[Solved] Kendo UI MVC Extensions & MVC

[H]

Hi,

I read the MVC FAQ in the Kendo section & followed the discussion on this thread about the upcoming Kendo UI MVC  Extensions:
http://www.telerik.com/community/forums/aspnet-mvc/general/kendo-ui-vs-mvc-controls-for-a-new-html5-project-in-a-complete-net-environment.aspx

I just want to check & be sure - once the Kendo UI MVC Extensions are released, will Telerik continue to update & enhance the MVC Extensions too?  Or will the new Kendo UI MVC Extensions replace the existing MVC extensions?

Also, any date yet on when the Kendo UI MVC Extensions will be released?

Thanks.

[Zsolt]

Indeed a good question and it would be great if Telerik would pay attention to this post and provide clarification on the topic.

We have invested time and effort to adopt Telerik MVC. Now it seems there is no Telerik MVC roadmap any more, and in the mean time Kendo UI will include MVC wrappers in the Q2 release. It seems Telerik does move away from MVC and will be implementing MVC server side handlers in Kendo UI. 

So could Telerik admin let us know what is happening with Telerik MVC terms of continuity please?

[Sebastian]

Hi guys,

Indeed, as the forum thread you linked states, we will be consolidating the Kendo UI and Telerik MVC Extensions product lines in the near future, for two main reasons:

• give you the advantages of the pure client-side HTML5/JS desktop and mobile development
• combine the above with the features available in the ASP.NET MVC framework

At this juncture I am not able to disclose any official information on this topic, however expect a formal announcement at the very end of this month. It will go out simultaneously with the Beta release of Kendo UI ASP.NET MVC server wrappers, followed by the official release of these wrappers in the middle of July. 

We are also committed to provide a comprehensive migration path (as part of the docs) for all Telerik MVC Extensions users who would like to migrate their existing code to Kendo UI for ASP.NET MVC. Kendo UI for ASP.NET MVC will be the product that is recommended for new MVC development and actively developed in the future.

Stand by for more information in a few weeks. 

Kind regards,

Sebastian
the Telerik team

[CMMeyers]

Hi,

Sebastian, is there any information available regarding what functionality will be present once these two are combined?  Currently there are many differences between the two that simply providing wrappers for Kendo UI will not account for.  Two of the main ones I can think of off the top of my head are

1. The MVC Extensions provide 19 themes which match the asp.net web forms themes. Kendo UI has 5 themes which do not at all match what is currently available in the MVC extensions.
2. The functionality is not the same between the two products.  In particular the MVC extensions grid appears to have more functionality such as the pager (kendo ui missing totals display, refresh button, next/skip to end buttons, etc) and it could just be missing from the demos but I don't see grouping and filtering examples for kendo ui.  Also I suppose it could be covered by the MVC wrappers once released but there is all the server side functionality such as binding, templates, hierarchies, etc in addition to what kendo ui would already support with the ajax based versions of the mentioned pieces.

So I guess basically what I am asking is prior to consolidation will Kendo UI be brought up to speed to include what is already in the MVC extensions but missing from Kendo UI for the things that are in addition to simply being able to declare the control via the wrappers using Razor or Webforms syntax rather than with javascript?

Thanks,
Chris

[Sebastian]

Hello Chris,

Those are indeed fair questions and I will try to address them from the current perspective:

1. With their official release in mid July, the Kendo UI MVC wrappers will incorporate the complete current set of Telerik MVC Extensions themes. Mind you that for the first Kendo UI MVC Beta we will most likely be able to include only one or two of the Telerik MVC Extensions themes.
2. Indeed the Kendo UI grid pager still does not have the entire functionality available in the Telerik MVC Extensions grid. We will be aiming to fill this gap for the upcoming releases of Kendo UI. This holds true for the other Kendo UI widgets as well, and their future MVC wrappers.
   As for the grouping/filtering and aggregates Kendo UI grid features - although there are no separate demos for them, they are presented in the Basic Usage and Binding to local/remote data examples.
   Also, your assumption about the server binding, template, hierarchy, etc. support for the Kendo UI MVC wrappers is correct - they will be supported for the formal release.

Expect the official announcement on this topic in a couple of days, along with additional details and migration guidelines in the upcoming weeks.

Kind regards,
Sebastian
the Telerik team

[Nim]

I have a question about the posting on May 29, 2012:

"...With their official release in mid July, the Kendo UI MVC wrappers will incorporate the complete current set of Telerik MVC Extensions themes..."

Currently we're using the Telerik Externsions for MVC with "telerik.Office2007" theme.  I'm exploring the possibility to upgrade it to Kendo UI.  When I look at the Kendo UI demo, I see only five themes there which does not include the "telerik.Office2007".  The closest one may be "Blue Opal" but it is not the same, and this will create problem for us.

Here's my question:

1) Where is the documentation about the available themes of Kendo UI for MVC?
2) Do you have "telerik.Office2007" theme for Kendo UI?

Thank you,

Nim