JustTrace Unofficial FAQs

Along with yesterday's introduction of JustDecompile, Telerik also introduced the beta for another new developer productivity tool: JustTrace. JustTrace is .NET memory and performance profiler, designed to make the process profiling local (WinForms, WPF), Silverlight, and ASP.NET applications as easy as hitting F5 in Visual Studio. With the help of JustTrace, you should be able to find problem areas in your code and then work on refactoring (perhaps with the help of JustCode) to improve your application performance and/or memory footprint.

Of course, a new product introduction means lots of questions. So to help provide some answers while we are in this JustTrace BETA, I have prepared a list of "unofficial FAQs."

(If you're looking for answers to JustDecompile questions, see yesterday's U-FAQ list.)

JustTrace Beta Q&A

GENERAL QUESTIONS

Q: What is JustTrace?
JustTrace is a new (beta) .NET memory and performance profiler from Telerik. JustTrace enables developers to quickly profile executing .NET applications and see results that help identify slow running code or code that is consuming large amounts of memory. JustTrace supports profiling of local applications (WinForms, WPF), Silverlight, and ASP.NET (including ASP.NET MVC). It is available as a standalone application and it also ships with Visual Studio integration for profiling directly from the VS IDE.

Q: Why is Telerik making a .NET performance and memory profiler?
Consistent with Telerik's over-arching goal of being a complete, end-to-end provider of solutions and tools for software development, JustTrace is complimentary tool to Telerik's existing developer productivity tools, JustCode and JustMock. Where JustCode helps with writing code and JustMock helps with testing code, JustTrace helps with optimizing code.

In addition to being complimentary, JustTrace aims to improve upon existing .NET profiling tools and provide a better, integrated development experience with the other Telerik tools.

Q: How is JustTrace different from existing similar tools?
Clearly, JustTrace has a long way to go from today's beta to v1 and beyond to fully cover all areas that existing .NET profiling tools cover. But even from the first beta, we are doing some things fundamentally different that we think are improvements for the .NET profiling space:

1. Simplified Licensing/Combined Power- While some tools make you pay twice- once for Performance Profiling, once for Memory Profiling- JustTrace combines both capabilities in to single, simple to use tool. Don't get caught it the arbitrary limits of Memory vs Performance vs Standard/Pro version schemes. JustTrace just works and let's you focus on productively optimizing your code.
2. Fast Snapshots - Some profiling tools give you enough time to grab a cup of a coffee and catch-up on your RSS backlog while waiting for a snapshot. JustTrace aims to make the process of capturing snapshots fast so you don't lose focus or valuable productive time.
3. Simple Tools - Many developers avoid profiling because it seems complicated and difficult to do. JustTrace is focused on making the process super simple, while still providing powerful results. With Visual Studio integration, just hit F5 and JustTrace will handle the rest.
4. Live Data - Why wait for snapshots to see what's happening with your app? JustTrace provides a "Live Data" view that let's you see real-time stats during Performance Profiling so you know exactly when to take a snapshot.

As we push towards v1, JustTrace will continue to improve baseline features (like performance), while working fast to add improved analysis tools, like rich data visualizations and views for understanding the collected data.

Q: How much does JustTrace cost?
JustTrace pricing has not yet been set, though it will likely be a cost leader. Please stay tuned for pricing information around the time of the official release. JustTrace will not be a free product.

Q: When will JustTrace be available?
The JustTrace beta is available now! The first official version of JustTrace will ship with the Telerik Q2 2011 release this summer.

Q: Will JustTrace be part of the Telerik Ultimate Collection?
Yes, JustTrace will be part of the Telerik Ultimate Collection and also available as a separately licensed product. JustTrace will not be part of the Telerik Premium Collection.

TECHNICAL QUESTIONS

Q: How do I install JustTrace?
JustTrace must be installed as an administrator. If UAC is disabled on your machine, simply run the installer. If UAC is enabled, you may have to perform a special work around described in this forum thread to successfully run the beta installer. This will be improved for the final release.

Q: What kinds of applications can JustTrace profile?
JustTrace can trace local applications (WinForms, WPF), Silverlight, and ASP.NET (including ASP.NET MVC and WebForms). JustTrace also supports attaching to a running local process for fast tracing of applications already executing.

Q: Does JustTrace support profiling for Windows Phone?
The current JustTrace beta does not offer direct support for profiling Windows Phone apps, but this is feature on our roadmap. More details on support for mobile profiling will come in the future.

Q: What types of profiling does JustTrace support?
The JustTrace beta ships with three different profiling options:

1. Sampling Profiler - Least impact on app runtime performance, but slightly less accurate as it relies on interval polling to collect data
2. Performance Profiler - Usually slows down a runtime app, but much more accurate/complete collection of profiling data
3. Memory Profiler - Unlike the Sampling and Performance profilers, which look at app method execution times, the Memory Profiler looks at objects counts and size created by your app.

Each profiler can be easily selected from either the standalone JustTrace application or the Visual Studio integration profiling launch window.

Q: Does JustTrace support 64 bit application profiling?
Yes! Part of the focus with JustTrace has been on doing things right from the beginning, and that includes offering full support for profiling x86 and x64 applications.

Q: What kind of data does the JustTrace profiler report?
JustTrace has two primary types of reports: data collected by the performance profilers (Sampling, Performance), and data collected by the Memory Profiler.

The performance profilers provide live views of the counters being collected (showing info like Class Name, Hit Count, and Method Name), and the snapshots further reveal Call Tree, Method List, Hot Spots, and Loaded Assemblies.

The memory profiler does not provide a live data view, but a snapshot reveals Type List (with instance and total size counts), Hot Spots, Incoming References, and Outgoing References.

Q: Does JustTrace work with IIS for profiling ASP.NET applications?
Currently the JustTrace beta only supports the Visual Studio Cassini development web server, but support for IIS and IIS Express are high priorities for upcoming builds. Support for IIS and IIS Express will be in the official release.

Q: Can JustTrace profile and capture multiple threads?
Yes! JustTrace will automatically capture and profile multiple threads in an application. It is also capable of profiling multiple child processes if your application spawns new processes during runtime.

Q: Can you compare multiple JustTrace snapshots?
No, not in the current beta, however this is a planned feature for the official v1 release.

Q: Does JustTrace integrate with Visual Studio?
Yes, JustTrace integrates with Visual Studio when the installer is run. It will add a "JustTrace" menu option to the Telerik Visual Studio menu. From this menu, you can enable/disable JustTrace in Visual Studio. When enabled, simply hitting F5 to run your application will automatically display the JustTrace prompt to let you quickly begin profiling your app.

Q: Can JustTrace be used to profile the behavior of OpenAccess ORM?
No, JustTrace is not designed to be a profiling tool for data. Fortunately, OpenAccess ORM will be adding a dedicated data profiling tool in the Q2 2011 release.

Q: Will JustTrace offer more visual tools for analyzing profiled data?
Definitely! This is an early beta preview of a v1 product, so there is lots of work left to do. One of our key areas of focus for future JustTrace improvements is in adding more rich visualizations of the profiled data. Stay tuned…

Q: Where do I report JustTrace Beta issues?
You can report any JustTrace beta issues or feedback in the official JustTrace forums on Telerik.com.

Hopefully this helps you get started with the JustTrace beta. We are working hard to add many more features and improve those already previewed in the beta before the official release in Q2 2011. Download the beta today and join the conversation on the Telerik forums!

JustDecompile Unofficial FAQs

Today Telerik proudly introduced the beta for a  brand new .NET assembly browser and decompiler called JustDecompile. This new tool is designed to make assembly browsing and decompiling easier than ever before by integrating many of the innovations created for JustCode, Telerik's Visual Studio productivity plug-in, with a tool dedicated to the tasks related to assembly browsing. Oh! And it's a free tool. Forever. For everyone.

Obviously, anytime a new tool is introduced there are MANY questions that need answers, even during a beta. So without further pretense, enjoy this collection of answers to some of (or what will soon be) the most common JustDecompile BETA questions.

JustDecompile Q&A

Q: What is JustDecompile?
JustDecompile is a free tool from Telerik for .NET assembly browsing and decompiling. In other words, it lets you take an existing compiled assembly (.dll or .exe) and easily browse the symbols it contains, and then just as easily decompile the assembly language back to easily readable C# (and in the future VB, IL, and possibly other languages). JustDecompile is a standalone tool and it does not require Visual Studio.

Q: How much does JustDecompile cost?
JustDecompile is 100% free and it will remain that way forever. Assembly browsing and decompiling is a basic .NET developer toolbox necessity and Telerik is happy to provide the ultimate tool for that action for free. This perfectly complements Telerik's other "money making" developer tools, like JustCode, so we will not charge for JustDecompile in the future.

Q: Is JustDecompile and open source tool?
While JustDecompile is free, it is not open source. It is available from Telerik free of charge for perpetual use (there are no "time bombs" in the software). Since JustDecompile incorporates code and innovations from the commercial JustCode product, we cannot make the JustDecompile source available.

Q: Why is Telerik creating an assembly browser/decompiler?
A few reasons. First, Telerik is helping address a "gap" that was created in the .NET market when a popular assembly browser/decompiler ceased to be freely available (with all future updates are behind a "pay wall"). Secondly, Telerik is helping reimagine the assembly browser/decompiler. Existing tools have not evolved greatly over the last few years, while .NET and development has seen huge amounts of change. Telerik is aiming to innovate in the user experience and decompiling code quality with JustDecompile.

JustDecompile also perfectly compliments Telerik's other developer productivity tools, like JustCode, JustMock, and JustTrace. Telerik continues to build on its promise to be an end-to-end provider of solutions for all aspects of software development.

Q: What makes JustDecompile special?
JustDecompile is doing a number of things that are cool and new for assembly browsing/decompiling:

1. Side-by-side Assembly Loading
   Load different versions of the same assembly side-by-side without being forced to always unload and reload
2. Innovative Code Navigation
   Borrowing from the useful JustCode code navigation found in Visual Studio, JustDecompile provides fast code navigation. Support for keyboard short cuts, CamelCase searching, and searching for Types and Symbols.
3. Integrated Code Analysis
   In other tools, full analysis requires multiple actions (Used By, Instantiated By, Exposed By, etc.). JustDecompile roles these all-up in to a single easy to execute "Find Usages" action, complete with code context snippets and highlighting.

Check-out the product team blog on JustDecompile and JustTrace to see more about what's in the first JustDecompile beta.

Q: When will JustDecompile be available?
JustDecompile Beta is available now for immediate download. The first official release of JustDecompile will be part of the Telerik Q2 2011 release this summer. After v1, JustDecompile will join the Telerik update cycle, getting 3 major updates per year + intermediate service packs and hotfixes as necessary. We have a huge road map for JustDecompile with lots of great enhancements planned for 2011 and 2012.

Q: Does JustDecompile support languages other than C# (like VB, IL, F#, etc)?
The beta currently only decompiles to C#, however JustDecompile has been designed to output to other languages. Before the first official release, JustDecompile will also support outputting VB. After that, we will add language support based on customer and community feedback, most likely focusing MSIL next.

Q: Does JustDecompile support 3rd party extensions/plug-ins?
JustDecompile is built on Microsoft's Managed Extensibility Framework which provides a familiar model for creating and adding plug-ins to JustDecompile. In fact, JustDecompile's core features, like Find Usages and History Navigation, are simply plug-ins.

In the beta, we have not had time to fully address a polished API for supporting 3rd party extensions, but it is a high priority item on the backlog. Based on continued request for this feature, we will likely add support for plug-ins in 2011.

Q: What are the system requirements for JustDecompile?
JustDecompile requires .NET 4.0. Otherwise, it should just work on Windows systems, 32- or 64-bit.

Q: What do I do after I install JustDecompile?
Unfortunately, the beta installer does not add application shortcuts to the Start Menu or Task Bar. To run JustDecompile after installing, navigate to the install directory (usually, "C:\Program Files (x86)\Telerik\JustDecompile\Libraries") and run JustDecompile.exe.

We recommend pinning JustDecompile.exe to your Start Menu or Task Bar for quick repeat access. In the future, the installer will provide the expected application shortcuts and Windows integration.

Q: Does JustDecompile integrate with Visual Studio?
Not directly, but JustCode does provide native decompiling in the Visual Studio environment. For JustDecompile like functionality natively in Visual Studio, we recommend downloading and installing JustCode.

Q: Can decompiled code be directly exported from JustDecompile?
No, not with today's beta, however we have logged this feature and will likely add it in an upcoming release.

Q: Can obfuscated code be decompiled with JustDecompile?
No, you cannot decompile obfuscated code with JustDecompile. We will gauge interest in adding this feature in the future and consider adding support at that point. For now, this is not on the immediate road map.

Q: Where should I share JustDecompile beta feedback?
Direct all feedback to the JustDecompile beta forums on Telerik.com. We're eagerly waiting to hear from you so we can make the first release the best possible decompiling/assembly browsing tool.

Q: Will decompiling JustDecompile rip a hole is space/time?
Good question from one of the webinars. Answer: No. That's the first thing I checked and we're all still here.

I think that about covers it. I'll add more questions and answers if I've missed something major. For now, be sure to review the product team blog post on JustDecompile and download the beta!

JustMock unofficial FAQs (update)

With all of the attention on the just announced TeamPulse and WebUI Test Studio QA Edition, the JustMock Beta is over due for more face blog time. Hopefully you managed to attend today’s JustMock introduction webinar (if you did, you are now a proud license holder) and start to learn more about how JustMock benefits your unit testing. But whether you attended that event or not, I figured I’d start to round-up and address some of the most burning questions about Telerik’s newest developer tool.

In the same vein as the Unofficial FAQs for the MVC Extensions, here is round-one for JustMock. If I missed a question you want answered, let me know in the comments.

JustMock Unofficial FAQs

Q: What is JustMock?
JustMock is a new Visual Studio productivity tool from Telerik that helps you create unit tests more quickly by automatically mocking, or “faking,” objects in your tests. Mocking helps you break dependencies in your unit tests so that you can focus on testing a single concern and provide more complete unit test coverage. You can read a complete intro to JustMock from the Product Team on the Telerik Blogs.

[NEW] Q: What is mocking and why do I need it?
Mocking (Wikipedia) is a concept in unit testing where real objects and substituted with fake objects that imitate the behavior of the real deal. Mocking is done so that a test can focus on the code being tested and not on the behavior or state of external dependencies. For example, if you have a data repository class that runs business logic and then saves information to a database, you want your unit test to focus on the business logic and not on the database. Mocking the “save” calls to your database ensures your tests run quickly and do not depend on the availability or state of your database.

When you’re ready to make sure the “save” calls are working, then you’re moving on to integration testing. Unit tests should not cross system boundaries, but integration tests are allowed to cross boundaries and make sure everything works together (your code, your database, your web services, IIS, etc.).

Wikipedia does a good job explaining additional reasons for using mock objects, such as working with objects that have non-deterministic results (like DateTime.Now), have states that are difficult to reproduce (like testing how your code behaves if a web service is unavailable), or have operations that are slow to test (like using a test database with setup/teardown scripts).

[NEW] Q: How does JustMock help with mocking?
Mock objects can be created and maintained manually, but this is time consuming and ultimately unproductive approach. A tool like JustMock allows you to focus on writing tests and forget about the mocking details. Mock objects are created automatically in memory when the tests run based on your simple configuration in the unit test. There are no “physical” mock objects that have to be maintained as your project changes.

JustMock goes even further and does not force you to distinguish between “mocks,” “fakes,” and “stubs.” You have a single API for mocking and JustMock handles the rest.

[NEW] Q: Why not mock everything with JustMock?
It is possible to overuse mocking. The goal of mocking is to isolate the code you want to test from other components in the system. There are two rules of thumb that should be followed to ensure mocking is done properly:

1. Only test (and thus mock) the external behavior of any object
   Mocking the internal behavior of objects can make unit tests brittle and hard to maintain during refactoring.
2. Mock all objects and external dependencies that are not being actively tested
   Mocking all objects obviously produces meaningless test results. Use mocking to keep unit tests focused the behavior of the method you’re testing. Nothing more. Nothing less.

Q: Is JustMock included in the Telerik Premium Collection?
No, JustMock will not be part of the Premium Collection. Instead, it is one of the new tools included in the recently introduced Ultimate Collection (along with WebUI Test Studio Developer Edition).

Q: Is JustMock available as a standalone product?
Not today, but it will be when it is officially released. Final pricing is not yet set, but you can expect it to be very price competitive with other commercial mocking tools. We currently expect pricing to fall somewhere between $299 and $399.

Q: Is JustMock free and open source?
The beta (which is available now) is free, but the final product will be commercial. JustMock is not an open source product, nor does it derive from an open source library. It’s built from the ground-up by Telerik.

Q: When will JustMock be released?
JustMock is currently in beta, and it will be officially released with our Q2 2009 release (slated for July). The beta is free, though, so download it today and take it for a spin.

Q: How is JustMock different from existing mocking frameworks?
We are well aware that there are many great mocking frameworks available for .NET developers, both open source and commercial. In our experience as a software development company, though, none are perfect and we see room to fill in some gaps and create a better competitive environment around mocking tools. Among the many features in the JustMock beta, here are areas we aim to provide unique value:

• Performance – We provide both “simple” (aka, Proxy) and Profiler API-based (aka, Elevated) approaches for mocking so that you can use the technique best suited for your code. The simple method is comparable to many open source frameworks and is fast and easy to setup/deploy. The Profiler-based approach is what commercial mocking frameworks tend to employ, and it is more powerful, capable of mocking just about everything. Our hybrid approach is unique and gives you the best of both worlds.
• Simplicity – We know that mocking is still new for many of you, so we are providing simple to use strongly-typed, fluid API that employs the AAA Patern- Arrange/Act/Assert. There is one simple way to use JustMock, based on the latest framework features, so no “legacy” concepts pollute the API.
• Integration – Of course, one of the advantages of a Telerik mocking tool is that it’s part of the legendary Telerik stack that includes great support. We plan to really build on the integration story with other tools like JustCode in future releases.

Q: Why does JustMock use the Arrange/Act/Assert pattern? What about Record/Replay?
The Arrange/Act/Assert pattern is a more logical and clean approach to unit testing than the legacy Record/Replay. With AAA, you group your testing actions by function, making it clear what part of your test is involved in setup versus verification. The pattern can be applied to all unit testing, but it is especially useful when mocking is involved.

Record/Replay is an older pattern and it is similar to using GOTO statements in your unit tests. This makes the pattern more difficult to follow and clearly less ideal from a programming perspective. Therefore, JustMock is focused on supporting the AAA pattern.

Q: Is there any JustMock documentation?
Of course! Even in the beta release there is documentation, though most of it exists as “learn by example.” When you download the beta, you’ll find a demo project that shows you through code all of the various ways you can use JustMock. For the final release, we’ll be updating and providing complete product documentation.

You can (and should) also follow Team Lead Mehfuz Hossain’s blog, where he is posting regularly on JustMock.

Ask the Experts answers (updated)

This past Friday, Telerik hosted a new “Ask the Experts” webinar where a panel of Telerik experts, including Evangelists, Developer Support Specialists, and Telerik MVPs, answered your questions about the Q1 2010 release. It was a successful experiment, and many questions and answers were exchanged. A huge thanks to those of you that attended and brought questions, and of course, join me in thanking our Telerik MVP experts for their time.

The video recording of this event will be posted to Telerik TV soon, but in the mean time we are providing a complete recap of the major questions with their answers! We hope you enjoy this resource and join us for more “Ask the Experts” events in the future.

Continue reading Ask the Experts Answers

General Questions

1. Are there any limitations or issues in using any of the new Q1 2010 products in VS 2005 such as ASP.NET AJAX, Open Access or Telerik Reporting? OpenAccess ORM, Telerik Reporting, and the RadControls for ASP.NET AJAX all work in VS 2005, VS 2008, and VS 2010. Obviously, some features that are specific to new versions of the framework, such as LINQ, will not be available in 2.0 projects, but otherwise, these are supported IDEs. More information can be found on the “System Requirements” page for each product.
2. You said Telerik Q1 2010 supports the .NET 4.0 framework. Our project is still on 3.5 and we don’t plan to upgrade to 4.0 anytime soon. Can we still upgrade to Q1 2010? The Q1 2010 release did indeed add support for the .NET 4.0 framework but that does not mean that it exclusively targets 4.0. As with our previous releases we still provide support for the .NET 2.0 and .NET 3.5 frameworks. These are offered via different assemblies, which are located in your local installation folder (usually C:\Program Files\Telerik\RadControls for ASP.NET AJAX Q1 2010) under Bin (2.0) and Bin35 (3.5). If you are currently using .NET 3.5 and are looking to upgrade you will have no issues with installing and using the Q1 2010 release.
3. Does the new CDN support SSL? The new CDN does indeed support SSL. When you are using a SLL connection the RadScriptManager and RadStyleSheetManager controls will fall back to Amazon's S3 service. In this case the following hosts are used: Scripts- https://telerik-aspnet-scripts.s3.amazonaws.com Skins - https://telerik-aspnet-skins.s3.amazonaws.com
4. Can you share the future direction of your UI controls, particularly the AJAX and Silverlight controls. Any certain things you will focus on or add? Thanks. The future of our UI controls for both Silverlight is actually heavily influenced by you, our developer community. With the launch of PITS, we have provided a nice and easy way for users to submit requests for our controls and vote upon them. If you see a particular feature that you would like to be included either in an existing control or perhaps a brand new one, vote on it! Through these submissions you can directly influence the evolution of our RadControls and our other products.

ASP.NET AJAX/MVC Questions

1. Any chance of seeing the Outlook Bar from Silverlight in the ASP.NET suite? As always, Telerik’s bases it plans on feedback from customers. If you’d like to see this tool in a future release, be sure to submit a Feature Request in the Telerik Public Issue Tracking System (and vote on other existing requests you want to see).
2. Is there any plan to add more validation controls for ASP.NET? Looking at our release history you can see that we always try to add validation to our controls. If you have not tried the RadInputManager, you will discover that it is a very powerful control that makes it easy to apply basic validation to many textboxes on a page. We are also researching the option to add direct support for Data Annotations to the RadControls to make validation configuration easier. Don’t forget to log your request in PITS so that your votes for new validation controls can be heard!
3. ASP/AJAX question: Is there a way to create a template for exporting RadGrids to Excel, PDF, etc? I've used the built-in export, but the format doesn't look like the Grid. I would like to be able to pass the RadGrid style/look to the different export options. Although there is no exportation template for the RadGrid we do have quite a few events that you can hook into in order to get the exported RadGrid to look exactly the way you want. You might want to have an exact duplicate (in terms of style etc.) of the RadGrid you have on your page, or you might want something different - either scenario can be achieved by using these events. The following links should be able to provide details about specific exportations, and which events you can subscribe to: Exportation Overview - http://www.telerik.com/help/aspnet-ajax/grdexport.html ExcelML Exportation - http://www.telerik.com/help/aspnet-ajax/grid-excelml-export.html PDF Exportation - http://www.telerik.com/help/aspnet-ajax/grid-pdf-export.html

   There are also other formats which you can export to (see the Overview article) and each one has a specific documentation article discussing what you can do in order to achieve the style you are looking for.

4. Are AJAX controls compatible with mobile browsers? Will there ever be a product line that focuses on mobile? Currently our RadControls for ASP.NET Ajax only officially support the browsers found on our Browsers Support page: http://www.telerik.com/products/aspnet-ajax/resources/browser-support.aspx

   Although it is not an Ajax product we can also note that the browser for Windows Phone 7 does seem to support most of our RadControls for Silverlight as some preliminary tests have shown: http://blogs.telerik.com/blogs/posts/10-03-18/mix10_is_in_history_windows_phone_7_is_here.aspx

5. RadAjax Grid: I'm attempting to use a Count Aggregate on a Boolean field. I found on the forums an example - but how can I then use that same functionality - for a field that gets grouped? So, if the user Groups by a column named Flight, how can I get the group footer to count the Skins checkbox - broken out by flight? When it comes to having a Count Aggregate being displayed in the footer of a grouped item there are two approaches you can take. The first would be to declaratively set the text and aggregate which appears in the footer. An example of this, along with further details on the functionality available for a group footer, can be found in this documentation article: http://www.telerik.com/help/aspnet-ajax/gridgroupfooters.html

   Another way of manipulating what is displayed in the group footer is the code-behind approach in which you subscribe to the OnItemDataBound event and customize the footer this way. Although this article goes over the approach for a GridGroupHeaderItem you can actually substitute this for a GridGroupFooterItem and follow the same approach. http://www.telerik.com/help/aspnet-ajax/grdcustomizegridgroupheaderitem.html

   As seen in the above article there is a lot of manipulation that can be done via this approach. If you are looking to do something outside of just a Count Aggregate the later approach is the recommended implementation.

6. How about some more MVC webinars and examples? We will continue to expand our MVC resources in 2010. Make sure you don’t miss the recently posted videos to Telerik TV showing you how to work with the Telerik MVC Grid. You will learn how to setup an MVC project with the Telerik Extensions, how to configure data binding, and how to setup inline data editing.

WinForms Questions

1. Can we use the Telerik themes as a basis for new themes in the new Visual Style Builder for WinForms? The Telerik themes have not yet been converted to the new theme repository format. We plan on updating them all for the Q2 release. You will then be able to use them as the basis for new themes.

Silverlight/WPF Questions

1. How similar can the SL GridView control behave like Excel? You can make the GridView perform similar to Excel, but keep in mind that a GridView is not designed to be a complete Spreadsheet replacement. There is a CurrentCellChanged event, in which you set e.NewCell.BeginEdit(). With this set, every time the cell changes, it instantly enters edit mode. If you subscribe to RowEditEnded, you either save changes or add new records based on EditOperationType. The end result is that every change you make to a row triggers a save in the database. That said, this is still not spreadsheet and you can’t do things like cell referencing, multi-cell selection (coming Q1 SP1), or formulas in the cells from the client-side.
2. How can I fill the DataCarouselPanel in WPF with data from WCF services ? We have a help article for that addresses this scenario: http://www.telerik.com/help/wpf/carousel-data-binding.html
3. Can you post the source for that MVVM sample? The source for the MVVM demo will be made available on Ross Wozniak’s blog. You can subscribe to his blog and catch the update by visiting the Telerik.com Blogs.
4. Silverlight Question: Where can I find the template/code for textbox with search/magnifier icon shown on the Telerik Silverlight demo apps? Thanks. In this specific case, the code is part of the Telerik QSF, and only available as source if you have a subscription license. An easier solution is to use a tool like Silverlight Spy, which lets you dive into styles and XAML by “picking” elements on the screen. With this tool, you can quickly examine the Telerik QSF and see the template being applied to the TextBox.
5. What is the best way to debug performance issues in Silverlight? I’m having a problem where my RadComboBoxes are taking a long time to expand (up to 5 seconds with only 48 items). I am not able to recreate the problem in a basic demo application. Starting with Silverlight 4, you can now use the Visual Studio 2010 profilers to profile Silverlight applications. You should be able to use these tools to get started analyzing your application’s performance. Details regarding VS2010 profiling are available on the MSDN Blogs.
6. Will Telerik create a MVVM framework similar (but better) than Prism and Silverlight FX? Telerik is not currently looking to build another MVVM framework. There are great options available for free today, such as Prism, SilverlightFX, and MVVM Light. We also offer tools like RadCommandManager to make it easier to work with MVVM-like concepts.

OpenAccess ORM Questions

1. I added a new model to OpenAccess and I see the article and video where you show me how to obtain data from database. How can I use the same model to update and insert data to database? Josh Holt will be posting an example shortly that shows insert/update/delete using OpenAccess in windows and web scenarios using the new context object. Follow his blog on the Telerik Blogs to learn more.
2. When will OpenAccess support WCF RIA Services using POCO? OpenAccess ORM will offer support for WCF RIA Services in an upcoming release. As for POCO (Plain Old CLR Objects), we are evaluating the reasons why/when such support should be added. From our perspective developing Data Transporter Objects and Self-Tracking Entities will cover all the scenarios were POCOs would be used, with relatively small impact to performance, so you will see these first. If POCO support is important to your project, be sure to vote for the feature in PITS.
3. Does the visual designer replace the wizard-based "reverse engineer" feature? The answer is yes, but it is a bit complicated at the moment. In Q1, we still don’t have a translation tool between the two formats (pre-Q1 OpenAccess and Q1 OpenAccess). Our advice is to use the new designer for new projects only until we provide support for upgrading complex projects based on previous versions of OpenAccess. In fact, by Q2, the designer will be a “roundtrip” editor (forward and reverse mapping), so you will have a way to alter the database as well.
4. Can you add validation attributes? You will be able in the Q2 release. We are talking Data.Annotations attributes, of course.
5. Are we basically throwing out the old way of OpenAccessing data? Do we still need to create scopes, and dispose of them...etc? The answer is a bit complex. We prefer to say that we are changing the designer experience and the API usage-pattern to better fit the .NET ORM world, where developers are familiar with tools like LinqToSQL and Entity Framework. The underlying OpenAccess “engine” remains the same and continues to provide the core support for features like data caching, object tracking, etc.
6. Will there be a way to create a Domain Model from an existing OpenAccess project in the future? Definitely. We regard this as a “must” for the new OpenAccess designer, and we will be providing a tool to make this type of “migration” easy.
7. So with the Data Context and with no scopes, are all transactions persisted instantly instead of batched till a commit? No you still must call context.SaveChanges() to persist changes to the database. The DataContext provides a more convenient way for working with the OpenAccess API, managing scopes for you internally.
8. I saw you were able to get data from the database without using an ObjectScope. Is that replaced by the new Data Context? Yes, however, in the Q1 2010 release, only when doing reverse mapping. Forward mapping support for the new Data Context and designer will be added in an upcoming release.

JustCode Questions

1. Will JustCode display the Fonts & Colors when printing? Currently, fonts and colors will not be printed. This is a limit of Visual Studio we are actively researching to work around. We will try to provide printing support for custom fonts and colors in an upcoming release.
2. I just moved over from ReSharper. If I forget to include the using library statement or don’t know which library is needed for a type, will JustCode give me a hint to place the using statement in the class? Once you have typed the type name, put the cursor on the statement, hit Alt+Enter, and JustCode will present an option to add the missing reference. Review all JustCode keyboard shortcuts in the online docs.
3. I noticed that there was only one Code Template in the JustCode menu for VB.Net. Is it possible to add more templates? Yes, it’s possible to create more templates, however VB templates cannot be context sensitive in the current version. We will continue to improve VB support for templates in an upcoming release.
4. How changeable are the hotkeys for the JustCode menus? I’m programming on a MacBook without an end key (technically it's there, but its a 2 key combo) JustCode shortcuts can be completely changed from VS -> Tools -> Options –> Keyboard
5. How do you configure JustCode Color Identifiers? VS -> Tools ->Options->Fonts and Colors. When JustCode is installed you will see entries in the list that start with “JustCode” for adjusting fonts and colors.
6. Will there be a unit test runner built-in to JustCode? Yes! This is a feature we are working hard to provide in the Q2 2010 release.

Telerik Reporting

1. I have 3 reports I would like to add to a report book. Individually they have SqlDataSources with parameters which I pass through code. I want to add them all to a single report. How do I pass the parameters? Robert Shoemate will provide example code and a complete explanation for handling this scenario on his blog this week. Follow his blog on the Telerik.com Blogs to catch the updates. [UPDATE: The blog post has been posted.]

Telerik Extensions for MVC, JustCode now official and commercial

One of the bigger news items in the Q1 2010 release is the “official” release of both JustCode and the Telerik Extensions for ASP.NET MVC. Both of these products have been in beta since late 2009, but now they are ready to take-on the world as full-blooded members of the Telerik portfolio. The transition to v1 has inevitably created a few questions, so let me try to provide you with some quick answers to satisfy your burning desire for info:

Are these tools part of the Telerik Premium Collection?
Yes! The Telerik Extensions and JustCode join the other 6 products in the Telerik Premium Collection, delivering even more value at the same $1,299 price tag. The Premium Collection now delivers over $6,000 worth of Telerik software at 1/5 the price. It’s probably one of the best values in .NET developer tools. (I’d love to learn about better values!)

If I’m an existing Premium Collection customer, do I get licenses for these tools?
Yes! If you have an active Premium Collection subscription, these tools are automatically added to your bundle license. Like I said, incredible value. Oh! And there are more tools to come. More details soon…

Can I buy these tools separately?
Yes! If for some reason you don’t want the value of the Premium Collection, you can buy these tools separately:

• Telerik Extensions for ASP.NET MVC: $999 developer license + priority support
• JustCode: $199 developer license OR $249 dev license + subscription/priority support

I thought the MVC Extensions were open source. What happened?
You are correct. The Telerik Extensions for ASP.NET MVC are dual licensed. That means there is an open source license (GPLv2) and a commercial license. The tools offered under both licenses are identical. The open source tools are not a “light” version of the Extensions.

Why would I want a commercial license for the MVC Extensions?
There are three very plain reasons why you would want the Extensions’ commercial license:

1. You want Telerik’s premium support for the MVC tools
2. You want access to Service Pack and Hotfix builds of the MVC Extensions (the open source branch will only be updated during major releases)
3. You are building commercial software for resale

The commercial license is also convenient for organizations that are not “open” to open source software. You know the type. Lawyers get involved and everything gets messy.

How do I know if I need a commercial license?
If the support and service pack benefits are not interesting to you, and you’re just trying to understand when you must purchase a commercial license, here’s a good rule of thumb:

• If you’re building free open source software, we want to help and support you with free open source tools. (Open source license)
• If you’re trying to make money on the software you’re building (that is, you’re selling it), so are we, and we’ve got a license for you. (Commercial license)

It’s really no more complex than that. If you’re building an internal website for your company, you can use the open source tools. If you start selling that website, though, you need to convert to a commercial license.

Now that the JustCode beta is over, what are the limits of the trial?
The JustCode trial is a fully functional version of the software. It’s only limit is that it will expire after 60 days. Hopefully two months is enough time for you to fully evaluate the Visual Studio productivity plug-in and decide if it’s worth buying. (It is.)

Enjoy the latest releases of these tools and join me in welcoming them to the world of non-beta software.

Telerik Extensions for MVC Unofficial FAQs, Part II

After we released the first preview of our new UI Extensions for ASP.NET MVC in August, there were naturally many questions surrounding the release. Why is Telerik building MVC Extensions? What does this mean for WebForms? Are the Extensions for MVC really open source? To help address some of the burning questions, I created a complete list of answers in Part 1 of my "Unofficial FAQs" for MVC. Many of those answers remain valid today with the release of Q3 2009, but there are some new questions that I'm starting to see asked multiple times.

So, it's time for Part 2 of the Unofficial FAQs. In this post, I'll try to provide answers to many of the new questions surrounding Telerik's updated release of the Extensions for ASP.NET MVC and hopefully help curb the rumor mill. If you have an unanswered question, send it to me on Twitter (@toddanglin) and I'll update this post.

Q: What's new in this release of the Extensions for ASP.NET MVC?

The Q3 2009 release marks the introduction of the first Telerik UI Extensions for ASP.NET MVC. In our CTP, we introduced the core framework (the server-side fluent API) that the new Extensions are built on, but we did not introduce any Telerik crafted UI rendering. This release builds on the work of the CTP and ships four new UI Extensions for MVC: Grid, TabStrip, Menu, and PanelBar. You can see all of the new Extensions in action in the online demos.

Q: What does the "beta" tag mean on this release?

If you remember the transition for the RadControls for ASP.NET to the RadControls for ASP.NET AJAX ("Prometheus"), you may remember that we kept the beta tag on the suite until our transition was complete. The beta tag in this case implies that the suite is not final. The controls in the suite are not beta quality. They are tested, production-ready UI components.

We will likely keep the beta tag on the suite for at least the next one or two releases. Once we have added more UI Extensions to the suite and it represents a more complete LOB toolbox offering, we'll remove the beta tag. Of course, these are open source controls, so you can always modify the current versions if you find some bug or issue you want changed during our "beta" period.

Q: What happened to the jQueryUI wrappers?

As we outlined in our CTP FAQs, the jQueryUI wrappers were merely proofs of concept, a way for us to show-off the more important server-side fluent API without building our own rendering. The jQueryUI wrapper source remains on CodePlex and we encourage the community to pick-up and extend the wrappers if they are valuable to MVC projects. Going forward, Telerik will not be actively updating or supporting the jQueryUI wrappers.

Q: Are the Extensions still open source?

Definitely! Keeping the UI Extensions for ASP.NET MVC open source has always been a primary goal for our project. We know that the MVC community thrives on open source projects and software, so as a good .NET citizen we wanted to ensure our time saving UI Extensions were freely available to this community. With the Q1 2010 release, the Telerik Extensions will ship under a dual licensing model:

• GPLv2 - This is a very popular and common open source license (I've seen some stats that say 70% of OSS is GPL licensed). It allows you to freely use the Telerik Extensions for ASP.NET MVC in any project. The only restriction is that you cannot redistribute software that uses GPL code under a more restrictive license (like a "proprietary" license). For that, we offer a...
• Commercial License - The commercial license provides you (today) with at least two very important benefits: 1) it grants you access to Telerik's legendary support, and 2) it gives you a legal (and lawyer pleasing) way to use the Telerik Extensions in proprietary, redistributed software.

Q: Why did you go with the GPL license vs. alternatives like MIT or LGPL?

We spent a long time evaluating all open source license alternatives. We had many lengthy internal discussions, and at the end of the day we settled on the GPL for a few key reasons:

• GPL is a popular and widely used open source license (Linux is licensed under the GPL) that many businesses already know how to understand (read: the lawyers have already approved the GPL)
• GPL has a good "philosophy." It basically says, if you want to use our generosity to build software, all we require is that you pay it forward (i.e. keep your software free). If you instead want to make money off of your software, then we are now in a commercial relationship, and we simply ask that you pay us for our work just as you expect to be paid for your proprietary software.
• GPL is the most community friendly open source license in that it ensures the "intent" of open source developers is respected. That is, open source licenses are for open source developers. If you are a commercial developer, you need a commercial license.

Other OSS licenses like LGPL and MIT are good and definitely more liberal, but they can more easily be abused. Our goal is to support the OSS community with free software, and continue to provide well supported, commercial software to commercial developers.

Q: I still don't get the GPL. Is my software "infected" or not if I use the Extensions?

The best way to understand the impact of GPL on your software is to follow this simple decision tree:

1. Do you plan to redistribute your software? -->NO: GPL will have no impact on your software -->YES: ====>Commercial? GPL is not ideal. Purchase a Telerik Commercial license. ====>Open source? GPL is fine as long as your OSS license is compatible.

Q: Is the commercial license for the Extensions part of my Premium Collection?

Yes! So, if you're a Premium Collection subscriber, you don't have to worry about the GPL vs. Commerical license question. You've already got a commercial license (when it's introduced in Q1), so feel free to use the Telerik Extensions wherever you need them.

Q: Why would I buy the commercial license? How much is it on its own?

As we've outlined above, the commercial license is for commercial software first and foremost. There are other reasons you may want to buy a license, though, such as:

• Access to Telerik's premium support
• Access to Major Release and Service Pack builds (OSS project will only receive Major release builds)
• Ability to use Extensions in closed-source/proprietary projects

Pricing will be set in Q1 2010, but it will likely be on par with the other UI suite licenses.

Q: Is the standalone commercial license available with Q3?

Since we only have four controls in this release, we have decided to wait for the Q1 2010 release before offering a standalone (i.e. not part of the Premium Collection) license for MVC.

Q: So, there is no commercial license in Q3? What is the "Beta Go-Live" license?

Correct, the Q1 2010 release will be the first to ship with the commercial standalone license. In Q3, the Extensions ship as both GPLv2 and "Beta Go-Live." The Beta Go-Live license allows you to use the Extensions in your project while you wait for the Q1 2010 release.

Please see the official licensing FAQ on Telerik.com for more details about the Extensions licensing.

Q: Is the source available for the latest release?

Yes. The full source for the Telerik Extensions ships with every download. You can find the source in the Source > Telerik.Web.Mvc folder. The Q3 2009 are also available on CodePlex if you prefer to download from that location.

Q: Do you ship any themes with the Telerik Extensions?

Definitely. We have prepared 13 common skins for all UI Extensions that have been designed to closely match the skins of the RadControls for ASP.NET AJAX. The AJAX and MVC controls do not share skins, but we have created skins with the same names and look-and-feel so that you can easily build "hybrid" applications that leverage the best of MVC and WebForms.

Q: What version of the ASP.NET MVC framework to the Extensions require?

The current Extensions target the officially release ASP.NET MVC v1 framework. That means you need .NET 3.5 and ASP.NET MVC 1.0 to use the Telerik Extensions. We are already experimenting with the ASP.NET MVC 2 betas, and we plan to target that framework after it is released by Microsoft.

Q: Is there an installer for the Q3 2009 MVC release?

There is no installer for the Telerik Extensions in Q3. The download is a simple ZIP archive that contains all required assemblies, documentation, examples, and source. To work with the Telerik Extensions in Visual Studio, simply add the DLLs to your project and follow the guidance in the docs for configuring your MVC web.config file.

We do plan to ship a simple installer by Q1 2010, but for Q3 we wanted to focus our efforts on the completeness and quality of the shipping UI Extensions (primarily, Grid).

Q: What's next for the Telerik Extensions for ASP.NET MVC?

Now that we have released our first four UI components, we will continue to build on this progress to ship a more complete LOB toolbox for MVC in Q1 and Q2 2010. First-up will be a focus on delivering editing support in the Grid, which will also force us to address a number of controls required to serve as column editors (such as date pickers, calendars, input controls, etc.). Plans for Q1 and Q2 are still being discussed, though, so make sure you share your feedback on the Telerik MVC forums! Your feedback will have a huge impact on our direction for the next release.

Telerik Extensions for ASP.NET MVC Unofficial FAQs (updated)

With the introduction of our brand new Telerik Extensions for ASP.NET MVC, I know there are a lot of questions in the community about this new product. New products always generate questions, but when you factor in the CTP nature of this release and the fact that this is Telerik's first open source product, the questions abound. To help ensure you get answers to all of your burning questions, I've compiled some answers to the most common questions I'm seeing (or expect to see) in the community. The "unofficial FAQs." If you have a question not answered, be sure to add it to the comments and I'll update the post with an answer (if I can). Telerik Extensions for ASP.NET MVC Unofficial FAQs Q: Why did Telerik build these extensions? ASP.NET MVC represents a very different way of building standards-based websites with .NET, and Telerik recognized that the current efforts to provide UI "components" for MVC were not fully embracing the principles of the platform. Telerik is providing a UI Extension framework for deploying reusable UI components in MVC views that is purpose built for the ASP.NET MVC platform- no postbacks, no Viewstate, no page life cycle. These new UI extensions will finally give MVC developers more productivity while creating views without sacrificing the concepts (like testability, clean HTML, SoC) that make MVC an important step forward for ASP.NET developers. Continue reading Telerik Extension Unofficial FAQs Q: Is Telerik transitioning to ASP.NET MVC? How does this affect the future of WebForms components? Definitely not! Just as Microsoft makes clear with the ASP.NET MVC framework, MVC is an option, not a replacement for ASP.NET WebForms. Telerik remains fully committed to the RadControls for ASP.NET AJAX and has a great road map of planned features for those controls. We are offering the Extensions for MVC for those developers that have decided to use MVC and want a more productive way to create rich views with .NET. Q: Are the Telerik Extensions really open source? Yes! In fact, they're licensed with the same OSI-approved license that covers the ASP.NET MVC framework- the Microsoft Public License (MS-PL). This is one of the simplest open source licenses out there, and one of the most "open." You are free to use the Telerik Extensions in any open source or commercial product. Q: What if I want support? What do I do if my company doesn't allow open source software? Telerik will make a commercial license for the Telerik Extensions available with the official release. This license will include Telerik's "legendary" dedicated support and it will make it possible for you to use the Extensions in an environment where open source software is hard to get approved. Pricing and additional commercial license details are not available at this time. Q: What's so special about the Telerik Extensions for ASP.NET MVC? How are they different from other UI components for MVC? The Telerik Extensions are the first UI "components" natively built for MVC. These are not "ports" of WebForms controls. Many of the solutions for MVC you see available today are trying to cram the WebForms model (or some hybrid version of it) in to MVC. The Telerik Extensions are built from scratch to embrace ASP.NET MVC. The Extensions are designed to easily work with MVC controllers and they render lightweight, clean HTML. They also work with any ASP.NET MVC view engine! Q: What are these wrappers for jQueryUI? Why would I use them? For this CTP release, we did not have time to begin building custom UI rendering on top of our new UI Extension framework. To show-off the framework's power, though, we created wrappers for several jQueryUI components. These wrappers demonstrate how the server-side API works and give you a sense for how our "homegrown" components will work in the official release. The wrappers are also open source and you can use them to gain a native .NET approach for adding jQueryUI components to your MVC views. Q: Will the jQuery wrappers be updated in the future? Will you cover more controls? Not by Telerik. These wrappers are "proofs of concept" designed to show-off the framework. Their source will be published and we encourage the community to adopt and enhance the wrappers to make jQueryUI as accessible as possible to MVC developers. Future releases of the Telerik Extensions will feature new UI components not built on jQueryUI. Q: When will we see Telerik components built-on the Extensions framework? In our next release, you will begin to see new, homegrown components added to the Telerik Extensions for ASP.NET MVC. Our plans are to start with three components for the first release: Grid, Menu, and TabStrip. These UI components will more closely match the skins of the existing RadControls for ASP.NET AJAX and will offer more rich functionality that Telerik customer's expect. Q: Wait! Telerik is building a TabStrip? I thought there was already a Tab component in the CTP?! True, but remember that the CTP components are simply previews of the framework's power. The components themselves are jQueryUI components, not custom designed Telerik UI Extensions. The CTP wrappers are not considered components in the official release of the Telerik Extensions. Custom-built Telerik UI Extensions not based on jQueryUI will be built for all MVC components, including TabStrip. Q: Will the Telerik components be based on ASP.NET AJAX? Will they use the same rendering as the WebForms controls? No on both accounts. The Telerik Extensions for ASP.NET MVC will be built on jQuery, the popular JavaScript library supported (officially) by Microsoft. The new UI Extensions will have a brand new HTML rendering model that is a clean as possible and that exclusively leverages jQuery on the client. The skins will be crafted to look identical to the skins for the RadControls for ASP.NET AJAX (for consistency), but the renderings will be different. We are working hard to leave as much control as possible in the developer's hands over what gets rendered to the page. Q: Can I use the Telerik Extensions in multiple ASP.NET MVC View Engines? Absolutely! Since these UI Extensions are built from the ground-up to support ASP.NET MVC, they are fully desiged to work with any ASP.NET MVC View Engine. In fact, the downloads on Telerik.com include two sample projects showing the Telerik Extensions used in the Spark and NHaml MVC view engines, in addition to the default ASPX view engine. Q: Where can I download the Telerik Extensions for ASP.NET MVC? You can download the source, binaries, sample projects, and documentation from Telerik.com. The complete source (and the source only) is also published on CodePlex. You can submit contributions through CodePlex if you want to help extend this open source project. Q: I don't see the MVC download in my Telerik.com account. How do I get it? If you do not see the download for the Telerik Extensions for ASP.NET MVC on your downloads page on Telerik.com, it means you have not yet accepted the "community license" for this download. Simply accept the license and the download link will be added to your list of available Telerik downloads. Q: Where can I offer my 2 cents on these new Extensions? There are official forums on Telerik.com dedicated to the Telerik Extensions for ASP.NET MVC. We are eager to hear your feedback and get your suggestions as we start the push towards the first official release of this product. Speak now or...speak later. But we'd prefer you speak-up early and often! Q: What's next for the Telerik Extensions for ASP.NET MVC? We are now turning our full attention to building the first three UI Extensions that will be part of the official release this fall. There will be at least one more preview release before the first version ships, and that will be your first chance to see some of the Telerik Extensions in action. Stay tuned to Telerik Watch and the Telerik Blogs for updates.