Did You Know? 10 Useful Telerik UI for ASP.NET AJAX Tips

With a toolset as mature and feature-rich as Telerik UI for ASP.NET AJAX, there are bound to be some features or functionality you are not aware of, so we’ve pulled together 10 Telerik UI for ASP.NET AJAX tips we think you’ll find useful. While it's far from an exhaustive list, hopefully it will give you a good start if you are new to the suite, or show you something you didn't know. 

Happy Coding!

1. Leverage RadGrid’s Rich Server APIs for Inserting, Updating, and Deleting Data.
   RadGrid provides a rich server API for inserting new data, updating existing data and deleting data directly from the specified data source (AccessDataSource, SqlDataSource or ObjectDataSource). The ASP.NET AJAX framework enables you to use these features entirely declaratively, except the error-handling logic. RadGrid supports automatic extraction of values from the form template, thus the automatic data-editing does not require any extra coding—you merely declare two-way binding expressions for each input control. Read More
2. Learn to Use .RESX Files to Localize RadGrid. RadGrid supports built-in localization through Global resources. Similar to RadEditor and RadScheduler, you can use .resx files to localize the control with minimal effort. The resource files should be placed within the App_GlobalResources folder in your application. You can either create your own language pack or use an existing one. The Telerik controls installation wizard automatically copies the built-in resources to the App_GlobalResources in your local installation. Read More
3. Turn Filtering Up to 11—Learn to Create Custom Filter Functions. You can use the "Custom" filter function to introduce a filter function that is not included in the default list, or to allow multiple columns with the same data type to have different filtering menus. The RadGrid filtering menu is implemented using a single object server-side, which is cloned for the separate column menus that appear client-side. This implementation speeds up grid performance but means that every column of the same data type displays the same list of available filter functions. Read More
4. A Few Simple Adjustments to Improve RadHTMLChart’s Load Time. Looking to improve your RadHTMLChart load time? Try switching to Canvas rendering (RenderAs="Canvas") or hide the MinorGridLines and/or MajorGridLines of the X and/or Y axis by setting the [YAxis/XAxis].[MinorGridLines/MajorGridLines].Visible property to “false.” Read More
5. Easily Customize Themes with Sass Theme Builder. Using the Sass Theme Builder, you can easily customize a theme by customizing the controls. Some of the controls have composite structures and include other child controls to provide the rich functionality they offer, e.g. RadGrid. The Sass Theme Builder applies the selected changes automatically to those controls so you don't have to customize them separately. Read More
6. Customize RadMenu to Provide Users with Improved Navigation. RadMenu can be enabled to highlight the upper level of a menu as the user browses to a lower-level menu. This way the user will not feel "lost" when navigating through multi-level menus. Read More
7. Improve Grid Performance with RadInputManager. Concerned about grid performance? Try using the RadInputManager to improve client-side performance, RadAjaxAManager to AJAX-ify the grid or RadCompression to compress the response from the server. Read More
8. Customize the Grid Using GridTemplateColumns. Want to have different colored cells based on your data? How about two level headers or custom complex structure for your table cells? Using the GridTemplateColumns with HTML tables in the HeaderTemplate/ItemTemplate enables you to make the Grid more dynamic and customized. Read More
9. Use Telerik Document Processing Libraries to Create, Modify, and Export to PDF. The libraries included in Telerik Document Processing enable you to create, modify, and export PDF documents, as well as convert documents from a different file format to PDF. RadPdfProcessing is intended to work with fixed documents. To use its import and export functionalities, you will need to add a reference to the Telerik.Windows.Documents.Fixed assembly. You can import and export a document through the respective methods of the PdfFormatProvider class. Read More
10. Support for Section 508, WCAG 2.0 and WAI-ARIA Accessibility Standards.
    Telerik UI for ASP.NET AJAX supports Section 508, WCAG 2.0, and WAI-ARIA accessibility standards. The implementation of the WAI-ARIA support is achieved entirely client-side (using JavaScript) by appending different attributes and appropriate WAI-ARIA roles to the DOM elements. This is done because an HTML document containing ARIA attributes will not pass validation if they are added on the server. Read More

We hope you find these tips useful as you develop your ASP.NET AJAX apps. Have a great tip we missed? We'd love to hear it, so let us know in the comments below. And if you're new to Telerik UI for ASP.NET AJAX, feel free to dive in and try it out with a free 30 day trial today.