Telerik RADGrid - most efficient use

Question

Do you typically use the designer or do everything in the ASPX?

Are the resources you've found particularly helpful to come up to speed quickly on how to use this control? I've noticed the intellisense comments for this control are minimal.

I'm continuing to browse the documentation on Telerik's web site, I'm wondering if there are any quicker -- "How to bind a dataset and customize the grid using templates in 15 seconds" type of article. Trying to reduce my learning curve for using this control.

Answer 1

We recently started using RADGrid on my team. We have found their LiveExamples to be very informative. The biggest part of easing use of RADGrid is not the grid itself but in how the data is populated. If you simply want to test the layout of the grid initially then you can use any collection that implements IEnumerable (and a couple of others) as the datasource.

void RadGrid1_NeedDataSource(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    List<Stuff> things = new List<Stuff>;
    /// fill the list
    RadGrid1.DataSource = things;
}

This will let you focus on the presentation of the collection in the grid. I would refer to the LiveExamples included in the installation for a full explanation of these and to see them in action. The LiveExamples are really quite nice.

When it comes time to plug in your data, use an ORM framework (like NHibernate or Linq2SQL) to get collections of objects and bind these collections to the DataSource as above.

You can use plain DataTables and DataSets to bind to the DataSource also, but those are only good for very small applications.

Answer 2

Go through the live examples as they are very good. The forums are really good too and people are really responsive there. The developers maintain blogs with extra code samples that have helped in a lot of areas.

In respects to using IEnumerable objects with the datasource, be sure to review the content regarding the OnNeedDataSource event, as this will critical for you to understand when you want the grid to sort and filter.

Answer 3

I have been using telerik for about 2 years. The examples are okay for finding out what you can do... But they have very little actual code that will help. Use the knowledge base for specifics.

http://www.telerik.com/help/aspnet-ajax/gridoverview.html

The forms are good if you are stuck and don't have support or can't wait that 24+ hours to get a response.

Also, using the designer creates some pretty messy code w/ telerik controls (much like other controls). I used to do all my changes in the designer but it messed up my .aspx code pretty bad most of the time. Instead, I create themes and skins so that the standard options can be set across my app. This cuts down on a lot of our code and helps w/ standardizing.

<%-- GridView --%>
<telerik:RadGrid 
    skinID="defaultGridView" 
    runat="server" 
    Skin="Web20"
    AutoGenerateColumns="false" 
    GridLines="None" 
    AllowPaging="True" 
    AllowSorting="True" 
    EnableAJAX="False" 
    ShowGroupPanel="False"
    PagerStyle-Mode="NumericPages" />  

<telerik:RadGrid 
    skinID="defaultGridView2" 
    runat="server" 
    Skin="Green"
    AutoGenerateColumns="false" 
    GridLines="None" 
    AllowPaging="True" 
    AllowSorting="True" 
    EnableAJAX="True" 
    ShowGroupPanel="False" />

Answer 4

I find their help how-to's very helpful as well. http://www.telerik.com/help/aspnet-ajax/ajxajax.html

Answer 5

We use the Telerik ASP.NET user controls in a majority of our internal/external applications and found them to be quite usefully.

Also, they have a very good support site: Telerik Support.