Open source WPF Grid from the WPF Toolkit project released (CTP/Preview)

Rudi Grobler - The WPF DataGrid is finally here!!!

“Well, their is a huge hype surrounding the release of .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 & Visual Studio 2008 SP1! The one release that has silently gone unnoticed is the release of the WPF DataGrid (CTP)

The binaries and source is available for download here

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WindowsClient.NET - DataGrid Preview & Control Investments in WPF 3.5 SP1

“WPF is proud to introduce the new DataGrid control and our control improvements for 3.5 SP1! In 3.5 SP1, the WPF Controls team invested heavily in improvements to our controls infrastructure to enable a performant, full-featured DataGrid in our next release. A CTP of our new DataGrid control is available on CodePlex.

The WPF team is excited to debut our new WPF DataGrid control! DataGrid is an essential feature for many applications and the WPF Controls team is working hard on developing a full-featured DataGrid equipped to meet our customers’ most common scenarios. To support the DataGrid initiative, in 3.5 SP1 WPF invested heavily in controls and data improvements to make our grid faster, more powerful, and more robust. These improvements included Item Container Recycling, Deferred Scrolling, Virtualization Extensions, MultiSelector, TreeView Virtualization, and more.

Read on for a preview of DataGrid features and an overview of the new controls and data features in 3.5 SP1. Also remember to try out the DataGrid CTP on our new WPF Codeplex site!

Introducing the WPF DataGrid

Here’s a quick list of the features you’ll find in the DataGrid CTP which is available now on the WPF Codeplex site:

Auto-generation of Columns. Simply hook up the DataGrid to an ItemsSource and at runtime it will auto-populate with variety of pre-built column types. You can also hook into column generation events to modify the columns as they’re created, or specify columns in the XAML.

Variety of Column Types. Text, CheckBox, ComboBox, Button, and Hyperlink columns are standard column types. You can also use the TemplateColumn to create your own custom column.

Row and Column Headers. Headers for both rows and columns can be toggled on and off.

Grid Lines. Horizontal and vertical grid lines can be toggled on and off and styled.

Column Width Behaviors. Columns can be set to auto-size to header or cell content, fill the remaining space (* behavior), respect max and min values, or set to an absolute width.

Cell Editing. Edit cell content and submit changes back to the database.

Selection. Row-only, cell-only, or row and cell selection can be enabled.

Keyboard Navigation. The entire grid can be navigated with keyboard only.

Column Resizing and Reordering. Columns can be resized and reordered programmatically or by the user through drag and drop in the UI.

Column Sorting. Columns support sorting and multi-sorting by end-user and programmatically.

Fully Style-able and Template-able. The DataGrid and all of its elements are fully style-able and template-able. Customize the look and feel of the grid, or make it look nothing like a grid at all (e.g. card view).

Add and Remove Rows. Add new items to the DataGrid or delete items from it. Customize the default value for a new row.

Row Validation. Create groups of validation rules to apply to rows.

Filtering/Grouping Support. Support for filtering and grouping data through CollectionViews.

Clipboard Operations. Built-in Copy support with extensibility for Cut and Paste.

Performance. Strong performance for scenarios with thousands of rows and many columns.

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CodePlex - WPF Toolkit – Preview

“The WPF Toolkit is a collection of WPF features and components that are being made available outside of the normal .NET Framework ship cycle. The WPF Toolkit not only allows users to get new functionality more quickly, but allows an efficient means for giving feedback to the product team. Many of the features will be released with full source code as well. Over time, some of these features may be moved into the .NET Framework, based on readiness and customer feedback.

This is a Community Tech Preview (CTP) Release of the DataGrid control. The download links on this page include a binaries only and a binaries & sources release package. You can also browse or download the source code under the Source Code tab.

Please note: The WPF Toolkit is dependent on .NET Framework 3.5 SP1. You must install .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 in order to use any features in the Toolkit.

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Always nice to get a new Grid. Even better when it comes with the source… :)

Make sure you click though to Rudi’s post (top) as there are a couple cool additional links in the update section…