xamGrid vs. xamDataGrid: Conceptual and Feature Comparison

Pamela Brasil / Friday, November 11, 2011

Purpose

This post compares, both conceptually and through side-by-side feature comparison, the xamGrid™ and xamDataGrid™. Its purpose is to help you decide which grid to use in your application.

In this post

This post contains the following sections:

Conceptual Comparison
- Terminology
- Performance
- Layout
- Columns
Features Comparison Chart
xamDataGrid-Only Features
xamGrid-Only Features
Common Features
Related Topics

Conceptual Comparison

Terminology

xamDataGrid

The xamDataGrid control is part of the Infragistics Data Presenter Family set of controls. It also includes other controls such as the xamDataPresenter, xamDataCards, and xamDataCarousel. These controls take advantage of a shared foundation and API. Because the Data Presenter controls support multiple views which offer many arrangements of the records, the xamDataGrid control refers to data columns as “fields” and to data rows as “records”.

xamGrid

The xamGrid refers to data columns as “columns” and to data rows as “rows”.

Performance

xamDataGrid

The xamDataGrid has the ability to handle hundreds of thousands of records at a time and, to support that, it comes with features such as virtualization and recycling. For more information, see the Optimizing Performance topic.

xamGrid

The xamGrid control was designed for high performance, allowing you to bind to many hundred thousand rows. For more information, see the Performance Whitepaper.

Layout

xamDataGrid

As part of the Data Presenter family, the xamDataGrid control supports several built in views/ arrangements of the records including:

Vertical GridView
Horizontal GridView
Carousel
Cards

xamGrid

The xamGrid arranges the rows in a standard vertical tabular arrangement.

Columns

xamDataGrid

The xamDataGrid control creates Field objects for each property/data column. There is a single Field class and, by default, an appropriate editor will be used for each associated cell based on the Field’s data type. However, this is fully customizable.

The following lists the different types of fields available in xamDataGrid:

Unbound Fields – Unbound fields allow you to add fields to the xamGrid control that are not bound to any specific data. For more information, see the Add Unbound Fields to a DataPresenter Control topic.
Template Column Layout – While the xamDataGrid control does not support a specific template field layout, you do have total flexibility when it comes to arranging cells within a record. Cells can be assigned a Row, Col, RowSpan and ColumnSpan to determine their layout within a record.
Hierarchical Data View - The xamDataGrid automatically creates field layouts based on your data model. You can also manually define field layouts to specify which fields to display and to set properties related to those fields. For more information, see the Displaying Hierarchical Data topic.

xamGrid

The xamGrid allows you to create your own column types. For details, see the Columns topic.

The following lists the different types of columns that are available in xamGrid:

Unbound Column – This column type allow you to add columns to the xamGrid control that are not bound to any specific data, but instead utilize a ValueConverter to display calculated values. For more information, see the Unbound Column topic
Filler Column - This column fills any remaining space in xamGrid control. For more information, see the Filler Column topic.
Column Type Mappings - Columns are automatically generated based on the data type, you can override this by changing its column type mapping. For more information, see the Change Column Type Mappings topic.
Template Column Layout - A template column in xamGrid allows you to display custom content. For more information see the Template Column Layout topic.
Group Column - GroupColumns allows you to group multiple columns together under a single common header. For more information, see the Group Column topic.
Hierarchical Data View - The xamGrid uses a concept called Column Layouts to determine what columns are shown, and how those columns are positioned in the hierarchical view. You can define one or more ColumnLayout objects within the grid, allowing you to display hierarchical data structures. Each column layout is generally independent from any other defined in xamGrid. For more information, see the Define Column Layout topic.

Features Comparison Chart

The following table lists all grid features and indicates whether they are supported by each grid. The features that are available in both grids but are supported somewhat differently, are marked with an asterisk (*). You can read a more detailed description on the feature support below.

Feature category	Feature	xamGrid	xamDataGrid
xamDataGrid-Only	DataValueChanged and DataValueHistory events	No	Yes
	Vertical and Horizontal grid orientations and custom views	No	Yes
	Fixed Rows	No	Yes
	Printing	No	Yes
	Undo / Redo Operations	No	Yes
xamGrid-Only	Conditional Formatting	Yes	No
	Cell Merging	Yes	No
	Paging	Yes	No
	Tooltips for Cell Values	Yes	No
Common features	Column Chooser*	Yes	Yes
	Column Moving*	Yes	Yes
	Column Resizing*	Yes	Yes
	Copy / Paste Support*	Yes	Yes
	Deferred Scrolling*	Yes	Yes
	Editing Data*	Yes	Yes
	Exporting to Excel	Yes	Yes
	Exporting to Word	Yes	Yes
	Filtering*	Yes	Yes
	Fixed Columns*	Yes	Yes
	Right to Left Support	Yes	Yes
	Row Selector*	Yes	Yes
	Rows Hovering	Yes	Yes
	Selection*	Yes	Yes
	Sorting*	Yes	Yes
	Summaries*	Yes	Yes
	Virtualization*	Yes	Yes

xamDataGrid-Only Features

The following table lists the features supported only by the xamDataGrid control.

Feature Name	Feature Description
Grid orientations and custom views	Grid orientation (vertical or horizontal) is managed by the ViewSettings property of the xamDataGrid. Custom views can be assigned through the View property of the xamDataPresenter. The xamDataCards and xamDataCarousel controls simplify the use of those two views as well.
DataValueChanged and DataValueHistory events	The DataValueChanged and DataValueHistory events allow you to track the changes made to the cell values in a field over time. For more information, see the About the DataValueChangedEvent topic.
Fixed Rows	The xamDataGrid supports the ability to fix records to the near or far area of the grid. This feature is common across the DataPresenter family of controls. For more information, see the Fix Records topic.
Printing	The xamDataGrid supports printing its tabular data. This feature is common across the DataPresenter family of controls. For more information see the Printing topic.
Undo / Redo Operations	You can enable undo/redo operations on the xamDataGrid control. This will allow users to undo or redo the changes they make through the grid’s user interface. For more information, see the Undo Operations topic.

xamGrid-Only Features

The following table lists the features supported only by the xamGrid control.

Feature Name	Feature Description
Conditional Formatting	Conditional formatting allows you to test certain values, such as a column of cells in the grid, and apply specific appearances to any of those cells that match certain criteria. For more information, see the Conditional Formatting topic.
Cell Merging	The cell merging feature provides an alternative view of grouped data: groups are shown as merged cells as opposed to showing as collapsed group headers, which is the case with the GroupBy feature. For more information, see the Merged Cells topic.
Paging	The xamGrid control’s paging mechanism breaks data into pages. The number of pages is determined by the page size and the total number of records from the data source. The xamGrid control retrieves new data for each page as users navigate from page to page. For more information, see the Paging topic.
Tooltips for Cell Values	You can enable Tooltips individually on per-column basis so that when the user hovers the mouse over a cell, the entire content of that cell is displayed. For more information, see the Tooltips topic.

Common Features

The following table lists the features that are supported by both xamGrid and xamDataGrid. It also provides a description on how the feature is supported by each control for the purpose of outlining the differences between them. The features that are available in both grids but are supported somewhat differently, are marked with an asterisk (*).

Feature Name	xamGrid Feature Description	xamDataGrid Feature Description
Column Chooser*	The column chooser displays within the grid. The user can hide columns using the indicator displayed on the column. For more information, see the Column Chooser topic.	The field chooser displays in a separate window and allows the user to hide/show fields either using checkboxes or by dragging from the field chooser to the grid. The field chooser User Interface (UI) is not available within the grid or fields, headers. While there is no indicator available to hide columns directly from the field header, the user can drag field headers outside of the grid to hide them. For more information, see the Display Field Chooser topic.
Column Moving*	Column Moving Options: Indicator Immediate Disabled For more information, see the Column Moving topic.	Column Moving Options: Indicator Disabled
Column Resizing*	Resizing Display Options: Indicator Immediate Disabled Column Sizing Options: Auto Initial Auto Numeric Size to Cell Size to Header Star For more information, see the Column Resizing topic.	Resizing Display Options: Indicator Immediate Deferred Disabled Column Sizing Options: Auto Initial Auto Numeric Star For more information, see the Field Sizing topic.
Copy/Paste Support*	Copy and paste is done through events. The user can only copy groupings of cells based on selection settings (can include column headers). For more information, see the Copy-Paste Support topic.	The user can only copy groupings of cells based on selection settings (can include column headers). Pasting in existing rows overwrites data in the cells and pasting into an added blank row allows for inserting one or more new records. For more information, see the Clipboard Operations topic.
Deferred Scrolling*	Deferred scrolling defaults from the first row of the grid. You can also customize the template for using while scrolling through grouped rows. For more information, see the Enable Deferred Scrolling topic.	Deferred scrolling begins when the user starts dragging the scroll thumb. A Scroll Tip appears at the point of the initial drag to indicate the record at the current scroll location. The template used for displaying the Scroll Tip can be customized. For more information, see the Performance Optimizations Overview.
Editing Data*	The xamGrid allows editing of cells and rows. When row editing is enabled, cell changes aren’t committed until the whole row is completed. If the editing is cancelled, the entire row is cancelled. The xamGrid does not allow constraints on editing; however you can use value converters to create your own. For more information, see the Editing Data topic.	The xamDataGrid allows editing of cells and records. You can control whether the edits are committed when the user moves to the next cell or the next record. The xamDataGrid allows you to add constraints to editing of certain cells, for example, you can set the min/max ranges. For more information, see the Editing Data topic.
Exporting to Excel	Allows exporting to Excel. For more information, see the Exporting to Excel topic.	Allows exporting to Excel. For more information see the Exporting to Excel topic
Exporting to Word	Allows exporting to Word. For more information, see the Exporting to Word topic.	Allows exporting to Word. For more information, see the Exporting to Word topic.
Filtering*	The xamGrid allows filtering through either the Filter Menu or the Filter Row: The Filter Menu has both operators or unique lists. The Filter Row has operators only. For more information, see the Filtering topic.	The xamDataGrid allows filtering through either the Filter Menu or the Filter Row. The Filter Menu allows you to enter custom conditions and to filter through a range of values. You can also filter based on the column type. For example, with Date columns, you can filter on January. For more information, see the Record Filtering topic.
Fixed Columns*	Fixed Column options: Indicator DropArea Both Disabled Drop Area Locations: Left Right For more information, see the Fixed Column topic.	Fixed Column Options: Indicator DropArea Both Disabled Drop Area Locations: Near Far The DataPresenter family of controls supports using a fixed field splitter to fix multiple fields at once. For more information, see the Fixing Fields topic.
Right to Left Support	Support for Right-to-Left (RTL) and Bi-Directional (BiDi) languages. For more information, see the Right to Left Support topic.	Support for Right-to-Left (RTL) and Bi-Directional (BiDi) languages. For more information, see the Right to Left Support topic.
Rows Hovering	Row Hover types: Cell (default) None Row For more information, see the Change Row Hover Type topic.	Row Hover types: Cell (default) None Row
Selection	Selection Options: Multiple None Single Selection is supported for cells, rows, and columns, including selection of cells and rows at the same time. For more information, see the Selection topic.	Selection Options: Default Extended ExtendedAutoDrag None Range Single SingleAutoDrag Selection is supported for cells, rows, and columns. Selection cannot be enabled for cells and rows at the same time. For more information, see the Selection Overview topic.
Sorting	Sorting can be enabled or disabled. LINQ is used to sort the rows in the xamGrid control. For more information, see the Sorting topic.	LabelClickAction Options: Default Nothing SelectField SortByMultipleFields SortByMultipleFieldsTriState SortByOneFieldOnly SortByOneFieldOnlyTriState The xamDataGrid also supports an additional sort pass on GroupBy rows. For more information, see the About Sorting topic.
Summaries	The xamGrid can display a summary of the data. For more information, see the Summaries topic.	The xamDataGrid can display a summary of the data. The xamDataGrid integrates with the xamCalculationManager control so that the calculation results can be displayed in the summary row. For more information, see the Row Summaries and the Using xamCalculationManager with xamDataGrid topic.
Virtualization	The xamGrid control is always virtualizing. It doesn’t offer any preload modes. However, virtualization does not occur if a specific height and width is set. For more information, see the Virtualization topic.	The xamDataGrid has the following options related to virtualization of records and/or cells: Recycle Virtualize Preload Lazy Load For more information, see the Performance Optimizations Overview topic.