When it comes to displaying tabular data, ASP.NET can save you a lot
of time, provided you play your cards right. If you want to display
data from a database in a table and you’re not
concerned about performance or your ability to control the
arrangement of the data items within the display, you can whip up
something with the DataGrid control in mere
minutes using relatively few lines of code. Alternatively, if
you’re more inclined to control nearly every aspect
of the tabular display, you can shape and mold the template-driven
Repeater and DataList controls
nearly beyond recognition, and still not step very far outside a
well-trodden path. But like everything else in ASP.NET, you have to
know where to start and what the trade-offs are. For instance,
it’s helpful to know how and when the
DataGrid control begins to fall short of the mark.
That knowledge will save you having to retrace your steps later to
implement another tabular control altogether, something
we’ve had to do ourselves at an inopportune moment
during a hot project. The recipes in this chapter ought to get you
well down the curve with displaying your tabular data and prevent you
having to revisit some of our same mistakes.
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