displaying records with many fields

[Lisa Calla]

Hi,
I need to display records with lots of fields. When placed in a grid, a row
of data will scroll off the screen. Not exactly what I'm looking for. I've
also used a datalist, which allows multiple lines for a single row of data
(yes! no horizontal scrolling!), but columns do not line up across
listitems/data rows (very ugly & distracting - maybe there's some way to get
the items to line up, but I haven't found it). This has to be a common UI
problem, and I was wondering how others have handled it. Any ideas?

 

[Jon]

I have spent much time myself looking for a perfect grid. I agree its a
common problem in the stuff I do as well, but there do not seem to be a lot
of elegant solutions about.

This is the kind of think you need
http://www.activewidgets.com/

I have had this one recommended to me a few times
http://www.infragistics.com/products/NetAdvantage/WebForms/Grids.aspx

http://webfx.eae.net/dhtml/grid/intro.html
(try out the demo and resize a column. the horizontal scrollbar becomes
active)

An article on how to write the code from scratch
http://www.webreference.com/programming/javascript/gr/column4/

Let us know how you go and what solution you finally decide on

Jon

 

[Frankie]

Yes - it is a common UI problem that is often addressed by first requiring
users to somehow narrow down the scope of data they want to see (rows) and
then showing them all the values (columns) for their selection - but not
necessarily in a grid.

So, while it's sometimes annoying to have "requirements" questioned, it's
sometimes a reasonable thing to ask if you *really need* to show all those
columns for all those rows at once? Or, would it be acceptable to require
the user to first specify the "cases/rows" they want to see and only then
show them all the values (perhaps not in a grid at all)? If you can satisfy
the "requirements" by doing someting other than showing that huge amount of
data all at once, then other solutions might become reasonable.

Separately, I see that another poster recommended the Infragistics grid. I
suspect that's only because he has never *actually* attempted to implement
it. Their ASP.NET Web products are known to be incomplete and buggy. Before
you get distracted by Infragistics attractive marketing materials you might
first want to take a long hard look at their products and support. You'll
definitely need it because (1) their object models are unintuitive and (2)
their documentation substantially lacking in useful organization and
information. Apparently their business model assumes (hopes) they will make
a lot of money from tech support.

-HTH

 

[Jon]

True I have never implemented their grid but I have had it recommended to me
when people see the time I've spent on JavaScript grids I have hacked around
with in the past.
I have however used their graphs and numeric text boxes etc. and you are
right they leave a lot to be desired. Once you get past the marketting hype
the documentation is pretty scarce.

I've seen a number of scrollable (on both axes) grids that are .NET server
controls but most are over $1000 and come with no demo so I've not been
willing to test.

Jon

 

[Frankie]

Hi Jon,

I'm so incredibly down on Infragistics as a result of struggling with their
products, poor documentation, etc. I won't give sad stories here but I can
say from first hand experience just how aweful their products AND support
AND documentation all are. It's truly unprofessional of them to be
conducting themselves that way.

Here's a $400 grid from a first-rate company. There are a lot of demos; the
following link is to just one of them. I haven't implemented it, but I have
implemented many of ComponentArt's components. They are complete, polished,
well documented, and very well supported.
http://www.componentart.com/demos/grid/features/ajax_grid/WebForm1.aspx


-HTH

 

[Lisa Calla]

Jon & Frankie,
Thanks for your help & advice. I've decided to use a datalist with small
text, with the data prefaced by the field names in bold. With a little
judicious spacing, it's pretty readable. Not beautifully formatted, but
readable. Thanks again.