I’ve been using the Infragistics UltraWinGrid for a while in a C# project, and while it’s very spiffy, it is sometimes a bit heavy to run (and editing it in Visual Studio can be hazardous).
I’m looking for a lighter alternative. Looks (always a big plus with Infragistics) are not as important as functionality. Namely, I’m looking for a beefed up DataGridView which:
- has data binding (duh!)
- has lock control over editing
- allows for sub-tables on opening a row
- can have multiple headers to group columns together (say header 1 is composed of “Group A” and “Group B”, and header 2 has various columns under each group)
- has sorting by column (and can sort numbers properly, even if it does not have a stock method at first)
- has filtering by column (perhaps the most demanding spec) à la UltraWinGrid/Excel (text field with a way to specify if the filter is equal, not equal, greater, lesser, starts with, ends with, etc).
- supports check box, text box or data bound list/combo box cells
- allows cells to be merged (not the control cells of course!)
- can have events bound to each row (say double click)
i’ve had a good deal of success with the Developer Express grid in the past. In fact i chose it as the grid component of choice over many other 3rd party grid vendors including Infragistics. Not that Infragistics is bad at all. During my research i concluded, as you have, that it was an overly “heavy” component. DexEx also lets you buy the source code affording you the chance to make it even lighter or customizing further.
Link: http://www.devexpress.com/Products/NET/Controls/WinForms/Grid/