Server Mode Overview
- 2 minutes to read
The DXGrid supports a binding mode designed to work with massive datasets. This is called server mode. With this mode, even if the grid control is connected to a data store containing one million records, the initial data will be displayed immediately, and subsequent data will be loaded rapidly on scrolling. Loading records in small portions, and performing data-aware operations on the data server side are the key features of server mode that ensure quick access to data, even if the sorting, grouping, filtering and summary features are used.
Overview
Server mode has been specifically designed to work with large datasets. Bound data is not loaded into memory in its entirety. Instead, the grid control loads data in small portions, on demand. When the grid starts, it loads and displays the first portion of data from the data store. Then, as an end-user scrolls the grid, when the last record of the loaded subset is reached, the grid requests the data store to return a subsequent section of data.
In regular data binding mode, before it’s displayed within a grid control, data must be fetched in its entirety from a data store into memory. The number of records is a bottleneck, as the more records there are, the more time is required to load the data. Moreover, the grid’s performance also depends on the total number of loaded records, particularly when data is sorted, grouped, filtered or the summary feature is used. In this case, the grid needs to process the entire recordset to implement a specific data-aware operation.
The DXGrid automatically operates in server mode if it is bound to a data source that supports the DevExpress.Data.IListServer interface. Currently, you can use the LinqServerModeSource, XPServerCollectionSource, EntityServerModeSource or WcfServerModeSource component as a data source in server mode. These components support the IListSource interface, and return the list implementing the DevExpress.Data.IListServer interface via their List properties.
If a data source doesn’t implement the DevExpress.Data.IListServer interface, server mode is not available.
Server mode cannot be used in master-detail mode.
Concepts
Examples
How to: Use DXGrid in Server Mode with Entity Framework 4.0+