I finally got around to doing it -- check it out at http://www.codeplex.com/cssfriendly

 

I'm a bit confused. What does it mean for the project? What is the official release? Because now that it is on CodePlex it will be possible to make this a community effort, right? So everyone can contribute, create new adapters and maybe refactor some of the code. Maybe Russ Helfland from GroovyBits can comment on this, because they created the adapters.

For what it's worth, I think it would be great if it would become a community project, sort of like the Ajax Control Toolkit.
 

The "release" of the precompiled adapters on CodePlex is merely the source code for what could be a "single DLL installation" of the version 1.0 release of the CSS adapters. There are really no functional code changes short of those needed to support the single DLL distribution. Speaking of which, I have to add the "DLL-only" binary to the releases there... ;)

I never intended to post the precompiled version on CodePlex, but finally did after a recommendation on these forums to do so and an "OK" from Scott Guthrie of Microsoft. It would be interesting to get Russ's take on this.

 

One thing I'd like to see changed is the windows.onload behavior in some scripts. Because that will potentially override my event handlers if they take place later. Another thing that might be interesting is to write the javascript based on the Microsoft Ajax Library. Of course, that last point might not be a good idea, so the project would need some guidance to determine the best way forward, if at all.

I've always thought that the CSS Friendly Adapters project was a bit 'weird'. The deployment was not so clean, it was not developed by Microsoft (why?) and it seems it is not being developed anymore. I hope for a good future for this project.

Your work is appreciated, thanks! 

I agree the treatment of these controls is a bit odd. At first I thought it was like the Atlas extenders, but apparently not. I think the big failure of these adapters is not in the adapters themselves but in the fact that some Microsoft controls do too much non-standard rendering, and don't work well when used as templates. The whole adapter thing is nice but also insanely complex. Hats off to Russ and others for their work -- it is quite a battle, I'm sure.

Truth be told, if you want the simplicity of the Microsoft UI controls (like Logon and CreateUserWizard), you've got to take the good (all the wiring done for you) with the bad (limited UI customization).

Hi!

I've been using the controls for some time and I'd really like to give a try to the compiled version.

I had a look at the source code and I noticed  that is only embedding three css files for three controls: Menu, DetailsView and TreeView .

If i'm using css files for other controls, is it possible to add them to the project and embed  them as well?

 

Thanks,

Juan 

If I recall, the omitted style sheets were placeholders. That is, they didn't contain any meaningful rules. So, I think they were simply omitted from this version of the adapters. Personally, I like that. It makes things a bit more concise. I don't think their absence will negatively impact you in any way.

Russ is right on with this one. If you look at the CSS that comes with the official distribution, you'll see most of it is non-functional placeholders. Just put your custom CSS files in your web project as usual (typically under the App_Themes folder) and things will work fine.

Readers may be interested in this related post, http://forums.asp.net/thread/1609640.aspx that concerns community-wide development of the adapters and Brian's CodePlex project, in particular. I think it's all good news. I hope you agree.

bdemarzo and Russ, thanks for the answers.

You are right about the placeholders, but I was just wondering if I could add more CSS files for the other controls, as I do have code in them, and I wanted to have them all in one place.

But I'll just do the simple way and move those to the App_Themes. 

 

Regards,

Juan 

You really wouldn't want your custom CSS inside a DLL. The rate at which you usually make CSS changes during site development is incredibly rapid in most circumstances.

Note that you could, if you wanted, use the same techniques we used in the adapters to distribute your CSS files, but considering the simplicity of adding them to App_Themes, there's not much of a compelling reason to do so (IMHO at least).

 

Brian,

Yes, you are right,  thinking more about it there is no need to add them to the .dll, it was just a thought I had when I found this thread.

I'll stay with the App_Themes folder, it makes much more sense!

Thanks,

 

Juan