Bundling the Telerik RAD Controls dll with DNN 5.2+ is excellent news.

However, I already have a licence for an earlier version (specifically RadControls for ASPNET AJAX Q2 2008).

As I understand it, this entitles me to develop against the bundled DLL (since I cannot load my earlier version over the bundled one) on DNN CE.

But I now find I need an additional DLL telerik.web.design.dll which contains the design time code. In the version for which I have a license the design time code was in the same DLL as the runtime code, but has since been separated out.

My question is: since this DLL doesn't appear to be included in DNN 5.2+ CE or available as a separate download from anywhere I feel comfortable downloading it from, where do I get it?

I guess I could download the demo version from Telerik, install it on a different machine and extract the DLL, but surely there must be a better way? And how do I keep it in step with newer versions of the runtime DLL that may be included in future versions of DNN?

Grateful for any advice.

ChrisN
Kew, Surrey, UK

Thanks. So bindingRedirect to the rescue, it seems.

Or not (so far) in my case. Please help!  Here's what I did so far...

Loaded my licenced version of Telerik RAD Controls onto my new Win7 64-bit machine. (At this point the Telerik RAD Controls DLL lives in the Program Files directory.)

Installed DNN 5.2.1 CE 'Install' package - it's running inside Visual Studio 2008 (note: as a 'web site' rather than a 'web application project'). Using SQL Server 2005.

Looks good so far. The install wizard appears to have detected the installed RAD Controls and has added the following to the DNN web.config...

    <runtime>
        <assemblyBinding xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1">
            <probing privatePath="bin;bin\HttpModules;bin\Providers;bin\Modules;bin\Support;"/>
            <dependentAssembly>
                <assemblyIdentity name="System.Web.Extensions" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35"/>
                <bindingRedirect oldVersion="1.0.0.0-1.1.0.0" newVersion="3.5.0.0"/>
            </dependentAssembly>
            <dependentAssembly>
                <assemblyIdentity name="System.Web.Extensions.Design" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35"/>
                <bindingRedirect oldVersion="1.0.0.0-1.1.0.0" newVersion="3.5.0.0"/>
            </dependentAssembly>
            <dependentAssembly>
                <assemblyIdentity name="Telerik.Web.UI" publicKeyToken="121fae78165ba3d4"/>
                <bindingRedirect oldVersion="2008.1.1.20-2010.4.2000.20" newVersion="2009.3.1104.35"/>
            </dependentAssembly>
        </assemblyBinding>
    </runtime>

Now I create a new, empty DNN module and add a few non-RAD controls to it. That looks okay and the controls are rendered as expected, both design and runtime.

Next I add a RADComboBox.  Visual Studio gets excited and asks if it can overwrite the DNN Telerik DLL in /bin with the older version. I answer NO, but then it won't render the design time representation.

However it works as expected when I add a second RAD control and everything looks good.

Finally I build & run the project. Visual Studio panics. It copies the older DLL over the new (DNN) one (despite my earlier direction), and the page errors with...

Could not load file or assembly 'Telerik.Web.UI' or one of its dependencies. The located assembly's manifest definition does not match the assembly reference. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80131040)

=== Pre-bind state information ===
LOG: User = MYDOMAIN\obfuscated
LOG: DisplayName = Telerik.Web.UI
 (Partial)
LOG: Appbase = file:///D:/Source/DNN521/
LOG: Initial PrivatePath = D:\Source\DNN521\bin
Calling assembly : (Unknown).
===
LOG: This bind starts in default load context.
LOG: Using application configuration file: D:\Source\DNN521\web.config
LOG: Using machine configuration file from C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\config\machine.config.
LOG: Policy not being applied to reference at this time (private, custom, partial, or location-based assembly bind).
LOG: Attempting download of new URL file:///C:/Users/obfuscated/AppData/Local/Temp/Temporary ASP.NET Files/dnn521/d8ee2a6a/eb75de05/Telerik.Web.UI.DLL.
LOG: Attempting download of new URL file:///C:/Users/obfuscated/AppData/Local/Temp/Temporary ASP.NET Files/dnn521/d8ee2a6a/eb75de05/Telerik.Web.UI/Telerik.Web.UI.DLL.
LOG: Attempting download of new URL file:///D:/Source/DNN521/bin/Telerik.Web.UI.DLL.
LOG: Using application configuration file: D:\Source\DNN521\web.config
LOG: Using machine configuration file from C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\config\machine.config.
LOG: Redirect found in application configuration file: 2008.2.1001.35 redirected to 2009.3.1104.35.
LOG: Post-policy reference: Telerik.Web.UI, Version=2009.3.1104.35, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=121fae78165ba3d4
LOG: Attempting download of new URL file:///C:/Users/obfuscated/AppData/Local/Temp/Temporary ASP.NET Files/dnn521/d8ee2a6a/eb75de05/Telerik.Web.UI.DLL.
LOG: Attempting download of new URL file:///C:/Users/obfuscated/AppData/Local/Temp/Temporary ASP.NET Files/dnn521/d8ee2a6a/eb75de05/Telerik.Web.UI/Telerik.Web.UI.DLL.
LOG: Attempting download of new URL file:///D:/Source/DNN521/bin/Telerik.Web.UI.DLL.
WRN: Comparing the assembly name resulted in the mismatch: Major Version
ERR: Failed to complete setup of assembly (hr = 0x80131040). Probing terminated.

Looks like I've missed something. But what????

For anyone encountering the same problem, here's a link to a thread with a resolution on the Telerik forum...

  http://www.telerik.com/community/forums/aspnet-ajax/radcontrols-in-dotnetnuke/clarification-on-using-prior-version-of-rad-controls-with-dnn-5-2.aspx#1068710

In my experience the DNN install wizard didn't get the bindingRedirect entry quite right and it required some manual editing to get everything to work.

Chris