Service Pack 2 released, Firefox 3 support delivered

While I did my best to keep you "in the know" while away on vacation last week in the Colorado Rockies, a few important updates had to wait for my return to the office. Key among those is the announcement of the new Service Pack 2 release for the Q1 2008 RadControls for ASP.NET AJAX. The 2nd and final service pack release for the Q1 2008 controls is mostly a roll-up of hotfixes fixing issues reported since SP1, but, as usual, there are some new features in the release, too. Highlights:

• SP2 delivers full support for the just released Firefox 3 and Opera 9.5 browsers
• New load-on-demand caching support and client-side events in RadCombobox
• 20+ fixes in RadGrid and in RadEditor
• New perf optimizations in RadEditor (dialog rendering, shared tools)
• Problems with RadManagers fixed (gzip, medium trust)
• New support for custom spell providers in RadSpell

If for no other reason than to support the latest releases of two popular browsers, you should download and prepare to deploy this service pack to your projects. Firefox 3 did introduce some bugs due to changes in the way client-side events are processed, and SP2 addresses those. For a complete overview of the fixes in this release (2008.1.619), check out the release notes.

And that's about it for Q1 2008. With Q2 2008 quickly approaching (currently targeting a late July release), there will be no more service packs for Q1. The next release will be a Futures release that will preview some of the enhancements coming in Q2, so look for that to drop in the next few weeks. Otherwise, enjoy the updates and be sure to keep sending us your honest feedback.

First Service Pack for RadControls for ASP.NET AJAX released

About a month ago (hard to believe that much time has already passed) Telerik released the big Q1 2008 RadControls for ASP.NET AJAX. By many standards, it was one of the most successful releases in Telerik's short history, shipping right on time with relatively few problems. But even great releases need to be serviced, so today we're shipping the first Service Pack for the Q1 2008 release. The SP1 release, as usual, is loaded with fixes for all of the RadControls and it also packs-in a few handy new features, too. The full release notes are available online, but for those too busy to look now, here are some highlights:

• Over 20 fixes and 8 new "features" for RadGrid
• 19 fixes for RadEditor and several improved dialogs
• New client-side "click" events in RadMenu and RadPanelbar
• New client-side enable/disable methods in RadTabStrip
• Change to modal RadWindow behavior- Escape will now not close the window

The one obvious "gotcha" to look out for in this SP release is a breaking change in RadTabStrip. Specifically, the "ReoderTabsOnSelect" property has been changed to "ReorderTabsOnSelect" to fix the obvious typo. Otherwise, this SP should be safe to apply to your projects and begin testing for roll-out to your Prod environments. Hopefully the new fixes and features will suite your needs 'til the next big release- Q2 is quickly approaching, you know!

Download the Service Pack now from your Client.net account

New RadControls Installer in Q1 2008

Did you notice something different when you installed your Q1 2008 RadControls for ASP.NET AJAX? If you didn't, welcome to the RadControls! This was probably your first install and I hope you enjoyed it. If you have been with Telerik for a while, though, then you probably noticed that the ASP.NET AJAX installer has received a major face lift! The new installer is more than an attractive face lift, its performance has also be radically improved. Gone are the days of needlessly long installs and uninstalls. Everything now happens in 5 to 10 minutes (depending on your rig's setup).

The new installer is hard to do justice in words alone, so I've gone the extra mile a prepared a complete, narrated photo gallery showing exactly what's new. If you're looking for yet another reason to upgrade to Q1 2008, check out my gallery and enjoy the beautiful new shots of the installer. The experience is elegant and fast and a great way to get started with the RadControls for ASP.NET AJAX.

The WinForms and Reporting installers haven't received the visual punch that the ASP.NET AJAX installer got, but they have still been improved in the Q1 2008 release. We spent a lot of time over the last several months optimizing our installers as much as possible so that your first experience with every release is positive and fast. We want you to be able to get right to developing solutions with the RadControls as quickly as possible. Hopefully you enjoy the new installation wizards and see the results of our hard work. Let us know what you think.

View installer image gallery

Q1 2008 release now live!

What better way to celebrate the end of tax season (you did file your taxes [US readers], didn't you?) than to welcome the huge, highly-anticipated Q1 2008 RadControls release! It's really not fair to call this a "RadControls" release anymore since the release encompasses both the RadControls for WinForms/ASP.NET and Telerik Reporting. But no matter what you call it, the release is big, loaded with great features and improvements (most of which have been aired on this blog), and is now ready for download!

And let's not forget that this release marks another huge occasion: RadControls "Prometheus" is now officially RadControls for ASP.NET AJAX and no longer in beta! This has been a huge effort, started well over a year ago, and I think anyone that's used the Prometheus controls can say it has truly been worth the work. A huge thanks goes out to all of you that downloaded and started using the Prometheus controls in 2007. Your feedback and ideas really helped make the RadControls for ASP.NET AJAX the best suite of UI components for ASP.NET on the market.

If you've been waiting for the beta to end to get started with the RadControls for ASP.NET AJAX, today's your lucky day. Don't waste any time in downloading the new controls (you'll find the RadControls for ASP.NET AJAX on the top of your download list, now, assuming its rightful place as "king of the hill").

WinForms and Reporting are also big players in this release. If you've been waiting for RTF export in Reporting or dying for the radically optimized RadGridView for WinForms, you'll also want to download the new release right away. In the weeks ahead, I'll start to demo more of the new features in all of Telerik's products so that those of you without time to see for yourself can be amazed at what's new. But trust me, this is a release worth downloading today.

So much to say, so little time. For now, I'll leave you with the excitement of release day and give you some time to play with the new controls. Enjoy!

Reminder: Q1 2008 due next week

If you're not already counting down the days with the Q1 2008 quiz game (any why aren't you?!), don't forget that next week welcomes the introduction of the big Q1 2008 release! There has already been a lot of coverage on what to expect in this release in my past blog posts, and even more info is being revealed day-by-day in the Q1 game. I highly encourage you to review those resources to remind yourself what's new, what's changed, and what's important in the Q1 release.

Since I've dedicated most of my previous coverage to the enhancements coming in the ASP.NET AJAX controls, let me take a moment and highlight some of the cool new things coming to the Reporting and WinForms products:

Telerik Reporting

• Brand new VS-integrated designer with much improved layout support
• New! Export to RTF
• New! Automatic report parameter UI (for accepting run-time user supplied parameters)
• Available in both ASP.NET and WinForms viewers
  

RadControls for WinForms

• Radically improved and highly optimized RadGridView
• New! RadCarousel and RadForm controls
• New! Help Desk and CAB demo apps
• 2 new themes

Clearly, a lot happening across the Telerik portfolio of products. There are even some exciting new previews of the RadControls for WPF and Silverlight coming soon, but that's all I can say about that for now (more details soon). In the mean time, clear some time next week to start upgrading your projects to the Q1 2008 release, which should drop by mid-week. Keep your readers tuned to this blog for up-to-the-minute updates!

Countdown to Q1, Join the game

The fun is finally beginning. We are only weeks away from our big Q1 2008 release and the energy and excitement is already building around the huge improvements in this release. But nothing helps mark the arrival of a new release like the start of another release game! That's right. We've got another fun community driven game that is launching today that will help you countdown the days to the big Q1 release. This Q's game is a little different from games past, though, and it will require you to do a little thinking. Here's how it works:

1. You visit the Telerik Countdown site everyday between now and the release (14 days away)
2. Answer the question of the day (it's multiple choice and easy)
3. The questions highlight different Telerik product features. Once enough people answer correctly each day, some details about the Q1 release will be revealed.

See. That's not very hard. The game is built with Silverlight 2.0, so it's also another fun example of how Silverlight can be used on the web. To get you started, I'll also give you a hint about today's question so that you can contribute a right answer to the cause. The question asks about Telerik Reporting and my hint for you is that Telerik Reporting is a full featured reporting product. Take that hint, jump over to the Countdown site, and add your answer to the pot right now! As of this post, we need about 760 more correct answers today to reveal today's release details.

What are you waiting for? Play now!

RadControls for ASP.NET AJAX Futures released

The first big release of 2008 (not counting Sitefinity, of course) is just around the corner, and marking its impending arrival is today's RadControls for ASP.NET AJAX (formerly "Prometheus") Futures release. The Futures release can be thought of as the beta version of the controls that will ship for ASP.NET AJAX in Q1. We use the term "Futures" to differentiate from the "beta" tag that has been on the Prometheus suite for the last year. In either case, the Futures release that dropped today is your first chance to start playing with the bits that will officially drop in mid-April. Included in today's build are:

• New ASP.NET AJAX versions of RadTabstrip, RadToolbar, and RadPanelbar
• New RadFormDecorator control (based on Skinnable Forms CTP)
• RadGrid with tons of new features (many which I've already talked about)
• RadEditor with some cool new features (I'll cover these later)
• RadChart with new Ajax features (covered here)
• RadScheduler with new grouping features

For a complete list of the new controls and features in the Futures build, check out the official announcement on the Telerik forums. Needless to say, there is a lot of new stuff going on in this build for you to check out. And since this is a "beta," we want your feedback! Check out the new controls and the new features and tell us what we should fix for the final release in a few weeks.

On a cautionary note, you will need to watch out for a few API changes in the new Prometheus controls that will break with your older implementations. For starters, I believe the new RadToolbar and RadPanelbar have new APIs that are not compatible with the old ASP.NET versions of the controls. The changes have been introduced to ensure the best possible development experience and product performance in the future. Also, a little more serious, the RadSplitter "Prometheus" API will introduce some back-compat breaking changes in Q1. The RadSplitter has been totally refactored to improve performance, and that required a few breaking changes.

We know breaking changes are painful and that every developer hates them. I hate them, too. We try to avoid them at all costs and only introduce them when the long term performance/productivity gains can be achieved no other way. Start playing with the Futures release today, though, and see for yourself how our next generation suite for ASP.NET is once again raising the bar for ASP.NET UI components!

Skinnable Form Controls CTP updated

As you may recall, Telerik released some fun skinnable form controls about a month ago as a technology preview in our Code Library. These controls enable you to easily style all of the form elements on your page (such as buttons, checkboxes, radiobuttons, etc.) so that they match the rest of your beautifully skinned web application. Since the CTP last month, there has been a huge positive response to the controls and they are now officially planned to be part of the ASP.NET Q1 2008 release. Another good example of how your input and feedback has driven our product plans and priorities!

Since the Q1 release is still five or six weeks away, the ASP.NET Team has gone ahead and released an updated version of the skinnable form controls CTP. The update delivers a number of new features, including:

• 10 additional skins
• Hover/Out states for buttons (pure CSS approach)
• Image caching for IE6 (to eliminate image flicker)
• CSS for disabled radiobuttons, checkboxes, buttons

Missing from this list is obviously the much desired ability to use your own custom skins, but that is next on the "to-do" list and it will definitely be part of the official release. For now, enjoy the intermediate update, checkout the updated live demos, and keep sending us your feedback so we can get these helpful controls perfected by April.

Q1 2008 RadControls for ASP.NET AJAX features revealed

Following-up quickly on yesterday's announcement that the RadControls "Prometheus" will become RadControls for ASP.NET AJAX in Q1, I have a handful of juicy details from the Q1 2008 ASP.NET road map to share with you today. As promised, there are some very cool new features coming in the Q1 2008 release and I'm very excited to get to share some of them with you today.

Among the controls getting lots of attention in Q1 is RadGrid (for ASP.NET AJAX). Our developers have been churning out new features for the Grid at an incredible pace and I am certain many of you are going to like what you see. Some of the cooler features coming to RadGrid in Q1 are:

• Calculated Columns: This cool new feature will make it very easy to add a column to your Grid that automatically displays calculated column values. For instance, a Grid with "Price" and "Qty" columns could have a CalculatedColumn that automatically displays the extend "Price * Qty" without requiring any custom coding. You simply define the DataFields and the Expression and the Grid does the rest. CalculatedColumns can also be sorted, grouped, and filtered just like any other BoundColumn!
  
• Footer Aggregates: This is one I know you've been wanting for a while. The Grid will now support automatic footer aggregates that will provide summary values for all rows in a column. All you do is set the Aggregate type in the column definition (such as "Sum"), and the Grid will automatically do the math and display the value. And, by the way, CalculatedColumns support Aggregate definitions, too!
• Group Footers: Have you ever wanted to display footer values that were specific to each Group in a Grid and not the entire Grid as a whole? GroupFooters are your solution. They work just like you'd expect and they support the new FooterAggregates feature (in other words, they support aggregates per group).
• Detail Templates: Do you want more control over your DetailTableView formatting in RadGrid? With the new Detail Templates, you have complete control. If you define a new "NestedViewTemplate" in RadGrid, you have access to the detail table data and complete freedom to render the data however you like.
• CardView: Similar to Detail Templates, CardView will give you complete control over the way data is rendered in RadGrid. Essentially, it gives you the rendering flexibility of a Repeater with the same great Grid support for filtering, sorting, grouping, etc.
• Pop-up Edit: Looking for even more ways to customize your Grid's data editing behavior? With the new pop-up edit mode, you can set one property and automatically use a built-in pop-up mechanism to display a floating "window" your users can use to edit data.

And that, crazy as it sounds, is just scratching the surface of what's coming to RadGrid in Q1! There are more great features being worked on that you're going to love and a lot of work being done on the performance side of the equation with incredible early test results. But we'll save some of these Grid details for later; there are other controls getting updates in Q1!

One of the other controls getting big updates is RadScheduler. It will get a new, flexible advanced edit form that can be easily customized to handle whatever scheduling data you need to manage. It will also get a new Timeline View that makes it easy to see all events for multiple resources over a given time period.

RadEditor, which has already seen significant performance improvements in the transition to ASP.NET AJAX, will get a couple of new dialogs. One will make it very easy for end users to manage styles in the Editor- similar to VS 2008's new style management interfaces. The other dialog will bring the long awaited image editing capabilities to Editor. The full scope of features for the image editor is still under wraps, but rest assured it's coming in Q1.

As far as new controls go, the recently previewed Skinnable Form Controls will be introduced officially in Q1 2008. These "utility" controls make it very easy to stylize all of your form elements (like buttons, checkboxes, and radiobuttons) to match the beautiful skins of the RadControls. When the new controls ship in Q1, they will come with all 13 common skins for the RadControls and support custom skins that you create.

I know this is a longer than normal post, but clearly there is a lot of exciting work being done on the ASP.NET controls for Q1. Hopefully this little taste of what's to come has got you excited for the future; I know I can't wait to start working with some of these improved controls. For a few more details of what's coming, don't forget to check out the ASP.NET Road Map and then come back here for increasing Q1 coverage as April draws near.