EFileTahi-A
Contributor
I would like to know is there is any better alternative to v1.1 .net Datagrid Control, specialy if it is freeware...
Thank you.
Thank you.
Please advise on DataGrid Substitute
- Thread starter EFileTahi-A
- Start date
Nerseus
Danner
The only free gridcontrol I'm aware of is SourceGrid. Check it out at:
http://www.devage.com/
I have only used their sample, never really looked into it that deeply. I was investigating hierarchical grids, which SourceGrid is NOT, so I gave up looking at it.
There may well be other free grid controls - don't give up searching yourself.
btw, most grid controls are around the $300 range for one license. That is WELL worth the price, if you ask me.
-nerseus
http://www.devage.com/
I have only used their sample, never really looked into it that deeply. I was investigating hierarchical grids, which SourceGrid is NOT, so I gave up looking at it.
There may well be other free grid controls - don't give up searching yourself.
btw, most grid controls are around the $300 range for one license. That is WELL worth the price, if you ask me.
-nerseus
EFileTahi-A
Contributor
Thank you Nerseus!
What about non-freeware versions? Any recomendations?
What about non-freeware versions? Any recomendations?
Nerseus
Danner
Here are the ones I tried (pretty briefly) - and my tests/reviews were all done in Visual Studio 2005 w/ .NET 2.0:
Microsoft: DataGridView
DevExpress: XtraGrid
ComponentOne: TrueDBGrid
Janus: GridEx
9Rays: FlyGrid
Note that ComponentOne also has a FlexGrid, which seems more like Excel. I was looking at grids that bind and the C1 help indicated the TrueDBGrid would be more what I was after.
Summary of each grid:
MS DAtaGridView
I really like the MS grid, but it didn't support hierarchical. We're still looking into this one for non-hier grids and it looks very good and VERY fast. We did some research into making it hierarchical based on this blog, but more or less abandonded it as being too time consuming and prone to errors - we'd rather buy than build this type of control.
DevExpress:
This is what my company currently uses (version 2.x). I did a quick test of the 3.x grid and it appears mostly the same. It's nice - and it comes with full source. The version we have is currently in production so we can't easily upgrade and it's got a few bugs. It's not the best grid in the world, but it has a TON of options and good support. We've requested a few features get added (via their forums) and they showed up in a future release, which was nice. The main problem is that there are 100 ways to do anything with DevExpress and you can't always find the right way, easily. The help is getting better which is a big step. The other major con is performance - the initial time to load up a form that uses a DevExpress grid is by far the longest. It's got to be one of the "heaviest" 3rd party controls I've ever used. Feature-wise, it's topnotch.
ComponentOne:
The TrueDBGrid's hier' grid didn't draw the way I expect - the child "rows" show up as additional columns. That's how it appeared in my test and in their 1 hier' tutorial project. I sent them an email, but I'm waiting to hear back. As it stands now, I gave up on them since I was looking for a hierarchical grid and this just didn't work for me. I've heard LOTS of good things about C1, though.
Janus:
This one looks really nice, visually. I didn't play with it that long but I really liked the look and ease of use.
9Rays:
I gave up on this almost immediately. It took about 10 minutes of reading their help to figure out how to bind the grid and I could never get it to show columns and rows. Normally in binding you set a DataSource. The 9Rays grid wanted me to bind to a Rows property, which threw me off. I didn't want to get stuck with a product that's "easy" to use IF you developed it, but non-intuitive to the rest of us. Maybe I didn't give it a fair shake, but with so many other options, this one wasn't worth my time.
As far as what I did FIRST, I created a Word document of all the core features I want/need in a grid. This was based on what we've been using in grid controls for years. I left out some features that we use, but that we don't need. For features, I put in things like "need alternating row colors", "need read only grids", "need custom drop downs", "need drop-downs that are filtered per row", etc. Then I went looking for controls that would meet that need.
Right now, I've got it narrowed down to DevExpress and Janus, both similarly priced. I'm handing off the investigation to someone else who has more time but I can report back what we go with if you'd like.
-ner
Microsoft: DataGridView
DevExpress: XtraGrid
ComponentOne: TrueDBGrid
Janus: GridEx
9Rays: FlyGrid
Note that ComponentOne also has a FlexGrid, which seems more like Excel. I was looking at grids that bind and the C1 help indicated the TrueDBGrid would be more what I was after.
Summary of each grid:
MS DAtaGridView
I really like the MS grid, but it didn't support hierarchical. We're still looking into this one for non-hier grids and it looks very good and VERY fast. We did some research into making it hierarchical based on this blog, but more or less abandonded it as being too time consuming and prone to errors - we'd rather buy than build this type of control.
DevExpress:
This is what my company currently uses (version 2.x). I did a quick test of the 3.x grid and it appears mostly the same. It's nice - and it comes with full source. The version we have is currently in production so we can't easily upgrade and it's got a few bugs. It's not the best grid in the world, but it has a TON of options and good support. We've requested a few features get added (via their forums) and they showed up in a future release, which was nice. The main problem is that there are 100 ways to do anything with DevExpress and you can't always find the right way, easily. The help is getting better which is a big step. The other major con is performance - the initial time to load up a form that uses a DevExpress grid is by far the longest. It's got to be one of the "heaviest" 3rd party controls I've ever used. Feature-wise, it's topnotch.
ComponentOne:
The TrueDBGrid's hier' grid didn't draw the way I expect - the child "rows" show up as additional columns. That's how it appeared in my test and in their 1 hier' tutorial project. I sent them an email, but I'm waiting to hear back. As it stands now, I gave up on them since I was looking for a hierarchical grid and this just didn't work for me. I've heard LOTS of good things about C1, though.
Janus:
This one looks really nice, visually. I didn't play with it that long but I really liked the look and ease of use.
9Rays:
I gave up on this almost immediately. It took about 10 minutes of reading their help to figure out how to bind the grid and I could never get it to show columns and rows. Normally in binding you set a DataSource. The 9Rays grid wanted me to bind to a Rows property, which threw me off. I didn't want to get stuck with a product that's "easy" to use IF you developed it, but non-intuitive to the rest of us. Maybe I didn't give it a fair shake, but with so many other options, this one wasn't worth my time.
As far as what I did FIRST, I created a Word document of all the core features I want/need in a grid. This was based on what we've been using in grid controls for years. I left out some features that we use, but that we don't need. For features, I put in things like "need alternating row colors", "need read only grids", "need custom drop downs", "need drop-downs that are filtered per row", etc. Then I went looking for controls that would meet that need.
Right now, I've got it narrowed down to DevExpress and Janus, both similarly priced. I'm handing off the investigation to someone else who has more time but I can report back what we go with if you'd like.
-ner
EFileTahi-A
Contributor
This is what I call "State-of-the-Art-Post". Thank you very much for the info! 
Ok, one final question and I'm done. Of all grids you know (dispiting how licenced they are and their price) what grid would you advise me having in count the following:
1- Compatible with framework v1.1
2 - Easy to use. Like: "textBox1.text = myGrid.SelectedRow[ColNum].value.ToString();"
3 - Simple features. I only need a grid to link a DataTable and retrieve its values of the selected row. Also being able to manipulate its data through code. Nothing else! (Well, the grid can support thousands features, I don't mind that, as long it remains easy to use).
4 - No hierarchical fetures required.
5 - Possible to customize its appearance (I mean loading image as background, being able to change every color of it etc...). However, this is not important as the previous points I stated.
Thank you once more Nerseus.
Ok, one final question and I'm done. Of all grids you know (dispiting how licenced they are and their price) what grid would you advise me having in count the following:
1- Compatible with framework v1.1
2 - Easy to use. Like: "textBox1.text = myGrid.SelectedRow[ColNum].value.ToString();"
3 - Simple features. I only need a grid to link a DataTable and retrieve its values of the selected row. Also being able to manipulate its data through code. Nothing else! (Well, the grid can support thousands features, I don't mind that, as long it remains easy to use).
4 - No hierarchical fetures required.
5 - Possible to customize its appearance (I mean loading image as background, being able to change every color of it etc...). However, this is not important as the previous points I stated.
Thank you once more Nerseus.
Last edited:
EFileTahi-A
Contributor
I tryed FlexGrid for .NET and I felt in love with it...
Easy to use!
Fast!
Simple!
Damn great!
Easy to use!
Fast!
Simple!
Damn great!
Nerseus
Danner
I can't help too much since you need a 1.1 grid so I'm glad you found the FlexGrid!
We do LOTS of custom drawing in our grids but it's with DevExpress which supports that (we draw lots of icons per cell based on all sorts of criteria). I haven't looked at the 1.x grids very much. I know the 2.x grid (DataGridView) from MS will probably do everything you'd want, but if FlexGrid also works then go for it especially if you're using the 1.x framework.
-ner
We do LOTS of custom drawing in our grids but it's with DevExpress which supports that (we draw lots of icons per cell based on all sorts of criteria). I haven't looked at the 1.x grids very much. I know the 2.x grid (DataGridView) from MS will probably do everything you'd want, but if FlexGrid also works then go for it especially if you're using the 1.x framework.
-ner