]

Hello Christian,

We attempt to document the API of the controls so the developers using them can utilize it in an endless amount of scenarios.

Having a "real-life" example is a bit difficult because:

• its complexity would be high, and would involve some business logic or mockup of it, so learning from it will be slow
• it will be highly specific and thus, unlikely to cover the scenario many clients have
• it will have a limited use for a limited number of people while having a high creation cost and time

We do try to add how-to examples of common questions and if you can also contribute in the GitHub repository by adding your content and examples as well - pull requests are welcome :)

As for other languages—at this point the official language for communication with Telerik by Progress is English and we do not plan to create translations. They will have a high maintenance cost that will prevent us from creating new content in English instead.

I hope this explains the situation.

Regards,

Marin Bratanov
Telerik by Progress

 

 

[Robert]

I also have to agree with Aggelos...Kendo Documentation is horrible.  I can't tell you how many hours I have spent 'scouring' the internet looking for "tweeks" on the posted documentation-code because it doesn't work.

[Dimo]

Hi Robert,

We do listen to our customers, so I appreciate your sincere feedback.

This forum thread dates back to 2014 and I believe we have gone a long way since then. We update our documentation regularly and take into account customers' comments. If you stumble upon content, which needs improvement, please use the feedback form, which pops up when you click on the "Yes/No" links in the "Is this article helpful?" blue bar at the bottom of each documentation article. Thank you in advance.

Regards,
Dimo
Progress Telerik