Data Scrolling Overview

• Aug 05, 2022
• 2 minutes to read

Delivering outstanding performance and creating a visually stunning UI are two key elements of all WPF applications. The GridControl includes multiple options for optimized record scrolling – each designed for a specific use case.

Vertical Scrolling with Cascading Data Updates

When working with large volumes of data onscreen (for example, many columns and rows), you may experience screen jerks when scrolling through data rows. By activating the WPF DXGrid’s Cascading Data Updates feature, you accelerate the grid and make vertical scrolling faster and smoother. When this feature is enabled, visible rows are asynchronously updated in a background thread, one row at a time.

Per-Pixel Scrolling

With Per-Pixel Scrolling, grid rows can be scrolled smoothly, not on a ‘record-by-record’ basis.

Scroll Extensions

You can implement additional scrolling techniques. Set the ScrollBarExtensions.AllowMiddleMouseScrolling attached property to true to enable the middle-click to scroll functionality. The ScrollBarExtensions.AllowShiftKeyMode attached property controls whether users can hold the Shift key and use the mouse wheel to scroll data horizontally.

UI Virtualization

This feature addresses issues involving data sets with many columns that cannot be completely displayed horizontally on screen. When enabled (the TableView.AllowHorizontalScrollingVirtualization property is set to true), the Grid Control processes data on an as-needed basis. It creates only those cells that are actually visible on screen. Once generated, these cells are then reused when the user scrolls the grid horizontally. The content outside the grid’s view area is not processed. As a result, less memory is used, and less time is required for the grid’s initial load. To learn more, see Table and TreeList View Scrolling in Code.

Freeze Scrollbar Position on Data Sort

If a user changes the order of rows, the GridControl scrolls the view to make the focused row visible onscreen. The DataViewBase.AutoScrollOnSorting option allows you to deactivate automatic scrolling to the focused row when sorting data. In this instance, a scroll bar’s position is not changed when reordering rows.

Scrollbar Annotations

The GridControl‘s TableView and TreeListView can display specific colored marks within the vertical scrollbar: scrollbar annotations. These marks correspond to specific grid rows (or treelist nodes).