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Use with ASP.NET MVC 4

This article demonstrates how to use Progress Telerik UI for ASP.NET MVC in ASP.NET MVC 4 applications. It uses Visual Studio 2012 but the examples are applicable to all Visual Studio versions that support ASP.NET MVC 4. The examples create a new ASP.NET MVC 4 application but the steps to use Telerik UI for ASP.NET MVC in existing ASP.NET MVC 4 applications are the same.

The Progress Telerik UI for ASP.NET MVC Visual Studio extensions automate the whole procedure which this document describes.

Create New ASP.NET MVC 4 Applications

Below are listed the steps for you to follow when creating a new ASP.NET MVC 4 application.

Step 1 Open Visual Studio 2012.

Step 2 Press CTRL+SHIFT+N to create a new project.

Step 3 Select the Visual C# > Web to show all available web project templates for C#.

Step 4 Select ASP.NET MVC 4 Web Application > OK. This starts the New ASP.NET MVC 4 Project wizard.

Step 5 Select Internet Application from the available templates and click OK. Alternatively, you can select other templates—the remaining steps are the same.

Step 6 Press CTRL+F5 to build and run the application.

UI for ASP.NET MVC The new ASP.NET MVC 4 application

Add Progress Telerik UI for ASP.NET MVC

To use Progress Telerik UI for ASP.NET MVC, include the required JavaScript and CSS files, reference the Kendo.Mvc.dll assembly and update the web.config file of the application.

Include JavaScript and CSS Files

Progress Telerik UI for ASP.NET MVC requires certain JavaScript and CSS files to be included in the page.

There are two options:

  • Either include a local copy of those files
  • Or use the Kendo UI CDN (Content Delivery Network) services

Use Local JavaScript and CSS

Below are listed the steps for you to follow when copying the required JavaScript and CSS files in the Visual Studio Solution of the application.

Step 1 Navigate to the install location of Telerik UI for ASP.NET MVC. By default, it is in C:\Program Files (x86)\Progress\. For versions prior to R3 2017, the default install location is in C:\Program Files (x86)\Telerik\.

Step 2 Copy the js directory from the install location and paste it in the Scripts folder of the application.

Step 3 Copy the styles directory from the install location and paste it in the Content folder of the application.

Step 4 Rename the Scripts/js directory to Scripts/kendo. Rename Content/styles to Content/kendo.

Figure 2. Kendo UI directories in the Solution Explorer

UI for ASP.NET MVC Kendo directories in the Solution Explorer

After the needed JavaScript and CSS files are added to the application, you can include them.

Step 5 Open App_Start/BundleConfig.cs to add bundles for Progress Telerik UI for ASP.NET MVC.

Step 6 Add a script bundle for Progress Telerik UI for ASP.NET MVC.

bundles.Add(new ScriptBundle("~/bundles/kendo").Include(
            "~/Scripts/kendo/kendo.all.min.js",
            // "~/Scripts/kendo/kendo.timezones.min.js", // uncomment if using the Scheduler
            "~/Scripts/kendo/kendo.aspnetmvc.min.js"));

Step 7 Add a style bundle for Progress Telerik UI for ASP.NET MVC.

Make sure you are familiar with the article on the Progress Telerik UI for ASP.NET MVC fundamentals and CSS bundling.

bundles.Add(new StyleBundle("~/Content/kendo/css").Include(
            "~/Content/kendo/kendo.common.min.css",
            "~/Content/kendo/kendo.default.min.css"));

Step 8 Tell the ASP.NET bundles to allow minified files in debug mode.

bundles.IgnoreList.Clear();

Step 9 Open the layout of the application. By default, it is Views/Shared/_Layout.cshtml, or Site.master if using ASPX.

Step 10 Render the Progress Telerik UI for ASP.NET MVC style bundle.

    <%: Styles.Render("~/Content/kendo/css") %>

    @Styles.Render("~/Content/kendo/css")

Step 11 Move the jQuery bundle to the head tag of the page. It is at the end of the page by default.

Step 12 Render the Progress Telerik UI for ASP.NET MVC script bundle after jQuery.

    <%: Scripts.Render("~/bundles/jquery") %>
    <%: Scripts.Render("~/bundles/kendo") %>

    @Scripts.Render("~/bundles/jquery")
    @Scripts.Render("~/bundles/kendo")

Use CDN Services

Below are listed the steps for you to follow when including the Progress Telerik UI for ASP.NET MVC JavaScript and CSS files from CDN.

Make sure you replace the kendo ui version from the code snippets below with the current version of the product—for example, 2013.2.918.

Step 1 Open the layout of the application. By default, it is Views/Shared/_Layout.cshtml, or Site.master if using ASPX.

Step 2 Include kendo.common.min.css and kendo.default.min.css. Add a link tag within the head tag of the layout.

<link rel="stylesheet" href="https://kendo.cdn.telerik.com/<kendo ui version>/styles/kendo.common.min.css" />
<link rel="stylesheet" href="https://kendo.cdn.telerik.com/<kendo ui version>/styles/kendo.default.min.css" />

Step 3 Move the jQuery bundle to the head tag of the page. By default, it is at the end of the page.

Step 4 Include kendo.all.min.js and kendo.aspnetmvc.min.js after jQuery.

<script src="https://kendo.cdn.telerik.com/<kendo ui version>/js/kendo.all.min.js"></script>
<script src="https://kendo.cdn.telerik.com/<kendo ui version>/js/kendo.aspnetmvc.min.js"></script>

Step 5 If using the Telerik MVC Scheduler wrapper, include kendo.timezones.min.js after kendo.all.min.js.

<script src="https://kendo.cdn.telerik.com/<kendo ui version>/js/kendo.all.min.js"></script>
<script src="https://kendo.cdn.telerik.com/<kendo ui version>/js/kendo.timezones.min.js"></script>
<script src="https://kendo.cdn.telerik.com/<kendo ui version>/js/kendo.aspnetmvc.min.js"></script>

Add Kendo.Mvc.dll Reference

The next step is to add a reference to Kendo.Mvc.dll which is the assembly containing the Kendo UI MVC server-side wrappers.

Step 1 Right-click the References node in Solution Explorer. Click Add Reference.

Step 2 Select the Browse tab of the Add Reference dialog. Navigate to the install location of Progress Telerik UI for ASP.NET MVC.

Step 3 Navigate to wrappers/aspnetmvc/Binaries/MVC4. This directory contains the ASP.NET MVC 4 version of Progress Telerik UI for ASP.NET MVC.

Step 4 Select Kendo.Mvc.dll. Click OK.

Update web.config

The next step is to let ASP.NET MVC know of the Kendo.Mvc.UI namespace where the server-side wrappers are. To do this, update the web.config file of the web application.

Step 1 Open Views/Web.config, or root Web.config if using ASPX.

Step 2 Locate the namespaces tag.

Step 3 Append an add tag to the namespaces tag.

<namespaces>
    <add namespace="System.Web.Mvc" />
    <add namespace="System.Web.Mvc.Ajax" />
    <add namespace="System.Web.Mvc.Html" />
    <add namespace="System.Web.Routing" />
    <add namespace="Kendo.Mvc.UI" />
</namespaces>

Use Kendo UI Widgets

Below are listed the steps for you to follow when using a Kendo UI widget through its MVC server-side wrapper initialization.

Step 1 Open the Views/Home/Index.cshtml view, or Index.aspx if using ASPX.

Step 2 Add a Kendo UI DatePicker widget.

    <%: Html.Kendo().DatePicker().Name("datepicker") %>

    @(Html.Kendo().DatePicker().Name("datepicker"))

Step 3 Press CTRL+F5 to build and run the application.

UI for ASP.NET MVC The final result

Next Steps

See Also

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