WPF DataGrids recomendations ?

lukky posted on Friday, December 25, 2009

Hi guys,

In his video series Rocky says that the Codeplex DataGrid is not quite ready, ie lacking some features that would make it better integrate with CSLA.

I'm thinking of starting my next apps with WPF + MVVM + Prism, and I'd like to hear from others who have tried commercial datagrids and who could give me their pros/cons.

I'd like to have a grid that would allow at the very least the same level of functionality as what we had with the WinForms DataGridView.

Thanks all.

richardb replied on Tuesday, December 29, 2009

I'm using Infragistics WPF grids and they work well enough.  Have not used any other WPF third party controls so cannot compare.

Performance will be your biggest concern but I think that's a WPF thing rather than any third party control.

I'd strongly recommend that you download trial versions and try binding and see how it performs - using a typical number of records and columns that you think your application will be using.

 

lukky replied on Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Hi Richard,

I have worked with Infragistics in the past (WinForms), and the way I remember it, the workflow was quite different than the MS DatagridView's. Not to say it wasn't good ;-)

My concern with installing a bunch of trial version is that I fear ruining my development machine. That's why I'd like to hear from others.

So far I've read about the features of 4 different products: Infragistics, XCeed, DevExpress and Telerik.

Regards

ajj3085 replied on Tuesday, December 29, 2009

I have a freebie (limited) Xceed grid, which I've had some limited use.  Seems to work fairly easily.  I've also used the Infragistics one a bit more, it also did the job, although I'm not too crazy about their support options (pay for bug fixes).

lukky replied on Tuesday, December 29, 2009

ajj3085:

I'm not too crazy about their support options (pay for bug fixes).

Yeah, that's exactly the kind of things I want to avoid. I mean, I really don't care paying for software, but I kind of pop a few vessels when I have to pay for bug fixes.

richardb replied on Wednesday, December 30, 2009

The Infragistics trial version is the full version so it won't ruin your development machine. 

As for paying for bug fixes, well I got the service release 2 of the controls and all I needed to do was register my product serial number in the first place.

As Rocky as said, at the moment you really would benefit from choosing some third party WPF controls as the MS ones just aren't quite up to it yet, and so it's worth spending some time trialling them to see which one works best for your needs.

I hear some good things about Telerik's offerings.

My only complaint about WPF is performance on lower, or typcial spec. machines that are out there in our environment, and it's still very much a young technology - one step forward, two steps back but maybe I'm being a bit harsh.  And maybe VS2010 will have better tooling and the WPF designer will actually be usable.

My experience is that CLSA code runs like lightining but then there is a visible delay as the WPF kicks into life.