Question

When we get tabular data from the database and want to show on the UI, such as search result for products, products list or list of registered users for site administrators.

The famous control to do that is the grid view, while i prefer to use a simple repeater and this repeater loop on a table row, that’s when i will need to bind this tabular data to a lot os client side scripts.

This is one of the reasons to use repeater over a grid.

And sometimes its better to use a grid view.

I just want you to share with me your ideas about when to use which and when not to use, i know there is no a standard for that, but i just wanted to hear ideas, and i will judge based on my current case.

Answer 1

Repeaters do not have built in support for sorting, caching, paging or editing. Although they do provide more flexibility when it comes to customizing the markup generated by the control.

Here are some links to more information, the information is about is a little older and outlines the differences between repeaters and data grids but is still useful nonetheless.

• Understanding the Differences Among
  the DataGrid, DataList, and
  Repeater
• Deciding When to Use the DataGrid,
  DataList or Repeater