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Problem with LoadLayout

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GridView

This is a migrated thread and some comments may be shown as answers.

75 Answers, 1 is accepted

answered on 19 Aug 2010, 04:07 PM

What bothers me most with this issue: how can code like this that just pops up a meaningless message box slip through QA and code review into production.

You don't even need to run the code to see that there must be something very wrong, static code analysis/review should reveal the problem.

- If there is a problem related to API calls the grid should throw an exception with as much contextual information as possible
- If the problem is related to the Data that was loaded into the grid, there should be an Event where the developer can catch the situation and if needed display a meaningful message to the user.

in absolutely no case should a hardcoded message box with a message that makes absolutely no sense pop up.

So there must be either a design bug or a flaw in QA/code review. Feels a lot like debug code that slipped through.

Regards
Erwin

answered on 19 Aug 2010, 08:41 PM

I am working with version 2010.2.10.806. I am trying to use loadlayout but Still i am getting problem.

My code:

string sGridSetting = ( getting value from DB)

byte[] byteArray = Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes(sGridSetting);
MemoryStream stream = new MemoryStream(byteArray);
rgvControl.LoadLayout(stream);

Error:
---------------------------
Data Exception
---------------------------
There is no property descriptor corresponding to property name:
---------------------------
OK
---------------------------

Please let me know ASAP.

answered on 24 Aug 2010, 09:49 AM

Hi,

I am also getting the above problem and I would like to add another one too (related to Layout).
Here is the scenario:

I have a grid with some columns, say 'Subject' and 'DateCreated' (with respective field names)
On form close, I save the grid layout (the xml as string in a datatable of an sql database).
On form load, I load the saved layout from the database.
So far, so good.

I then use the property builder to Add another column, say 'Column1' with field name 'DateCreated', no need for another field.
The column is set to visible.

When I run the application, the layout is loaded but the column is not shown! (In my opinion, since the number of columns has changed, the layout should have been reset automatically).

I then use the column chooser and select place 'Column1' in the Grid.
Upon form close, the layout is saved as supposed to. (I checked it by opening and closing the form with the grid).

I then use the property builder and delete this column 'Column1'.

When I run the application once again, the layout is loaded with 'Column1' appearing and I can even sort the grid data by this column. It even appears in the column chooser!

To wrap this up, I develop an application with this automatic save/load of the grid's layout. When I release a new version of the application with grid changes (add new columns,remove old ones, change the properties or data types of others), I want these changes to reflect to the layout save/load. In my opinion, the methods for save/load of the layout should compare the columns found ob the grid and the ones found in the layout XML before each operation.

answered on 24 Aug 2010, 10:36 AM

Panos,

it's even more complicated than that, because you should not load a layout that was created with an earlier version of Telerik controls.
In the past, doing so resulted in very strange effects. Looking at the .xml file produced by 2010Q2SP1, Telerik seems to have cleaned up the format of the layout file quite a bit.

In my app - which supports user defined queries / datasources - I calculate a hash over the query/table definition and program build information to prevent loading of layouts that do not fit to exactly to the current version of the datasource definition. Otherwise, if you allow users to save their customized layouts, you end up with a lot of support problems if your users load outdated layouts.

The annoying problem that persists is that a new release of my software resets all saved custom layouts. Providing a migration path for old layouts was not feasible with resonable resources.

Regards
Erwin

answered on 25 Aug 2010, 12:42 PM

Hi guys,

I would like to thank you all for the feedback that you gave concerning the LoadLayout feature, we appreciate it much. We set the priority of the LoadLayout issues to high and I want to assure that we will address them in Q2 2010 SP2 planned for the first half of September.

If you have additional feedback to share, feel free to contact us.

Greetings,
Julian Benkov
the Telerik team

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answered on 21 Oct 2010, 05:57 PM

Hello Mark,

I think the issue of removed columns / added columns should be another discussion altogether, me for one, i would prefer that no layout should load when there are inconsistencies between the old data source / the new one.

This could introduce a series of problems, like:
- New columns that should have more space than the old ones,
- new columns have been added that should have been invisible but after loading the layout the grid made them visible (because they are new),
- missing format information and so on.

This might be just my opinion, but i wanted just to point out a few things that could happen if the grid would treat all new data as visible by default.
Maybe there could be a property to enable this behavior but i don't think it should be enabled by default.

Hope this helps, if you have any other questions or comments, please let me know,

Best Regards,
Emanuel Varga

answered on 21 Oct 2010, 06:41 PM

See my earlier post in this thread.

Generally it's not a good idea to

- try to load a layout that was saved with an earlier version of telerik controls
- try to load a layout form when the layout (columns, data types etc) of the datasource has changed since last save

in the past trying to do this lead to strange effects. Also because clients had different update paths/schedules for my app it was very hard to test all the different combinations of versions for saved layouts.
IMHO it's best to prevent an application to load layouts that were created with another build.

Would be nice if Telerik would put in additional checks, for example method like IsSafeToLoadLayout(filename), so that an application can inform the user when a saved layout has to be discarded.

Regards
Erwin

answered on 21 Oct 2010, 07:11 PM

Hi,

I don't know if this suggestion will help anyone but I'll offer it up anyway. In our application, where we let the user save the layout, we save an initial layout that we can revert back to. Then let the user save a custom layout

When we load the layout, we check the accessed date of the layouts aginst the date of the main executable. If the executable is newer then we delete the layouts and start again. The disadvantage is that on a new executable the user doesn't get the layout they previously saved, but on the plus side we never get the issues of versioning or changed data sources.

All the best
Richard

answered on 22 Oct 2010, 09:51 AM

Hello,

Surely it would be easy enough for LoadLayout to match columns in the layout to the datasource, discard what cannot be matched in the layout and to apply a default format to new columns? If they put it behind a non-default option that is fine. But I now have the farcical situation where 95% of the columns cannot have their format saved/loaded between sessions because 5% of the columns are not consistent. Telerik say check the IsDataBound property and remove extraneous columns, but what about new columns? They still don't show.

So now I'm looking at saving/loading layouts myself or at least manipulating the existing process, anybody any pointers on how to do this? I'm kind of thinking of excluding the dynamic columns from the saved layout though I am still not sure how to get new columns to appear, perhaps inject them into the loaded layout as it is processed? What a lot of faff.

Regards,
Mark Leavesley

answered on 22 Oct 2010, 12:51 PM

Hello mark,

Please accept my apologies for the delayed answer.

Basically, the Save/Load Layout works the following way - when you load the layout and the previous Columns schema does not contain the current DataSource fields, you can not view the data. The layout does not reflect any changes you have made to the data set. It simply saves the current columns and loads them. If it can not find some of the saved columns, it adds them with No Data.

We do not have plans to modify the default behavior of the Save/LoadLayout functionality. However, we will provide an event in Q3 2010 which will be fired when the layout is loaded. You will be able to handle this event and add the necessary new columns (and remove the unneeded ones).

If you have any other questions, do not hesitate to open a new thread/support ticket.

Sincerely yours,

Stefan
the Telerik team

answered on 27 Oct 2010, 04:12 PM

Hello devoas,

Thank you for writing.

Currently, the Save/Load Layout does not support the functionality of saving RadGridView with multiple header rows. This is why you are experiencing the described behavior. However, your suggestion seems quite reasonable and I will add it as a feature request to our PITS (Public Issue Tracking System). You can follow this link in order to vote for this request and get notified about its status updates.

Your Telerik points have been updated for this request.

I hope this information addresses your question. If there is anything else I can assist you with, do not hesitate to contact me.

All the best,
Stefan
the Telerik team

answered on 17 Nov 2010, 05:32 PM

Hi mark,

Thank you for writing back.

As the name of the event implies, the LayoutLoaded event is fired after the layout has been loaded. In the event handler of the event you can check if the columns from the layout match the ones from the data source and take appropriate actions if they do not.

I hope this will solve your case. As to the documentation, we are currently working on it and it will be uploaded soon.

If there is anything else I can assist you with, do not hesitate to open a new support ticket or forum thread.

Regards,
Stefan
the Telerik team

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answered on 18 Nov 2010, 09:47 AM

Hello,

I've been waiting for this event to solve my layout problems only to find the event does not actually enable or facilitate anything whatsoever. I was under the impression this event would give me the ability to manipulate the layout before it is actually processed so that I can make it match the datasource. Whatever I need to do to fix my issue could have been done directly after the call to LoadLayout and we need not have made the client wait.

I've had to wait additional days on going back and forth on the ticket to find this out because the documentation is not there.

Well if that doesn't make me mad <grr>

Regards,
Mark Leavesley

answered on 23 Nov 2010, 05:49 PM

Hello mark leavesley,

Thank you for writing back.

In case we understood your requirement correctly, you requested the following: after loading the layout (which was previously saved) remove the columns which do not exist in the present data source and add the columns which are in the dataset and which do not appear in the saved layout. You have requested an event which will fire when the layout is loaded.

All this is possible using our latest release - Q3 2010. Please follow these steps:

1. Handle the LayoutLoaded event in order to know when the column changing is needed.
2. In the event use the DeferRefresh method (in using statement) or simply between BeginUpdate and EndUpdate methods
3. iterate through the loaded columns, check which one does not exist in the data set any more and remove it.
4. While in this block iterate the data set and check which columns are not in the Columns collection of RadGridView and add them.

I hope this helps and that we understood your scenario correctly. In case you have further questions, please write back.

Greetings,
Stefan
the Telerik team

Get started with RadControls for WinForms with numerous videos and detailed documentation.

answered on 26 Nov 2010, 04:09 PM

grid-load-layout-and-apply-changes-from-data-source.zip

Hi guys,

Please find attached a sample project that demonstrates the discussed behavior when load layout is used.

Should you need any other assistance, do not hesitate to contact me.

Best wishes,
Stefan
the Telerik team

Get started with RadControls for WinForms with numerous videos and detailed documentation.

answered on 06 Dec 2010, 05:57 PM

Hi, thanks for your help I've been searching for a solution and it seems like this is close to what I need.

I just want to know your thoughts on a situation I'm having. If I add a column to the datasource and add the column to the grid in VS designer, I can customize the header text or change the format of that column. If, on older version of my application didnt have that column and I load the layout, the new column is not available in the grid or in the column chooser.

The solution you provided is good if you want to add that new column as is, but what if you customized it with a different hearder text, or format in VS?

Let me know if I'm not clear enough my english is not the best...

thanks

answered on 18 Apr 2011, 04:47 PM

Hi Hilda,

The version that you are able to download (v2010.2.10.914) actually should address the LoadLayout issues that you have described before. If you are still experiencing the same issues, this probably means that we have missed a case in which the issue occurs. If this is so, please open a new support ticket and send us a sample project where the issue occurs. This will allow us to investigate your case in detail and provide you with a solution.

Best wishes,
Nikolay
the Telerik team

answered on 18 Apr 2011, 05:06 PM

Hilda,

While I think it's OK for Telerik to charge for ongoing support and bugfix releases, I second your opinion that we need bug fix releases apart from new feature releases. The current policy of forcing new feature releases on us to get bugfixes for old problems leads to too much instability for our clients.
Bugfix Releases also should maintain a compatible API, installing a bug-fix version should be straight forward and not force any change in the calling applicaion.

Regards
Erwin

answered on 19 Apr 2011, 09:51 AM

Hi erwin,

This is a seemingly simple question with a long, political, and policy-setting answer, which stands before all 3rd party control vendors. It has no simple correct answer, but here is a stab of why our policy is what it is, and why it is so:

It has always been Telerik's policy to offer the most stable and updated versions to our customers. We do this by working on the most recent codebase and constantly improving it. In our view, this is the best way to keep our costs down, be able to keep the prices low and competitive, and deliver new features to you at the same time. We are very aggressive in our release schedule, and although one can argue that this has some negative sides in the WinForms world, the vast majority of our customers are very happy with this fact, because they are getting needed fixes more often.

Let's dive deeper into this:

1) If you are to work with a 2-year old version of our tools (say Q2 2009) and we provide you with a "fixed Q2 2009", you will be more or less stuck with a custom implementation which solves your single problem. This means that you will miss all future improvements, which we have released, because a) you will be happy with your current version, and b) it works, so why bother upgrading. This is an important factor to consider, not only because you will miss a big chunk of the value that our licensing offers (i.e. new products and updates + support services), but also because the upgrade process from Q2 2009 to today's version will be much harder due to the introduction of new features, new products, and/or improved new API. This situation begs for a few questions, all of which translate to jacking our prices up:

What happens if a new issue pops up while you are extending your legacy application? What if the need for this fix is discovered 3 years from today, i.e. in 2014?
How much extra are you willing to pay to a vendor to provide a fix for such legacy applications?
What is the oldest version that you think Telerik should support?

2) For us, supporting an old version means providing support for another codebase (in this case Q2 2009). If we are to prepare a new custom build with the same fix for another customer with another version (say Q3 2008), we will be repeating the same job time and time again which will lead to much higher non-competitive prices.
There is also another factor to the equation - the time we need to prepare the fix. As with all fixes, we will need fix the problem in Q2 2009, test the build, package it and give it to you. Fixing aside (covered above), testing and packaging only takes about a week of time; time, which again costs money (see questions #2 and #3 above).

This is why we have decided to support only the last 4 releases (which cover a time span of one year) and keep our pricing low. For older versions we offer the free service of upgrading our client's applications to the latest current version. This helps us keep legacy apps to a minimum and have our costs under control.

Indeed, this policy puts more burden on you - the developer - because you will need to update the application more often [than you like] and distribute it to your users. There are automation tools which do this for you, so the cost of distribution today is much lower than it used to be. The plus side of our policy however, is that you are paying lower prices, but you are always getting the best value for your dollar, because you always have the latest and greatest we produce. Basically, we think this is a win-win situation. This is why we have our policy set the way it is.

Best wishes,
Vassil
the Telerik team

answered on 19 Apr 2011, 10:33 AM

Hi Vassil,

I understand your arguments, but the problem is this: During my history with Telerik Controls for Windows Forms (several years now), I had exaclty one Release (and it was a post SP2 interim build) that had no (known to me) bugs which affected the proper working of my app. If you see the history of my bug tickets, there is usually at least one showstopper with each new Q Release and a bunch of annoying bugs where often the answer is: will be fixed in the next release where the cycle begins again with the next showstopper.

Also due to this release cycle I feel kind of pressed to test my app with each initial feature relase (including needed code change), since I'm afraid the showstopper might not get fixed if I don't report it and will be still present in the SP1. Now this forces me to deal with multiple code bases, since I'm forced to develop and test to each and every release, while I usually can ship the app only with one or two telerik builds per year due to the many showstoppers. Also It forces me to have several releases of the controls installed on my developer machine which leads to a whole class of errors due to version mismatches.

Don't get me wrong, I absolutely like the controls and am impressed with the quality of your support. But more stability in the code base would certainly not be a bad thing.
When I consider the time I spent chasing bugs and filing bug reports, a more stable product could easily cost double the price (The current license cost of the Suite is about 1 developer day worth of work in Switzerland). But then I am an independent developer - corporate people may see that differently.

Regards
Erwin

answered on 19 Apr 2011, 02:20 PM

Hi Vassil,

I agree with Erwin. My history of working with Telerik components are close to 3 years (since 2008) and not doubt my team and business users are happy about the quality and functionality. But what comes along with it is the time we spend to test new release and later chase the bugs and find that it cannot be fixed and have it wait for the next hot fix or major release. By doing so we will have to let go the release and wait for next one. As decision maker I know it will not hit UAT stand when QA tests it on our end.

So far we have found 2009.1.9.518 version stable with minor flaws and workaround for bugs that cant be fixed. Thereby have been floating all the apps on this component. Although it may not be the same with other users.

My concern is when Telerik stops supporting older version and it will be a major project for us to port from older version to latest version. :(

Anyways I appreciate your team (support and development) for quick reply. Keep up the good work.

Thanks
Pradeep

answered on 22 Apr 2011, 08:04 AM

Hi guys,

Thank you for the feedback. I understand your point.

I want to assure you that we do our best to avoid introducing issues or behaviors that do not let you release your applications. We do so by covering the whole suite with a serious amount of unit tests over our code base as well as performing the necessary QA cycles. Still, some the of features that you, our customers, request can't be implemented without redesigning the architecture of some of our controls anew. Despite the fact that the unit tests should let us know if something is wrong, the controls are complex and sometimes an issue may make it into the suite. Of course, we try to resolve this issue accordingly.

Pradeep, our product is getting better with each new release that comes out. Not only that we introduce fixes for the issues that our previous versions had, but we also introduce many new features that you will be happy to find in the suite. I would strongly recommend updating to the latest RadControls for WinForms version Q1 2011 SP1. If you have issues while doing so, we are ready to update your application for you. If you agree, please open a new support ticket where we can discuss the details.

Once again guys, thank you for the feedback.

Happy Easter!

All the best,
Nikolay
the Telerik team

answered on 19 May 2011, 10:38 AM

Hi,

We tested 2011 Q1 and found a problem in LoadLayout incase of multiple Header Rows still exist.

Also in case of Multiple Header rows, incase we drop any column on Column chooser it is not getting any column.... but some work perfectly if have single Header Row....

Issue		Receipt
Qty	Amount	Qty	Amount

Now if I want to move Qty (Issue) to be hide or move on Column chooser, it is not working.... Please advise any workaround.

Thanks.
devoas.

answered on 05 Aug 2011, 06:54 AM

Hello Hilda,

The required behavior is not supported out of the box. Nevertheless, you can analyze your data source and if the some its column does not exist as a RadGridView column, you can add it manually as an invisible column:

DataTable table = this.radGridView1.DataSource as DataTable;

this.radGridView1.LoadLayout(@"C:\grid.xml");

foreach (DataColumn column in table.Columns)

{

if (!this.radGridView1.Columns.Contains(column.ColumnName))

{

GridViewDataColumn dataColumn = GridViewHelper.AutoGenerateGridColumn(column.DataType);

dataColumn.IsVisible = false;

dataColumn.Name = column.ColumnName;

dataColumn.FieldName = column.ColumnName;

this.radGridView1.Columns.Add(dataColumn);

}

I hope this helps.

Kind regards,
Svett
the Telerik team

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answered on 11 Mar 2016, 07:53 PM

I am posting this in case it is helpful to anyone. It solves the following cases:

Renamed/removed/added properties in your Classes
Removed unused columns from the Layout

Your user will just need to save the Layout once.

private void RadGridViewReportData_DataBindingComplete(object sender, GridViewBindingCompleteEventArgs e)

{

if (File.Exists(_layout))

{

radGridViewReportData.LoadLayout(_layout);

// A System.Type

var reportProperties = _report.GetDataSourceType().GetProperties().ToArray();

foreach (var prop in reportProperties)

{

if (!radGridViewReportData.Columns.Contains(prop.Name))

{

// Add columns to the Grid

GridViewDataColumn dataColumn = GridViewHelper.AutoGenerateGridColumn(prop.PropertyType, null);

dataColumn.Name = prop.Name;

dataColumn.FieldName = prop.Name;

dataColumn.HeaderText = ToCamelCaseWithSpaces(prop.Name);

radGridViewReportData.Columns.Add(dataColumn);

}

foreach (var col in radGridViewReportData.Columns.ToArray())

{

if (reportProperties.Single(x => x.Name == col.FieldName) == null)

{

// Remove columns from the Grid

radGridViewReportData.Columns.Remove(col);

}

else

{

foreach (GridViewDataColumn i in radGridViewReportData.Columns)

{

i.HeaderText = ToCamelCaseWithSpaces(i.HeaderText);

}

radGridViewReportData.BestFitColumns();

}

answered on 14 Feb 2018, 09:26 AM

Hi,

I know this is an older thread but I'm facing the sam problem that my new volumns are not added when I have used Save/Load-Layout in previous releases of my appliation.

I wanted to try the sollution here mentioned by Carlitos but I need to convert the code to Progress Code and I do not know what _Report is.
The code I refer to is:

// A System.Type
var reportProperties = _report.GetDataSourceType().GetProperties().ToArray();

Can someone help me with this?
How to code this? I have no idea what that _report is so maybe I need to know on what control the GetDataSourceType can be used.

Regards
Didier

answered on 14 Feb 2018, 11:21 AM

Hi Didier,

This is the business object, and the properties are taken with reflection. In a general case you can get them like this:

public partial class RadForm1 : Telerik.WinControls.UI.RadForm

{

public RadForm1()

{

InitializeComponent();

}

private void radButton1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)

{

var props = typeof(Data).GetProperties().ToList();

foreach (PropertyInfo item in props)

{

Console.WriteLine(item.Name);

}

class Data

{

public string Text { get; set; }

public int ID { get; set; }

}

Should you have any other questions do not hesitate to ask.

Regards,
Dimitar
Progress Telerik

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answered on 24 Jan 2019, 01:32 PM

Hello, Pabitra,

The provided information is greatly appreciated. However, it is not enough for us to build a sample project and replicate the problem you are facing on our end.

Note that we are not aware of any issues in the grid which would result in the described on your end behavior. I would recommend you to submit a support ticket from your Telerik account and provide additional information about the exact scenario that you have and the problem you are facing. It would be possible to provide a sample runnable project as well. This will facilitate significantly the further investigation of the precise case. Thus, our support staff will gladly assist you. Thank you in advance for your cooperation.

I am looking forward to your reply.

Regards,
Dess | Tech Support Engineer, Sr.
Progress Telerik

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Problem with LoadLayout

75 Answers, 1 is accepted