asp:review
FlyGrid.Net 1.0 Professional Edition
Easy to Use, Affordable Windows.Forms Grid and Tree View
Control
By Mike Riley
Grid controls are one of the most popular .NET components.
As such, they have also been one of the most frequent types of components I ve
reviewed. Obviously, the grid control that Microsoft shipped with Visual
Studio.NET was inadequate for all but the simplest of data display. This
deficiency has been duly noted by enterprising component vendors seeking to
build a better alternative, of which there are plenty. As such, grid controls
range from free and open source to enterprise carrier class costing US$1,000. Not
to be excluded, component developer 9Rays.Net has crafted their implementation
of an easy to use, relatively inexpensive, and lightweight grid and tree view
control replacement.
Figure 1: FlyGrid.Net Professional
ships with a well designed demonstration with source code showing the most
interesting and useful features that the component has to offer.
FlyGrid.Net is a Windows.Forms-based .NET data-aware
control that allows for the usual embedded grid elements, including buttons
(check, option, and plus/minus), dropdown columns, headers with sort, node
filtering, tool-tip pop-ups, and five UI styles ranging from flat to Office XP.
However, in addition to the usual capabilities expected in a commercial grid
component, FlyGrid.Net also implements some interesting and unique features. Column
summary is a feature that is perfect for displaying numeric column totals,
formula results, and other meaningful tabular results. Nested grids are also
supported in both bound and unbound modes for rapid client response time and
sophisticated data relationship associations. The control can also be
instructed to be segmented into several horizontal and vertical views for
further flexibility.
Figure 2: The vertical grid view
allows embedded custom editors, such as this dropdown image listbox example.
Additionally, FlyGrid.Net supports drag/drop cell block,
column, and row moves, shift/control key multi-element select, and an auto-data
type detection feature that can facilitate the formatting and functioning of
view types such as the vertical grid. There s also a nifty print preview and
print output engine that saves time by not having to implement custom printing
routines. The component is also fully compatible with 1.x and 2.0 versions of
the .NET Framework.
While putting the control through its paces, I was struck
by just how fast it seemed to display its results. According to the company,
FlyGrid.Net can add 100,000 nodes in 0.2 seconds. Naturally, this statistic is
processor and memory dependent, but it is nevertheless tuned for high-performance
output.
Figure 3: Check out this statistic
generated using a lowly Pentium III 1 GHz test PC with 512 MB RAM. Yep, that s
1 million new rows added in 7.8 seconds.
Although some developers might be put off by the lack of
bells and whistles found on other, more expensive grid controls, FlyGrid.Net
met the 80/20 rule, with the control encapsulating 80% of the most often
utilized functionality when seeking an adequate grid control. However, a
downside to any standalone component versus those found in a suite is that its
programming model and UI are by their independent nature disjointed from other
controls on a page. This is where component suites that include grid
replacements are a better choice, especially when maintaining such code and
user interface consistency are paramount.
Although 9Rays.Net has begun to amass component libraries
of its own, they have a long way to go before offering a full data-aware UI
replacement suite that can compete against other vendors that have aggregated
dozens of controls into a single, albeit considerably more expensive, package. Yet
those developers seeking a fast, standalone, inexpensive, and easy to use
Windows.Forms grid and tree view control should definitely download the free
evaluation version of FlyGrid.Net from the company s Web site and give it a
try. It s an application enhancement that data hungry users with high
client-side expectations will most certainly appreciate.
Mike
Riley is an
advanced computing professional specializing in emerging technologies and new
development trends. He also is a contributing editor for asp.netPRO. Readers may contact Mike at mailto:mike@mikeriley.com.
Rating:
Web Site: http://www.9rays.net/cgi-bin/components.cgi?act=1&cid=105
Price: US$287.95;
Annual Subscription with support available for US$1,299.95