R – Alternative to GridView that sorts, pages and is cheap or free

asp.netgridview

I've been spoiled by the SqlDataSource, but I'm in a scenario where I can't use it. Is there an alternative to GridView that implements sorting and paging for arbitrary data sources? I'm trying to avoid writing 1000s of lines of custom paging and sorting for each grid. At the office I use Telerik's grid, but for my hobby project, spending that much money is out of the question.

EDIT: It just seems to a lazy programmer like me that if I connect a grid and a data source it should automatically page and sort. So I'm looking for combinations of datasources + grids that result in code-less paging and sorting.

So far the only examples I know of are Telerik's grid (cost $, implements sorting and paging in the grid) and SqlDataSource + GridView (implements sorting and paging in the DataSource, but requires MS-SQL to be available)

Best Answer

I'm not sure if you are asking for an alternate to the GridView or the SqlDataSource....

But you can always use an ObjectDataSource and connect it to any bindable object, collection or Dataset

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa479347.aspx

We never use a SqlDataSource, we use a wrapper for a SQL call out of our data layer, or use a collection in the ODS.

Related Solutions

Asp.net-mvc – Paging & Sorting grids with ASP.Net MVC

nowadays MVC 3 now has a webGrid out of the box. I know this question is from a while ago, but I ended up on it when looking for something about webGrid. So I thought it should have an answer mentioning the new webGrid.

Here are a few good posts on how to use it:

http://www.dotnetcurry.com/ShowArticle.aspx?ID=615

http://cnug.co.in/blogs/shijuv/archive/2010/10/08/using-the-webgrid-helper-in-asp-net-mvc-3-beta.aspx

http://www.nickharris.net/tag/webgrid/

It supports sorting, paging and also some Ajax stuff. It can do lot for you already, but you can also specify every separate column separately.

Update:
There are also many JavaScript libraries available that can do the table for you. I personally like to use DataTables. You can feed it an existing html table generated on the server or give it an endpoint where it can retrieve the data (all or just one page).

There are plenty more, just Google around.

Sorting and paging with gridview asp.net

Save your sorting order in a ViewState.

private const string ASCENDING = " ASC";
private const string DESCENDING = " DESC";

public SortDirection GridViewSortDirection
{
    get
    {
        if (ViewState["sortDirection"] == null)
            ViewState["sortDirection"] = SortDirection.Ascending;

        return (SortDirection) ViewState["sortDirection"];                
    }
    set { ViewState["sortDirection"] = value; } 
}

protected void GridView_Sorting(object sender, GridViewSortEventArgs e)
{
    string sortExpression = e.SortExpression;

    if (GridViewSortDirection == SortDirection.Ascending)
    {
        GridViewSortDirection = SortDirection.Descending;
        SortGridView(sortExpression, DESCENDING);
    }
    else
    {
        GridViewSortDirection = SortDirection.Ascending;
        SortGridView(sortExpression, ASCENDING); 
    }   

}

private void SortGridView(string sortExpression,string direction)
{
    //  You can cache the DataTable for improving performance
    DataTable dt = GetData().Tables[0]; 

    DataView dv = new DataView(dt); 
    dv.Sort = sortExpression + direction;         

    GridView1.DataSource = dv;
    GridView1.DataBind();         
}

Why you don't want to use existing sorting functionality? You can always customize it.

Sorting Data in a GridView Web Server Control at MSDN

Here is an example with customization:

http://www.netomatix.com/development/GridViewSorting.aspx

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Asp.net-mvc – Paging & Sorting grids with ASP.Net MVC

Sorting and paging with gridview asp.net

Related Topic