Skip to main content
BuyLog In
Mobile UI Controls
Search in…
Docs > Mobile UI for Xamarin.Forms > Data Grid > DataGridView and GridControl (Legacy) - Comparison
You are viewing help content for a version that is no longer maintained/updated.
All docs
V20.2
    • Mobile UI for Xamarin.Forms
    Charts
    Data Grid
    Add Data Grid to Xamarin.Forms Solution
    Getting Started
    Examples
    DataGridView and GridControl (Legacy) - Comparison
    Scheduler
    Data Editors
    CollectionView
    Data Form
    Navigation
    AndroidX Migration
    Charts for Android / Xamarin.Android
    Charts for iOS / Xamarin.iOS
    Xamarin.Forms API Reference
    Android API Reference
    iOS API Reference
    Xamarin.Android API Reference
    Xamarin.iOS API Reference
    Download CHM

    DataGridView and GridControl (Legacy) - Comparison

    • 5 minutes to read

    This document compares the DataGridView for Xamarin.Forms with the legacy GridControl, and describes the differences in features, API, and behavior of these controls.

    Features

    This table lists features of the new DataGridView that the legacy GridControl does not support:

    Feature

    Related API

    Input Validation

    DataGridView.ValidateCell
    DataGridView.ValidationError
    EditFormPage.ValidateCell
    EditFormPage.ValidateForm

    Templates

    DataGridView.ColumnHeaderContentTemplate / GridColumn.HeaderContentTemplate
    DataGridView.GroupCaptionTemplate / GridColumn.GroupCaptionTemplate
    DataGridView.GroupRowTemplate
    DataGridView.GroupSummaryTemplate
    DataGridView.SwipeItemTemplate / SwipeItem.Template
    DataGridView.TotalSummaryTemplate / GridColumn.TotalSummaryTemplate

    Multi-Row Column Layout

    DataGridView.AdvancedColumnLayout
    AdvancedColumnLayout.ColumnDefinitions / AdvancedColumnLayout.RowDefinitions
    GridColumn.Row / GridColumn.Column
    GridColumn.RowSpan / GridColumn.ColumnSpan

    Row Drag and Drop

    DataGridView.AllowDragDropRows / DataGridView.AllowDragDropSortedRows
    DataGridView.RowDragPreviewTemplate
    DataGridView.RowDragPreviewShadowColor
    DataGridView.DragRow
    DataGridView.DragRowOver
    DataGridView.DropRow
    DataGridView.CompleteRowDragDrop

    Row Auto Height

    DataGridView.RowHeight
    DataGridView.GroupRowHeight
    If these properties are set to -1, the grid adjusts the height of rows to display cells’ content.

    Cascade Data Update

    DataGridView.AllowCascadeUpdate
    DataGridView.AllowCascadeTreeCreation

    Column Header Visibility

    DataGridView.IsColumnHeaderVisible

    Scrollbar Visibility

    DataGridView.IsHorizontalScrollBarVisible
    DataGridView.IsVerticalScrollBarVisible

    Column’s Properties

    EditFormCaption
    GroupCaptionDisplayFormat
    HeaderCaptionLineBreakMode
    HorizontalContentAlignment
    MaxWidth

    Grid’s Visual Updates

    DataGridView.IsUpdateLocked
    DataGridView.BeginUpdate() / DataGridView.EndUpdate()

    Refresh Indicator Visibility

    DataGridView.IsRefreshing

    Grouping-Related API

    DataGridView.GetGroupValue(Int32)
    DataGridView.GetGroupDisplayValue(Int32)
    DataGridView.GetGroupSummaryValue(Int32, GridColumnSummary)
    DataGridView.GetChildRowCount(Int32)
    DataGridView.GetChildRowHandle(Int32, Int32)

    The following table lists the GridControl‘s features that the new DataGridView does not support:

    Feature

    Related API

    New Item Row

    GridControl.NewItemRowVisibility
    GridControl.InitNewRow

    Filter Panel

    GridControl.FilterPanelVisibility
    GridControl.FilterPanelHeight

    Popup Menu

    GridControl.PopupMenuCustomization
    GridControl.AllowDeleteRows
    GridControl.AllowEditRows
    GridControl.AllowGroup
    GridColumn.AllowGroup
    GridControl.HighlightMenuTargetElements
    GridControl.IsColumnMenuEnabled
    GridControl.IsGroupRowMenuEnabled
    GridControl.IsRowCellMenuEnabled
    GridControl.IsTotalSummaryMenuEnabled

    Column Chooser

    GridControl.IsColumnChooserEnabled
    GridControl.ShowColumnChooser()
    GridControl.HideColumnChooser()

    Resizing Columns from UI

    GridControl.AllowResizeColumns

    Horizontal Scrolling Virtualization

    GridControl.AllowHorizontalScrollingVirtualization

    Conditional Formatting

    GridControl.FormatConditions

    Export to Excel

    GridControl.ExportToExcel(Stream, ExportTarget)
    GridControl.OptionsExportXls
    GridControl.OptionsExportXlsx
    GridControl.OptionsExportCsv

    Miscellaneous

    GridControl.FindRowByValue(GridColumn, Object)
    GridControl.Redraw(Boolean)
    GridControl.Dispose()
    GridControl.LoadInVisualTree()
    GridControl.FilterApplied
    GridControl.HorizontalScrollOffsetChanged
    CustomizeCellDisplayTextEventArgs.Source

    Grouping-Related API

    GridControl.GetGroupInfo(Int32)
    IGroupInfo

    Behavior

    This section describes differences in implementation and behavior of the functionality that the DataGridView and GridControl support.

    Editing Rows

    Editor

    DataGridView (New) Learn more…

    GridControl (Legacy) Learn more…

    In-place

    In-place cell editor
    The grid automatically commits the edited cell value when a user taps outside the cell being edited.
    Use the DataGridView.EditorShowMode property to specify a gesture that invokes an in-place editor for a cell.

    In-place row editor
    The grid invokes the in-place row editor (RowEditMode = Inplace) when a user double taps a data cell.

    Edit Form

    To allow users to edit cell values via an edit form, create an EditFormPage instance and handle the grid’s event (for example, Tap or DoubleTap) to specify a gesture that invokes the edit form.

    The grid invokes an edit form according to the RowEditMode property value. To replace the default row edit form with a custom form, use the EditFormContent property.

    GridControl.AllowEditRows - Specifies whether users are allowed to change cell values in the grid.

    Load More

    The new grid automatically performs the load-more operation unless data rows fill the entire viewport or the number of visible rows does not change.

    Swipe Actions

    DataGridView (New) Learn more…

    GridControl (Legacy) Learn more…

    DataGridView.StartSwipeItems
    DataGridView.EndSwipeItems
    SwipeItem

    GridControl.LeftSwipeButtons
    GridControl.RightSwipeButtons
    SwipeButtonInfo

    SwipeItem.Tap

    GridControl.SwipeButtonClick
    GridControl.SwipeButtonCommand

    -

    GridControl.SwipeButtonShowing

    The grid can display an icon within a swipe item and
    use a custom template that defines a swipe item’s appearance.

    -

    DataGridView.FullSwipeMode

    -

    Themes

    DataGridView (New) Learn more…

    GridControl (Legacy) Learn more…

    Light and Dark built-in themes 

    using Xamarin.Forms;
using DevExpress.XamarinForms.Core.Themes;

// ... 
ThemeManager.ThemeName = Theme.Dark;

    Light and Dark built-in themes 

    using Xamarin.Forms;
using DevExpress.Mobile.DataGrid.Theme;

// ... 
ThemeManager.ThemeName = Themes.Dark;

    When the ThemeManager applies a theme, it adds implicit styles for a grid and its elements to the application’s ResourceDictionary.
    You can use special target types (for example, CellStyle, GroupRowStyle, ColumnHeaderStyle, etc.) to create custom styles lower in the view hierarchy so that these styles override original styles (defined at the application level). All grids for which the corresponding resource is available uses these custom styles. You can also apply a custom style to a specific grid instance. To do this, use this grid’s *Style properties (CellStyle, GroupRowStyle, ColumnHeaderStyle, etc.).
    Learn more…

    To customize the applied theme, use the ThemeBase class. Its properties provide access to different customizers that you can use to change appearance settings (for example, font attributes, border and background colors, etc.) of the grid’s visual elements (data cells, group rows, filter panel, etc.).
    Learn more…

    Column Width

     

    DataGridView (New)

    GridControl (Legacy)

    API

    GridColumn.Width - Specifies the column width as a GridLength value. Allows you to define absolute (for example, 50) or proportional (for example, 2*) width value, but does not support the Auto option.
    GridColumn.MinWidth
    GridColumn.MaxWidth

    GridControl.ColumnsAutoWidth
    GridColumn.Width - Specifies the column width in density-independent pixels.
     

    GridColumn.MinWidth

    Behavior

    The grid adjusts column widths so that the total width of all columns equals the grid’s width. When you set the Width property for a column, the grid automatically changes the widths of other columns. To specify the minimum and maximum column width, use the MinWidth and MaxWidth properties. If the total column width exceeds the grid’s width, horizontal scrolling is enabled.

    ColumnsAutoWidth = true
    The grid adjusts column widths so that the total width of all columns equals the grid’s width. If you set the Width property only for one column, and there are other columns that do not have this property defined, the grid uses your width value for this column and decreases the widths of columns with an unspecified width. However, if you set the Width for all columns, or if specific columns whose width is not defined already reached their MinWidth value, the grid adjusts the width of all other columns in proportion to their defined Width but not less than MinWidth.
     

    ColumnsAutoWidth = false
    A column’s width is specified by its Width property. If the total column width exceeds the grid’s width, horizontal scrolling is enabled.

    Grid in the StackLayout Container

    DataGridView (New)

    GridControl (Legacy)

    The grid height is equal to the height of the device’s screen, regardless of the number of data items.

    The grid can change its height to show all data rows.

    Miscellaneous

    The new grid’s CustomizeCellDisplayTextEventHandler has a sender parameter.

    Renamed API

    DataGridView (New)

    GridControl (Legacy)

    Namespace: DevExpress.XamarinForms.*

    Namespace: DevExpress.Mobile.*

    CheckBoxColumn

    SwitchColumn

    Tap
    TapConfirmed
    DoubleTap
    LongPress

    RowTap
    RowDoubleTap

    DataGridView.SelectedItem

    GridControl.SelectedDataObject

    DataGridView.GroupCollapsing
    DataGridView.GroupExpanding
    DataGridView.GroupCollapsed
    DataGridView.GroupExpanded

    GridControl.GroupRowCollapsing
    GridControl.GroupRowExpanding
    GridControl.GroupRowCollapsed
    GridControl.GroupRowExpanded

    GridColumn.HorizontalContentAlignment

    GridColumn.ContentAlignment

    GridColumn.HeaderContentTemplate

    GridColumn.HeaderTemplate

    CellData.Item

    CellData.Source

    DataGridView.SelectionChanged event’s argument type:
    SelectionChangedEventArgs with the Item property

    GridControl.SelectionChanged event’s argument type:
    RowEventArgs

    DataGridView.OpenEditor(Int32, String)

    GridControl.OpenEditor(CellIndex)

    DataGridView.CustomCellStyle

    GridControl.CustomizeCell