Log in to like this post! Under the hood of new Aikido WebDataGrid [Infragistics] Murtaza Abdeali / Tuesday, November 4, 2008 As most of you know about our Aikido framework for building lighter, faster web controls. With 2008 Volume 3, we have introduced our first ever Grid control built on top of it, called WebDataGrid. Check out the what's new product page to get more insight on what it can bring to your web development. A part from grid features like paging, scrolling, filtering… etc, there are lot of other benefits that the WebDataGrid will bring on your web pages, this will not only help you build intuitive user interfaces, but will also help you with your development efforts. Pay to play model: A great feature that I am sure everyone will love. What this means is that the grid is smart enough to optimize itself in terms of the mark up and JavaScript that gets passed onto the client depending on the behaviors you select. It will create client JavaScript events and objects of grid elements only if a feature requires them. This type of approach really helps you as a developer decide the features you want the grid to support, and the grid optimizes its rendering based on it. Auto CRUD: This feature takes the WebDataGrid to a whole new level. Even when working within a disconnected protocol, you can have your grid stay connected to your datasource using AutoCrud. If you have AutoCrud enabled (which it is by default),you don’t need to handle events and update your data source, even when it is bound to your own custom collection. When you bind the grid, simply set grids DataKeyField property to the datasource’s key field and enable updates, deletes and inserts on the grid. Now, during any post backs the grid will automatically commit user changes from the client to your datasource. Client Bindings: If you are not a big fan of JavaScript but still want to make your application perform rich client side operations like updating rows using row editing templates, then here is a gift for you :). A part from using regular text boxes for data entry, you can pick any Infragistics editor and place it inside of the Row Edit Template. Use client bindings as shown below, associate the editor to a column. In the browser, when the user opens the template, all the values in the smart editors will be populated automatically from the row they are trying to edit. Any changes made by the user will be passed back to the row. You don't need to write any JavaScript code at all. If you want to use your own editor within the template but still want to bind it using client bindings, then you can supply your own js code that will get and set the value to your editor. Click on the expansion button on the right of client bindings dialog to do so. And there is much more..... stay tuned!