FlyGrid.Net 1.0 Professional Edition

asp:review

FlyGrid.Net 1.0 Professional Edition

Easy to Use, Affordable Windows.Forms Grid and Tree ViewControl

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 vereviewed. Obviously, the grid control that Microsoft shipped with VisualStudio.NET was inadequate for all but the simplest of data display. Thisdeficiency has been duly noted by enterprising component vendors seeking tobuild a better alternative, of which there are plenty. As such, grid controlsrange from free and open source to enterprise carrier class costing US$1,000. Notto be excluded, component developer 9Rays.Net has crafted their implementationof an easy to use, relatively inexpensive, and lightweight grid and tree viewcontrol replacement.

Figure 1: FlyGrid.Net Professionalships with a well designed demonstration with source code showing the mostinteresting and useful features that the component has to offer.

FlyGrid.Net is a Windows.Forms-based .NET data-awarecontrol that allows for the usual embedded grid elements, including buttons(check, option, and plus/minus), dropdown columns, headers with sort, nodefiltering, 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 gridcomponent, FlyGrid.Net also implements some interesting and unique features. Columnsummary is a feature that is perfect for displaying numeric column totals,formula results, and other meaningful tabular results. Nested grids are alsosupported in both bound and unbound modes for rapid client response time andsophisticated data relationship associations. The control can also beinstructed to be segmented into several horizontal and vertical views forfurther flexibility.

Figure 2: The vertical grid viewallows 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-datatype detection feature that can facilitate the formatting and functioning ofview types such as the vertical grid. There s also a nifty print preview andprint output engine that saves time by not having to implement custom printingroutines. The component is also fully compatible with 1.x and 2.0 versions ofthe .NET Framework.

While putting the control through its paces, I was struckby 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 isprocessor and memory dependent, but it is nevertheless tuned for high-performanceoutput.

Figure 3: Check out this statisticgenerated using a lowly Pentium III 1 GHz test PC with 512 MB RAM. Yep, that s1 million new rows added in 7.8 seconds.

Although some developers might be put off by the lack ofbells and whistles found on other, more expensive grid controls, FlyGrid.Netmet the 80/20 rule, with the control encapsulating 80% of the most oftenutilized functionality when seeking an adequate grid control. However, adownside to any standalone component versus those found in a suite is that itsprogramming model and UI are by their independent nature disjointed from othercontrols on a page. This is where component suites that include gridreplacements are a better choice, especially when maintaining such code anduser interface consistency are paramount.

Although 9Rays.Net has begun to amass component librariesof its own, they have a long way to go before offering a full data-aware UIreplacement suite that can compete against other vendors that have aggregateddozens of controls into a single, albeit considerably more expensive, package. Yetthose developers seeking a fast, standalone, inexpensive, and easy to useWindows.Forms grid and tree view control should definitely download the freeevaluation version of FlyGrid.Net from the company s Web site and give it atry. It s an application enhancement that data hungry users with highclient-side expectations will most certainly appreciate.

MikeRiley is anadvanced computing professional specializing in emerging technologies and newdevelopment trends. He also is a contributing editor for asp.netPRO. Readers may contact Mike at mailto:[email protected].

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