New 'Opt in' mainling list suggestion

[Dan]

There has been a little bit of criticism of telerik of late wrt hotfixes. in fact I spent more than a day trying to create a standalone version of a rather difficult page to unpick to demonstrate a problem that, I discovered, there was already a fix for.

Can I please suggest that you create a simple mailing list. Users can opt in for details of hotfixes for individual products. The mailing list message would include (a) details of the isssue(s) addressed and a (members-only) area where users could access said hotfix without either having to post a forum request or raise a support ticket.

I don't imagine it would be hard for you guys to ensure that a member with only a subscription to, say, radGrid would have access only to that product's hotfixes.

--
Stuart

[Ivo]

Hello Stuart,

Most of the community members have already shown preference towards RSS feeds notifying for every new telerik release and this has been established as a regular practice over the past 1-2 years. Please subscribe to http://www.telerik.com/support.rss to stay updated for the latest telerik releases.

We also regularly update our Announcements forum and we have entries for every product update:
http://www.telerik.com/community/forums/allthreads/b312H-bga.aspx

We also provide a detailed Release History for every individual product available in your client.net. For example, this is the link for RadGrid: http://www.telerik.com/ReleaseHistory.aspx?id=476

What we have seen so far is that customers are happy with these channels to communicate new releases and what's new/fixed. If there is enough interest for a more advanced notification system we will be happy to implement something that will work better for the community. 

All the best,
Ivo
the telerik team

www.telerik.com | dnn.telerik.com | www.sitefinity.com

[Dan]

I've been subcribed to the Product Updates feed for months. I have certainly received nothing about the latest toolbar hotfix nor the 4.5.2 for Grid.

Looking back over the last alf-dozen or so entries shows:

16 Mar : Reporting 1.0 Beta2 new release
02 Mar : r.a.d.controls for ASP.NET Q4 2006 SP2 new release
16 Feb : Sitefinity Release Candidate
16 Feb : Reporting 1.0 Beta1 new release
12 Feb : r.a.d.controls for WinForms Q4 2006 SP2 new release

No mention there.

--
Stuart

[Ivo]

Hi Stuart,

I am not sure what exactly do you mean by the latest toolbar hotfix but this is the entry for RadGrid v4.5.2 in the feed from March 2nd: r.a.d.controls for ASP.NET Q4 SP2 new release:

r.a.d.grid v4.5.2

What’s New:

1. Default IDs for PerformInsert, Update, Cancel and Edit buttons are now implemented: PerformInsert = PerformInsertButton, Update = UpdateButton, Cancel = CancelButton and Edit = EditButton.
2. ValidationSettings are now included.
3. ClientSettings.EnablePostBackOnRowClick is now implemented.
4. Shift key now selects multiple rows
5. GridDropDownColumn.EnableEmptyListItem, EmptyListItemText and EmptyListItemValue are now implemented.
6. Bind() and Eval() are now implemented instead of DataBinder.Eval in templates when converting BoundColumn to TemplateColumn with the property builder.
7. New client-side events: OnHierarchyExpanding - can be canceled, OnHierarchyExpanded, OnHierarchyCollapsing - can be canceled, OnHierarchyCollapsed (only in HierarchyLoadMode="Client") and OnGroupExpanding - can be canceled, OnGroupExpanded, OnGroupCollapsing - can be canceled, OnGroupCollapsed (only in GroupLoadMode="Client").
8. RadGridTable.ReorderColumns(index1, index2) client-side method is not implemented.
9. ClientSettings.ColumnsReorderMethod is now introduced to select from Reorder or Swap.
10. ExportToExcel2007() and ExportToWord2007() without parameters are now implemented.
11. New client-side events: OnActiveRowChanging(can be canceled) and OnActiveRowChanged

What’s Fixed:

1. GridTemplateColumn no longer prepends a no-break space to the rendered ItemTemplate.
2. ApplyStylesOnClient no longer expands hierarchy in client load mode.
3. GetNestedStateManagerProperties now works as expected in medium trust.
4. EventValidation error when the grid is in NoPersistance mode, EnableAjax is false and submission is from Button or ImageButton is now fixed.
5. JavaScript error when clicking on combobox toggle image in case of filtering is now fixed.
6. GridCheckBoxColumn CheckBox is enabled even if ReadOnly is set to True in InPlace editing. The issue is now fixed.
7. GridCaption_SKIN class name is applied by default to the CAPTION tag in case of !EmptySkin().
8. GridClientSelectColumn CheckBox does not get selected in case of e.Item.Selected = true in ItemDataBound. The issue is now fixed.
9. NullRefence exception is now fixed in design-time when inside of a template.
10. GridTemplateColumn now properly clones DataField and AllowFiltering.
11. ENTER key in filter text box now behaves as expected in all scenarios.
12. "undefined" JavaScript error when expanding last row in client-side hierarchy is now fixed.
13. DeselectRow() now properly sets Selected to False client-side.
14. Filter menu now properly shows when AllowFilteringByColumn is set only on MasterTableView.
15. AutoPostBackOnFilter now works as expected with CurrentFilterFunction.
16. Column settings are no longer missing when converting GridBoundColumn to GridTemplateColumn using the property builder.
17. Grid dimensions are now correctly initialized when in unselected page view.
18. <%=%>Expressions and LinkButtons now behave as expected in CommandItemTemplate, PagerTemplate and NoRecordsTemplate
19. AllowNaturalSort is now moved in GridTableView.
20. Apply Filter when Pressing ENTER now works as expected for template columns.
21. Grid footer is now positioned correctly when exporting to excel.
22. OnRequestEnd is now correctly fired under Firefox 2.0.0.2.
23. "Next” page command does is now working correctly in case of custom paging and CurrentPageIndex = PageCount.
24. Scrolling with static headers rendering is now optimized.

Regards,
Ivo
the telerik team

www.telerik.com | dnn.telerik.com | www.sitefinity.com

[Dan]

I am not sure what exactly do you mean by the latest toolbar hotfixThe one I was sent in this support ticket.

You are, of course, right about the rss entry for Grid v4.5.2. But in another support ticket I received 2 patched to v4.5.2 both of them after the SP2 release. One of them is the currently in use version here.

--
Stuart

[Ivo]

Hi Stuart ,

You are right about these fixes that you immediately get through support tickets or in the forums. They are considered unofficial custom fixes and there are no announcements for them until they make it into an official service pack. The regular service packs that we release every month contain a collection of all fixes which have already been implemented and tested (and get announced through the RSS).

Best wishes,
Ivo
the telerik team

Instantly find answers to your questions at the new telerik Support Center

[Dan]

And, hence, my point. I had to spend a lot of time extracting the necessary code from my application to duplicate the problem I was having in a standalone page so that I could raise a ticket.

Having done so I was immediately sent a patch that fixed the problem. This, clearly, wasn't a patch for me becaus the date on the files went back a couple of weeks. Obviously this was a known issue. if the issue had been fixed proviously and if that information were available to the public, I could have searched for the details of the problem in my mailing list mail messages, found the fix and downloaded it for myself with out (a) the cost in time of producing the standalone code and (b) without having to bother your support system.

Don't get me wrong, that last thing I'm doing is complaining about support, I'm simply suggesting that publishing the details of these fixes might make it even better.

--
Stuart