Pro Telerik ASP.NET and Silverlight Controls (Pro Series)

✍ Scribed by Jose Rolando Guay Paz

• Publisher: Apress
• Year: 2010
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 697
• Series: Pro Series
• Edition: 1
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

One question often asked in software discussions is "Build vs. Buy". In other words, is it more cost effective to utilize your development team to build reusable components of software or should the organization purchase a commercial offering. Buying components that handle the generic functions of an application allows the development team to focus on creating software that provides true business value.

The question then comes down to which tools to use, and how to use them. Telerik is an award winning and industry leader provider of controls for .NET developers, as well as reporting, Object Relational Mapping, Agile Project Management, and Visual Studio productivity add-ins. This book does a great job of diving into how to use the RadControls for ASP.NET Ajax, RadControls for Silverlight, Telerik Reporting, OpenAccess ORM, and ASP.NET MVC Extensions.

"Pro Telerik ASP.NET and Silverlight Controls" (Apress Publishing, Jose Rolando Guay Paz) does an excellent job going into the details of all of these controls, and provides a great desktop reference for .NET developers interested in developing better software faster. There are a significant number of controls in the suite, and Jose wisely chose to discuss each logical group controls in their own chapter. After the obligatory intro chapter that discusses ASP.NET, ASP.NET MVC, and Telerik and a chapter that explains how to install all of the required software, there are seven chapters devoted to the main controls.

* Input Controls
* Navigation Controls
* Date, Time, and Scheduling Controls
* Data Controls (broken into two chapters due to the amount of content)
* Layout Controls
* Chart and Imaging Controls
* Additional Controls (such as RadCaptcha, RadUploader, and RadFileExplorer)
* RadControls for ASP.NET Ajax

These chapters are very detailed, and do a great job explaining the finer details installing and using the RadControls. The only negative that I have with these chapters is they read a bit like a help manual. Great information, great reference material, but no cohesive story. It would be nice to have a reference application that was built up over the course of the chapters to show the controls in context.

The next chapter is on RadControls for Silverlight. This is in my opinion the best chapter in the book, as it provides usage information in the context of a working application.

Telerik Reporting and OpenAccess ORM are covered in the final two chapters, and are again covered in great detail, Again, really good information presenting in the form of a reference guide.

All in all, this is a very good book to use as a starting point for learning to work with the Telerik Controls. Unfortunately, as Telerik provides additional releases, this text will become dated, as the controls are constantly adding new functionality and updating existing functionality. However, this should not be too much of a concern for a developer looking for a strong place to start learning the products, and I still place this book in the recommended list.

Happy Coding!

✦ Table of Contents

Prelim......Page 1
Contents at a Glance......Page 7
Contents......Page 9
Foreword......Page 20
About the Author......Page 21
About the Technical Reviewer......Page 22
Acknowledgments......Page 23
Who is This Book For......Page 24
What Do You Need to Use This Book......Page 25
ASP.NET......Page 27
Summary......Page 40
Installing the Controls and Tools......Page 41
Setting Up Your Application to Use Telerik RadControls......Page 48
Configuring Telerik RadCompression......Page 53
Configuring Telerik RadUpload......Page 54
Enabling RadScriptManager and RadStyleSheetManager......Page 56
Summary......Page 57
Introducing RadInput......Page 59
Introducing RadEditor......Page 75
Summary......Page 86
Using RadMenu and RadToolBar......Page 87
Using RadTreeView......Page 99
Using RadSiteMap......Page 111
Using RadPanelBar......Page 117
Summary......Page 122
Using the RadCalendar Control......Page 123
Using RadScheduler......Page 132
Summary......Page 155
RadComboBox......Page 157
RadGrid......Page 175
Summary......Page 253
RadFilter......Page 255
RadListView......Page 260
RadListBox......Page 299
Summary......Page 305
Using RadTabStrip and RadMultiPage......Page 307
Using RadWindow and RadWindowManager......Page 315
Using RadSplitter......Page 329
Using RadDock......Page 338
Using RadRotator......Page 346
Summary......Page 353
RadChart......Page 355
RadBinaryImage......Page 390
RadRating......Page 394
RadColorPicker......Page 401
Summary......Page 406
RadFormDecorator......Page 407
RadCaptcha......Page 409
RadToolTip......Page 414
RadUpload......Page 430
RadFileExplorer......Page 437
RadSlider......Page 438
Summary......Page 445
RadAjaxManager and RadAjaxManagerProxy......Page 447
RadAjaxPanel......Page 457
RadAjaxLoadingPanel......Page 461
RadCodeBlock and RadScriptBlock......Page 465
RadXmlHttpPanel......Page 466
Summary......Page 473
Quick Recap on Configuration......Page 475
Calendar......Page 476
Date Picker......Page 483
NumericTextBox......Page 489
Menu......Page 496
PanelBar......Page 504
TabStrip......Page 514
TreeView......Page 522
Grid......Page 534
Summary......Page 555
Configuring Telerik RadControls for Silverlight......Page 557
Enhancing the Navigation......Page 561
Adding the Product Catalog......Page 565
Improving the Home Page with a Dashboard......Page 568
Creating the Categories Page......Page 586
Creating the Employees Page......Page 593
More Interesting Controls......Page 605
Summary......Page 610
Installing and Configuring Telerik Reporting......Page 611
Knowing the Players......Page 613
Loading Data......Page 620
Creating Reports......Page 626
Displaying Reports in the Application......Page 638
Using the ReportBook Control......Page 644
Summary......Page 646
System Requirements......Page 647
Installing Telerik OpenAccess ORM......Page 648
Configuring Your Application......Page 649
Deploying Your Application......Page 650
Creating the Data Model......Page 651
Querying the Data Model......Page 666
Working Within Transactions......Page 669
Adding, Updating, and Deleting Objects......Page 670
Using Fetch Plans and Fetch Groups......Page 671
Implementing Inheritance......Page 679
Summary......Page 684
Index......Page 687