Free Control Frequently Asked Questions

Can I use your free components in my commercial projects?

Yes. You are free to do what you want with the free components. Just don't redistribute the source code.

What is included in the free control download?

Each free control contains the compiled assembly, a help file (.chm), an example aspx file, and the full source code to the project.

There's like 20 files here, do I really need all that stuff?

Probably not.
To simply use the control, all you need is the assembly file (.dll). The source code is included for the curious, to allow people to learn, and maybe even help me fix bugs.

So how do I use this thing?

That is dependant on the tool you are using to develop your web application.
If you are using a designer like Visual Studio.net, then you'll want to customize the toolbox, and pick the dll. After that, you'll be able to drag the control onto your form. If you are using a text editor, then drop the dll into your app's bin folder, add a Regsiter directive to your page, and your are set.

Vstudio says there's no components in the assembly when I try to customize the toolbox

This is probably a visual studio versioning issue. I suggest you recompile from source to your version.

I'm trying to compile the solution, but I get some cryptographic error.

In AssemblyInfo.cs, there's an AssemblyKeyName attribute at the bottom. This attribute is used to give the assembly a strong name. It is set to my private key, that you won't have access to. Change or remove this attribute.

I can't add custom columns to my toolbox.

DataGrid columns aren't Controls. They aren't event Components. The base class, DataGridColumn, derives from System.Object, and thus can't be added to the toolbox. The only way to add the column is to edit the html portion of the page. In tools like vstudio, you will also have to add a reference to the dll.

My datagrid looks wierd in the designer after I add your column.

This means that the designer can't find the assembly to load it. Try putting the assembly containing the column into the GAC.