I want to know your thoughts in performance and memory. Let’s say I have 2 pages, page-1 has list of tasks and page-2 to edit tasks(common master-detail scenario).
When navigating from page-2 to page-1, a new instance of page is created and the list of tasks has to be recreated again. My question is what’s wrong if we have 2 grids in only one page, one for the list and 2nd one for the task edit page. When someone selects an item in the list, hide the 1st panel and show the edit panel in that same page. In other words, why do we need 2 different pages when things can be done in only one page? It should be very quick to change the visibility as opposed to reload the page again.
It may sound stupid but just want to know the ramifications of doing so. Thanks.
If I were you, I’d stick with separate pages. There really is no appreciable performance lag in switching to a details page and having it load the specific data. It also give the user an anchor by being able to use the back button. You can, of course, program this into a single page by controlling visibility and overriding the back button event. You might also look at using the Pivot control or even the Panorama control – both provided by Microsoft. However, I would keep front and center in mind what is easiest and most expected by the user. Keep it concrete.
One other thing (and this is less of a consideration once Mango is introduced) I find it easier to maintain state when tombstoning if I use separate pages.