To most effectively manage data retrieved via WebApi, it is best to use data-bound objects. By doing this, you can manage an HTML form just as effectively as a c# model. Kendo’s viewmodel can bind a form exactly like KnockOut, letting an entire JSON result set be bound to the objects on the page. Unfortunately, Kendo’s datasource object is a bit awkward and has given us a lot of grief. We’ve found that jQuery’s $.ajax method is much easier to work with.
Nested Grids in Kendo UI
While a simple grid generally does the trick, sometimes we need to break things down into more detail. One of the biggest problems we’ve had is making nested grids. We found a great sample that we’ve used as a base for some of our more complex pages.
Using Kendo ViewModel with a Generic Handler
The standard Kendo Grid can be super simple, but it can get a bit complicated when you’re upgrading older systems. In this case, we have a old ASP.net/WebForms system with VB.Net Code-Behind. At a later date, we’ll be converting it to WebApi, but for now we’ve had to make some updates on an older machine. We decided to use Generic Handlers, since they are extremely flexible and can later be converted fairily easily into C#/WebApi. It took us a while to get them to work. We’ve written up an example we used while playing around locally. It may be helpful to those of you doing supporting clients while conversions are not finished.