Telerik, a leading provider of development tools and solutions for the Microsoft .NET platform today unveiled its new line of user interface (UI) extensions for ASP.NET MVC. Introduced as a Community Technology Preview (CTP), this latest addition to the company’s family of .NET products amplifies ASP.NET MVC functionality by delivering a server-based UI extension framework that integrates with client-side UI modules based on popular JavaScript library, jQuery.

Today’s release marks a milestone for Telerik, as it is the first time any of its technologies will be made available under an open source license. These newest ASP.NET MVC extensions will be offered under the Microsoft Public License (MS-PL), the OSI-approved license used in the distribution of the ASP.NET MVC framework. Under this license, developers can freely use and redistribute the Telerik Extensions for ASP.NET MVC in all projects, both commercial and open source. A commercial license that includes support will also be available.

“Telerik is making a dedicated investment in support of the open source community with this release,” said Vassil Terziev, co-CEO of Telerik. “One of our primary goals is to ensure open source developers not only have the tools they need, but also simple, hassle-free licensing enabling them to confidently use Telerik Extensions for ASP.NET MVC in all MVC projects.”

This first CTP of the Telerik Extensions for ASP.NET MVC lays the foundation for the new UI extension framework, and offers an opening look at a number of UI components that leverage and build upon jQueryUI, including Accordion, Slider, Tab, DatePicker, and Progress Bar. A prologue to upcoming additions that are set to include more complex UI extensions, such as grids and menus, the preview highlights the company’s novel implementation and unique product architecture.

“We are the first provider to ship a purpose-built UI suite that fully leverages the advantages of Microsoft’s ASP.NET MVC framework,” emphasizes Terziev. “By developing native architecture from the ground up that is tailored specifically to the ASP.NET MVC environment, we avoid many of the pitfalls associated with non-native controls that have their roots in WebForms. Instead, we are providing a model that is perfectly mated to the MVC platform.”

ASP.NET MVC is a Microsoft framework enabling developers to build standards-based web applications using the model-view-controller pattern. ASP.NET MVC encourages clear separation of concerns and allows developers to build testable web applications benefitting from complete developer control over the emitted HTML, ultimately creating better performing web sites.

Unlike controls that are not engineered for ASP.NET MVC, Telerik’s UI extensions provide precise control over rendered HTML. Using the Telerik Extensions for ASP.NET MVC’s fluent API makes it easy to add lightweight UI components to pages and effortlessly integrate with MVC controllers. Designed to work with any ASP.NET MVC view engine, these new UI extensions continue to deliver optimum levels of productivity without sacrificing the pattern, practices, and guidance of ASP.NET MVC.

“I’m happy to see Telerik’s Extensions for ASP.NET MVC moving forward with an approach based on using Ajax to provide reusable components for ASP.NET MVC,” said Phil Haack, ASP.NET MVC Program Manager at Microsoft. “I’m a firm believer that keeping as much ‘control state’ in the browser fits well with the ASP.NET MVC model as opposed to shuttling state back and forth as in the server controls model. Even better is that they are releasing it under the MS-PL, an open source license.”

Online demos highlighting capabilities and functionality of the Telerik ASP.NET MVC Extensions CTP can be viewed at http://demos.telerik.com/aspnet-mvc.  More information and CTP builds are available for download at: http://www.telerik.com/products/aspnet-mvc.aspx.