or
4 answers
292 views
I've been using various Telerik controls for a few years now. I've used the ASP.Net/Ajax controls, the WinForms Controls, the Reporting library, and now as my latest application is based on WPF, I've been trying out some of the WPF controls. I've been fairly happy with Telerik controls in the past on other platforms with minor exceptions here and there.
Using the WPF controls though, I find myself getting frustrated and not finding much use for them. I know WPF is still young, but somethings I'm running into that I would expect better results on are listed below.
1. The documentation is poor. Compared to other control sets here at Telerik, I often find myself unable to find how to do something other than by trial and error. The documentation samples are minimal and features are given very cursory overviews. Usually I end up having to just plop a control in my xaml and start playing with intellisense options to figure out anything.
2. DataBinding in WPF is much more powerful than in WinForms. However, it appears in many cases when building up the controls, Telerik had a very WinForms centric view. I've run into numerous occations where I have tried to bind a property only to be told I can't bind it because it's not a Dependancy Property. Unless there are very good reasons, I would expect most any property on a control to be a bindable dependancy property.
3. DataGrid - I see little reason to use the DataGrid instead of the DataGrid in the WPF Toolkit. The DataGrids in the other products are very rich and provide many reasons to use them over the stock Grid. Using the Telerik DataGrid in WPF it almost feels crippled when I can't help but compare it to the other products. Filtering is probably the biggest downside on this one. I know I can add in some custom filtering as per some of the examples, but in my opinion filtering should be the same across all platforms you offer. I had an idea on how I could restyle the header and include my own filter controls similar to the other products, but again, refering to number 2 above, I ran into some things I couldn't bind to. I'd also like to see not just for the DataGrid, but especially for the DataGrid a more "plain" theme choice.
4. Chart - The chart control has some severe limitations. The biggest being the inability to use strings as values. Probably the most basic chart is either a column or pie chart. In a column chart, the most common use is to show for a series of categories, different values. In almost all instances the categories are either strings or dates. By not allowing string values, it makes it hard/impossible to show a very basic chart. There is another post on this issue where it's described how in code behind you can reset the tick labels after binding or some such thing but that is a very smelly solution. In general the chart is not very friendly for declarative structure and binding. I should be able to describe in XAML how it should work and bind it to a collection and get the chart I want. Almost all examples show everything driven in code behind and I believe the reason is the xaml is either convoluted or in many cases not even possible. One of your examples is an MVVM example and I laughed when I saw it as it wasn't MVVM at all. You had a XAML file with a few bindings and a slew of code behind interacting with the GUI. The project I am working on is entirely MVVM and I have yet to find a reason to put code in the code-behind of a XAML file. There are always the exceptions where the code is truely just for the GUI and it makes sense and I'll likely have a small bit of codebehind when the project is finished but in general everything should be declarative and code/logic kept separate in the viewmodel. In the end, for now I'm using another company's chart control as it allows better MVVM support as well as string values.
5. Other controls - I haven't gotten to using any of the other controls yet as most seemed derivative of the standard controls with not much value add. It might in some cases save a bit of customizing the standard controls, but I have a feeling after using the controls I have used, I'd run into more issues/customizing than it would save.
In closing, I am still a fan of Telerik but can only really recommend their more mature toolkits. I was hoping for a lot more changes in 2009Q1 as I felt there had been enough time since the first WPF drops to mature the product.
Using the WPF controls though, I find myself getting frustrated and not finding much use for them. I know WPF is still young, but somethings I'm running into that I would expect better results on are listed below.
1. The documentation is poor. Compared to other control sets here at Telerik, I often find myself unable to find how to do something other than by trial and error. The documentation samples are minimal and features are given very cursory overviews. Usually I end up having to just plop a control in my xaml and start playing with intellisense options to figure out anything.
2. DataBinding in WPF is much more powerful than in WinForms. However, it appears in many cases when building up the controls, Telerik had a very WinForms centric view. I've run into numerous occations where I have tried to bind a property only to be told I can't bind it because it's not a Dependancy Property. Unless there are very good reasons, I would expect most any property on a control to be a bindable dependancy property.
3. DataGrid - I see little reason to use the DataGrid instead of the DataGrid in the WPF Toolkit. The DataGrids in the other products are very rich and provide many reasons to use them over the stock Grid. Using the Telerik DataGrid in WPF it almost feels crippled when I can't help but compare it to the other products. Filtering is probably the biggest downside on this one. I know I can add in some custom filtering as per some of the examples, but in my opinion filtering should be the same across all platforms you offer. I had an idea on how I could restyle the header and include my own filter controls similar to the other products, but again, refering to number 2 above, I ran into some things I couldn't bind to. I'd also like to see not just for the DataGrid, but especially for the DataGrid a more "plain" theme choice.
4. Chart - The chart control has some severe limitations. The biggest being the inability to use strings as values. Probably the most basic chart is either a column or pie chart. In a column chart, the most common use is to show for a series of categories, different values. In almost all instances the categories are either strings or dates. By not allowing string values, it makes it hard/impossible to show a very basic chart. There is another post on this issue where it's described how in code behind you can reset the tick labels after binding or some such thing but that is a very smelly solution. In general the chart is not very friendly for declarative structure and binding. I should be able to describe in XAML how it should work and bind it to a collection and get the chart I want. Almost all examples show everything driven in code behind and I believe the reason is the xaml is either convoluted or in many cases not even possible. One of your examples is an MVVM example and I laughed when I saw it as it wasn't MVVM at all. You had a XAML file with a few bindings and a slew of code behind interacting with the GUI. The project I am working on is entirely MVVM and I have yet to find a reason to put code in the code-behind of a XAML file. There are always the exceptions where the code is truely just for the GUI and it makes sense and I'll likely have a small bit of codebehind when the project is finished but in general everything should be declarative and code/logic kept separate in the viewmodel. In the end, for now I'm using another company's chart control as it allows better MVVM support as well as string values.
5. Other controls - I haven't gotten to using any of the other controls yet as most seemed derivative of the standard controls with not much value add. It might in some cases save a bit of customizing the standard controls, but I have a feeling after using the controls I have used, I'd run into more issues/customizing than it would save.
In closing, I am still a fan of Telerik but can only really recommend their more mature toolkits. I was hoping for a lot more changes in 2009Q1 as I felt there had been enough time since the first WPF drops to mature the product.
Hristo Deshev
Telerik team
answered
on
19 Mar 2009
1 answer
138 views
Our code used to work before upgrading to March 09.
None of the columns are there and the count that I used to get on my last line is 0.
Can you please advise?
| public SearchResultsPage(cRecordIndexObjectList[] recordIndexObjectList) |
| { |
| InitializeComponent(); |
| dt = new DataTable(); |
| General.ConvertRecordIndexObjectToTable(recordIndexObjectList, dt,null); |
| gvSearchResults.ItemsSource = dt; |
| // Hide the IsBold column |
| GridViewColumn columnBold = gvSearchResults.Columns["IsBold"]; |
| if (columnBold != null) |
| columnBold.IsVisible = false; |
| // Hide the RecordIndexObjectList object |
| GridViewColumn column = gvSearchResults.Columns["RecordIndexObjectList"]; |
| if (column != null) |
| column.IsVisible = false; |
| gvSearchResults.Visibility = Visibility.Visible; |
| lblTotal.Content = "Total Records: " + gvSearchResults.Records.Count; |
| } |
None of the columns are there and the count that I used to get on my last line is 0.
Can you please advise?
Nedyalko Nikolov
Telerik team
answered
on
18 Mar 2009
2 answers
117 views
Hello,
After upgrading to the latest version (2009.1.312.35) of the WPF Grid View my custom grid editor controls have stopped working, though they worked fine with the previous version (2008.3.1217.35). I used ideas from a forum post to create a grid editor control that allows users to type in any value they want in the combo box so they're not restricted to just the values in the list.
Now whenever I double click to edit a cell using my custom editor control, the value gets cleared and the editor does not show up. I have to click a third time to get the editor to appear and once it does it is blank because the value got cleared. When I debug I can see that the DataContext is always null whereas with the previous version the DataContext was always populated with the object the row was bound to.
I can reproduce this behaviour in the ForeignKey sample project from the forum post that I linked to earlier by making the following changes.
Changed this:
to this:
Notice how when you double click on a cell in the PersonType column, the value gets cleared. Once you click a third time the editor will appear.
(Please note that to get this sample project to work with the latest version of the grid I also had to change the editor settings properties to be regular properties because EditorSettings seems to no longer be a dependency object.)
I hope someone can help me with this problem.
Thanks,
Joel
After upgrading to the latest version (2009.1.312.35) of the WPF Grid View my custom grid editor controls have stopped working, though they worked fine with the previous version (2008.3.1217.35). I used ideas from a forum post to create a grid editor control that allows users to type in any value they want in the combo box so they're not restricted to just the values in the list.
Now whenever I double click to edit a cell using my custom editor control, the value gets cleared and the editor does not show up. I have to click a third time to get the editor to appear and once it does it is blank because the value got cleared. When I debug I can see that the DataContext is always null whereas with the previous version the DataContext was always populated with the object the row was bound to.
I can reproduce this behaviour in the ForeignKey sample project from the forum post that I linked to earlier by making the following changes.
Changed this:
| comboBoxEditor.GotFocus += ((sender, e) => |
| { |
| PersonType personType = (PersonType)((Field)this.DataContext).Value; |
| comboBoxEditor.SelectedItem = (from PersonType item in comboBoxEditor.Items |
| where item.PersonTypeID == personType.PersonTypeID |
| select item).FirstOrDefault(); |
| }); |
to this:
| comboBoxEditor.GotFocus += ((sender, e) => |
| { |
| var person = DataContext as Person; |
| if (person != null && person.PersonType != null) |
| { |
| comboBoxEditor.SelectedItem = (from PersonType item in comboBoxEditor.Items |
| where item.PersonTypeID == person.PersonType.PersonTypeID |
| select item).FirstOrDefault(); |
| } |
| }); |
Notice how when you double click on a cell in the PersonType column, the value gets cleared. Once you click a third time the editor will appear.
(Please note that to get this sample project to work with the latest version of the grid I also had to change the editor settings properties to be regular properties because EditorSettings seems to no longer be a dependency object.)
I hope someone can help me with this problem.
Thanks,
Joel
1 answer
91 views
Hi,
I had downloaded the latest DLLs in the RadControls for WPF (Version: 2009.1 312). The existing project has started giving some errors as follows:
1. The property 'IsHierarchyRoot' does not exist in XML namespace 'http://schemas.telerik.com/2008/xaml/presentation'
2. The type 'telerik:GridViewBackground' was not found.
3. The type 'telerik:NavigationPresenter' was not found.
Please Advice. Is there any new DLL that need to be referred?
Regards
Ashish Garg
I had downloaded the latest DLLs in the RadControls for WPF (Version: 2009.1 312). The existing project has started giving some errors as follows:
1. The property 'IsHierarchyRoot' does not exist in XML namespace 'http://schemas.telerik.com/2008/xaml/presentation'
2. The type 'telerik:GridViewBackground' was not found.
3. The type 'telerik:NavigationPresenter' was not found.
Please Advice. Is there any new DLL that need to be referred?
Regards
Ashish Garg
Hristo Deshev
Telerik team
answered
on
18 Mar 2009
1 answer
44 views
Our MouseLeftButtonDown events no longer fire. So we changed to MouseLeftButtonUp and that works. Why doesn't MouseLeftButtonDown work anymore?
Pavel Pavlov
Telerik team
answered
on
17 Mar 2009
3 answers
240 views
Hello!
I use the ASP.NET telerik controls and love them...
However in a new development project at my company, it has been decided to use WPF as both a desktop solution (great! Meant for that!) but also as a "web product". It will be accessible via a public site but also sold for intranet use. It is a HUGE RMS system for the fire industry. Are there any case studies using WPF application run in this way? Over the internet via browser? What are the limitations? I have not been able to find ANY information really on using WPF as a web application.
I know ASP.NET is used for web apps, but in this case, management wants to use WPF. Mainly for the single code base (Desktop/web). However, it does not appear to have been meant for web deployment based on the literature... THoughts?
Thanks
Harold
I use the ASP.NET telerik controls and love them...
However in a new development project at my company, it has been decided to use WPF as both a desktop solution (great! Meant for that!) but also as a "web product". It will be accessible via a public site but also sold for intranet use. It is a HUGE RMS system for the fire industry. Are there any case studies using WPF application run in this way? Over the internet via browser? What are the limitations? I have not been able to find ANY information really on using WPF as a web application.
I know ASP.NET is used for web apps, but in this case, management wants to use WPF. Mainly for the single code base (Desktop/web). However, it does not appear to have been meant for web deployment based on the literature... THoughts?
Thanks
Harold
Vlad
Telerik team
answered
on
17 Mar 2009
1 answer
119 views
I installed RadControls for WPF Q1 2009. I can't get any tools to post to the Toolbox. I select RadCarouselPanel on the WPF tab, click OK, but nothing gets added. I've added Telerik.Windows.Controls as a reference.
Added 3/15. VS2008SP1 now restarts anytime I try to add a tool. This seems to be a VS problem. I've tried "devenv /reset and /safemode w/o success. I see where this was a problem before SP1. Any help appreciated; it makes it hard to use RadControls!
Added 3/17. Toolbox now working see - Can't add items to toolbox in Visual Studio 2008
Added 3/15. VS2008SP1 now restarts anytime I try to add a tool. This seems to be a VS problem. I've tried "devenv /reset and /safemode w/o success. I see where this was a problem before SP1. Any help appreciated; it makes it hard to use RadControls!
Added 3/17. Toolbox now working see - Can't add items to toolbox in Visual Studio 2008
Hristo Deshev
Telerik team
answered
on
17 Mar 2009
2 answers
139 views
Hi Telerik,
In Q1 2009 when I drop down the list for the StyleManager.Theme in the IDE (Blend AND VS2008) a strange gradiant (purple to blue with a black line under) list appears for the list of themes.
I can get you a screenshot if you need it.
~Mike
In Q1 2009 when I drop down the list for the StyleManager.Theme in the IDE (Blend AND VS2008) a strange gradiant (purple to blue with a black line under) list appears for the list of themes.
I can get you a screenshot if you need it.
~Mike
Hristo
Telerik team
answered
on
16 Mar 2009
1 answer
280 views
I download and installed the latest 2009 Q1 release and the included demo examples contains a lot of errors:
XmlRepository.cs(119,11): error CS1502: The best overloaded method match for 'System.Collections.ObjectModel.ObservableCollection<Telerik.Windows.Examples.Employee>.ObservableCollection(System.Collections.Generic.List<Telerik.Windows.Examples.Employee>)' has some invalid arguments
XmlRepository.cs(121,5): error CS1503: Argument '1': cannot convert from 'System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable<Telerik.Windows.Examples.Employee>' to 'System.Collections.Generic.List<Telerik.Windows.Examples.Employee>'
XmlRepository.cs(220,14): error CS1502: The best overloaded method match for 'System.Collections.ObjectModel.ObservableCollection<Telerik.Windows.Examples.Order>.ObservableCollection(System.Collections.Generic.List<Telerik.Windows.Examples.Order>)' has some invalid arguments
XmlRepository.cs(220,46): error CS1503: Argument '1': cannot convert from 'System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable<Telerik.Windows.Examples.Order>' to 'System.Collections.Generic.List<Telerik.Windows.Examples.Order>'
Gauge\Gallery\CarDashboard\Example.xaml.cs(96,4): error CS1501: No overload for method 'Begin' takes '0' arguments
Gauge\Gallery\CarDashboard\Example.xaml.cs(104,4): error CS1501: No overload for method 'Stop' takes '0' arguments
Gauge\Gallery\CarDashboard\Example.xaml.cs(116,6): error CS1501: No overload for method 'Begin' takes '0' arguments
Gauge\Gallery\CarDashboard\Example.xaml.cs(133,6): error CS1501: No overload for method 'Begin' takes '0' arguments
Gauge\Gallery\WeatherStation\Example.xaml.cs(125,4): error CS1501: No overload for method 'Begin' takes '0' arguments
GridView\RowPreview\Example.xaml.cs(89,15): error CS0117: 'System.Windows.Media.Animation.Storyboard' does not contain a definition for 'SetTarget'
GridView\RowPreview\Example.xaml.cs(94,4): error CS1501: No overload for method 'Begin' takes '0' arguments
GridView\DataSources\Example.xaml.cs(180,11): error CS1502: The best overloaded method match for 'System.Collections.ObjectModel.ObservableCollection<Telerik.Windows.Examples.Customer>.ObservableCollection(System.Collections.Generic.List<Telerik.Windows.Examples.Customer>)' has some invalid arguments
GridView\DataSources\Example.xaml.cs(180,46): error CS1503: Argument '1': cannot convert from 'System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable<Telerik.Windows.Examples.Customer>' to 'System.Collections.Generic.List<Telerik.Windows.Examples.Customer>'
my laptop is setup with:
VS2008, .Net 3.5 SP1, XP2Pro
Any solution? Tnx.
XmlRepository.cs(119,11): error CS1502: The best overloaded method match for 'System.Collections.ObjectModel.ObservableCollection<Telerik.Windows.Examples.Employee>.ObservableCollection(System.Collections.Generic.List<Telerik.Windows.Examples.Employee>)' has some invalid arguments
XmlRepository.cs(121,5): error CS1503: Argument '1': cannot convert from 'System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable<Telerik.Windows.Examples.Employee>' to 'System.Collections.Generic.List<Telerik.Windows.Examples.Employee>'
XmlRepository.cs(220,14): error CS1502: The best overloaded method match for 'System.Collections.ObjectModel.ObservableCollection<Telerik.Windows.Examples.Order>.ObservableCollection(System.Collections.Generic.List<Telerik.Windows.Examples.Order>)' has some invalid arguments
XmlRepository.cs(220,46): error CS1503: Argument '1': cannot convert from 'System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable<Telerik.Windows.Examples.Order>' to 'System.Collections.Generic.List<Telerik.Windows.Examples.Order>'
Gauge\Gallery\CarDashboard\Example.xaml.cs(96,4): error CS1501: No overload for method 'Begin' takes '0' arguments
Gauge\Gallery\CarDashboard\Example.xaml.cs(104,4): error CS1501: No overload for method 'Stop' takes '0' arguments
Gauge\Gallery\CarDashboard\Example.xaml.cs(116,6): error CS1501: No overload for method 'Begin' takes '0' arguments
Gauge\Gallery\CarDashboard\Example.xaml.cs(133,6): error CS1501: No overload for method 'Begin' takes '0' arguments
Gauge\Gallery\WeatherStation\Example.xaml.cs(125,4): error CS1501: No overload for method 'Begin' takes '0' arguments
GridView\RowPreview\Example.xaml.cs(89,15): error CS0117: 'System.Windows.Media.Animation.Storyboard' does not contain a definition for 'SetTarget'
GridView\RowPreview\Example.xaml.cs(94,4): error CS1501: No overload for method 'Begin' takes '0' arguments
GridView\DataSources\Example.xaml.cs(180,11): error CS1502: The best overloaded method match for 'System.Collections.ObjectModel.ObservableCollection<Telerik.Windows.Examples.Customer>.ObservableCollection(System.Collections.Generic.List<Telerik.Windows.Examples.Customer>)' has some invalid arguments
GridView\DataSources\Example.xaml.cs(180,46): error CS1503: Argument '1': cannot convert from 'System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable<Telerik.Windows.Examples.Customer>' to 'System.Collections.Generic.List<Telerik.Windows.Examples.Customer>'
my laptop is setup with:
VS2008, .Net 3.5 SP1, XP2Pro
Any solution? Tnx.
Hristo Deshev
Telerik team
answered
on
16 Mar 2009
3 answers
190 views
Is there currently a way to label the series on a pie chart from a data field ?
Giuseppe
Telerik team
answered
on
16 Mar 2009
