Why no Repeater control for Windows Forms?
I had hoped to convert a number of Access ADP systems to .Net (Now that Microsoft has de-emphasized ADP's.)
When I investigated conversion of some Access forms that use the Continuous Forms feature I find that .Net has no equivalent.
There is a Repeater for web forms - but nothing for Windows Forms.
Why on earth would MS not provide such a control? What were they thinking?
We have hundreds of forms and redesigning the system to work around this missing functionality is not something I want to contemplate.
So - we wait. Maybe MS will come to their senses and introduce such a control, or perhaps it will come with WFS, or perhaps we'll
find another alternative. From .Net being a shoe-in we are now considering alternatives like Java (in desperation). We are also unable to move to SQL Server 2005 as it does not play well with ADP's. Nice marketing move MS!
Have I missed something?
Does this feature exist under a new name?
Am I missing some smart trick here?
Can you do something fancy with DataGridView?
Is MS not really paying attention?
# 2 Re: Why no Repeater control for Windows Forms?
Many thanks Phil,
I was aware of the Quantum Software control and also one at
http://www.ewoodruff.us/EWSListControls.aspx
They both offer some part of the solution but both have problems:
Neither offer a keyboard interface (pageup/pagedown).
The ewoodruff control has drawing issues (layout is not suspended when you page up/down).
The mouse wheel is cross wired on the Quantum control. (Is this related to the direction tap water circulates down under?)
Of the two, the Quantum Software offering seems to be the best and the source is available for a nominal fee.
I also came across http://www.codeproject.com/useritems/bindingsource.asp from Moshe Plotkin. The above solutions seem to be implemented in a similar fashion. My guess is that each row has an associated instance of the row control. Unfortunately, this means excessive resource consumption (around 100Kb / row) which seems excessive. A conservative implementation would only create sufficient row controls to tile the viewport.
I still think MS has dropped the ball on this one. This control is fundamental for migration of MS Access and VB 6 projects. We should not have to depend on half baked offerings.
# 3 Re: Why no Repeater control for Windows Forms?
Hi there...
As a Sybase's PowerBuilder, I enjoyed this feature many versions back with the awesome DataWindow control, it is invaluable feature -among others- that helped us developing database applications in fast way.
fortunately, lately Sybase made it available to .net programmers in DataWindow.Net.
Check Sybase's web site.
regard
# 4 Re: Why no Repeater control for Windows Forms?
I'm Eric Woodruff, the designer of the above mentioned EWSoftware List Controls. I recently became aware of this thread and would like to mention that the latest release now supports the Page Up/Down keys to scroll through the list and Ctrl+Page Up/Down keys to jump to the start/end of the list. I have also greatly improved the redraw during scrolling. It scrolls by row now and is much smoother.
The components in the library provide an extensive set of features. I feel the DataList provides the closest match to Access of all the solutions mentioned. However, everyone has different needs, some of which might not have been anticipated. If you find that these controls are missing features that you need, please feel free to make a request to have them added. Every effort will be made to work them into a future release. Thank you.
# 5 Re: Why no Repeater control for Windows Forms?
Just to clarify Eric's post above. When you contact him, do so from his website, not these forums. :)
You can find Eric's email in the bottom right corner of any of his webpages:
http://www.ewoodruff.us/EWSListControls.aspx
And thanx for the update Eric!
