I don’t mean to put down the standard ASP.NET DataGrid control — it is, after all, light years ahead of any grid control that Web developers had available to them in the past. However, there is room for improvement. For starters, the standard DataGrid is very server-based, requiring postbacks to perform even the most basic functions. This makes the performance a lot weaker than it could be if the functionality were moved to the client side. Here are a couple of free grid controls that move sorting and paging to the client side, where it (arguably) should be for optimal performance in most situations.
The DataIslandGrid Control by Reflection IT is a superb example of what is available for developers. It serializes the data to XML and uses little-known (IE 5+) DHTML functionality to bind on the client side. Advanced JavaScript and CSS functions are also leveraged to make all the magic possible. The source code is freely available, too, as well as thorough documentation so you can dig in and fully understand how it all works.
http://www.reflectionit.nl/DataIsland.aspx
The XGrid control by Carlos Aguilar Mares is another fine example of client-side grid functionality implemented as an Internet Explorer Behavior. It supports XML islands, row selection, and reloading the grid content without having to reload the rest of the page. It’s all handled automatically; you don’t need to know anything about XML or client-side code. The source code is freely available, and documentation and code samples are plentiful.
http://www.carlosag.net/Tools/XGrid
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