I've been told for numerous releases that Infragistics was going to beef up their documentation (as it used to be for releases years ago) and it has yet to be changed. I've provided samples over and over of things that should be easy to do (and are once you figure out the magical method that isn't documented) but aren't listed in the help file because it's automatically generated using a tool that only lists classes without examples, or decent usage examples, or even context for usage.
I'd like to challenge Infragistics to either live up to their word on the documentation OR hire a developer that has never used their controls before and have that developer try to create a robust site with both server-side and client-side code, using their controls AND only able to get information from the documenation/help file.
I don't think it can be done, or easily done at the very least. Not without having to constantly turn to the forums, or simply pulling one's hair out.
I agree, the documentation is lacking. And the forums feel like a wasteland, many posts never get an answer. And many of the questions asked could easily have been avoided with a more robust examples area.
revbones and NervousRex:
Thanks for taking the time to post here to let us know how you feel about our docs, samples and forums.
Please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Craig Shoemaker and I have recently taken on the position of Product Guidance Manager. Inside Infragistics the Product Guidance (PG) department is responsible for our docs, samples, startup solutions and any other deliverable that our customers use to learn our products.
Rest assured your frustration and concerns have not fallen on deaf ears; we are listening to you and are in the midst of a fundamental change in the way PG writes and presents content to our customers. You’re right that you’ve been told for years that, “things will change in the docs” and release after release you’ve seen the same result. Let me say, though, that our 11.1 release features a distinct departure from how we’ve approached our docs and samples in the past. Internally we’ve changed the way each department interacts with PG in order to make sure the coverage of our docs is more complete. Further, we are unveiling new and easier ways of accessing content in our docs. Finally, our quality control standards and checks are at levels higher than ever before.
I would love to have a chance to chat with the both of you over the phone if you would like. I’d really like to hear any other ways you think we can improve.
Either way 11.1 is the release where you’ll see significant change!
Best,
Craig Shoemaker
Product Guidance Manager951.310.4496cshoemaker@infragistics.com
Docs are important, and so forums is.
I strongly advise your developers spend half a day once a week to support this forum.
So not only you, but your colleagues will hear users' voices.
Your products are good, customer service and support are not enough.
Aspose, my another software vendor, they really do a good job in customer care.
Craig,
Very nice to hear that you guys are making a concerted effort. If I could throw my 2 cents out there the biggest thing missing, at least for aspx, is a matrix with the combination of different properties and how turning on one will impact the other.
A huge issue is the use of a datasoruce vs. manually databinding and its impact on different propties. It seems that many features/behviours rely on datasource binding but not always and to be totally honest we have senior developers here bascially doing trial and error burning hours trying to figure out why things work or don't work. Then we start regression testing and code that worked with one set of settings now no longer works.
If you have some limitations they need to be clearly documented or have a flag on the control that if I set it to 'manual' databinding then the various properties are disabled.
I pushed to get us to get a couple of licenses to use the controls and I have lost all clout after the problems we have had.
Also the forum responses are so spotty that I'm not sure if they are really for support or not. I understand how difficult it can be to support forums, especially with cultural and language challenges, but getting answers, especially to theoretical/best practice ones, is not great.
Thanks
jack
Hi,
This looked like a great place to raise some of my issues too. Here goes:
1) The forums are great when someone works it till the end. It's so weird how sometimes a serious question is never addressed and sometimes just left in the middle. I bet everyone loses their mind trying to search the forums when the same thread comes up a dozens times in a search if there are matches in several posts.
2) Phone support is also funny. Most support people don't answer questions on first call. They need to "research it" or need to "create a sample." That process can take days to weeks. Look at my support case record. Mike D. is the only one who will figure it out right there. If he can't, he's IM ing the guys who can. The last time I had such a good guy, he was promoted to team lead and I lost him.
3) There are too many places to find information. Documentation, videos, blogs, forums, articles, knowledgebase, samples.
4) There needs to be an emergency support system even if it's charged for. Maybe per incident, maybe per hour. If we get stuck at a dead end and we need to finish a project, there is no way around the system. There needs to be somehow someway to get a problem solved when it has to be solved immediately. Sort of like a bat phone to Alex or David. We're running line of business systems which can run into a problem anytime. I'm sure everyone agrees that our deadlines are meaningless now because we can never be confident about our time needs.
I have some more issues but these are some of the biggest ones.
Ed