WinForms Grid: Inline Data Editing Form (What's New in 13.2)

In our upcoming release (v13.2), we will be shipping a brand new data editing feature for our WinForms Grid Control. This new option will give you additional UI flexibility and make it easier for your end-users to edit data. One use-case would be grids that contain numerous columns. In such instances, you may not want to force users to scroll horizontally to edit individual field values. Instead of creating a custom form, you can simply use the built in inline editor to display and edit all fields in a compact (and fully customizable) layout.

In the following image, we are editing a row using the inline edit feature and have customized it's layout/appearance via the DevExpress WinForms Layout Control.

For those of you who prefer to limit data editing within the grid container and instead use popup forms or modal dialogs for data editing, the inline edit form can be displayed as a popup as well. Again, just like inline editing pictured above, you can provide a fully customized data editing experience via the popup without having to create a custom data editing form.

In either instance, you are in full control and can deliver the UI experience most appropriate to your needs.

Differences between standard inplace row editing and the new edit form

When editing row values using cell editors (standard inplace row editing), if you enter/modify a value and move to the next cell, values are auto-posted to the row source. I wont go into detail as this is a long-standing feature and many of you probably use it in your applications currently.

When editing row values using the new edit form, you have 3 unique UI options:

• Display the edit form below the "edited" row during edit operations.
• Hide the "edited" row and display the edit form between rows.
• Display the edit form as a popup and allows users to move/resize the popup as needed.

By default, the edit form is generated based on properties you set for corresponding columns, but as I mentioned previously, you can design it from scratch using the DevExpress Layout Control or build any layout you desire via user control.

When using the "standard" edit form, you can customize the columns you wish to display within the edit form. The columns displayed can be different from those columns visible in the Grid View. You can show/hide any column you require or change it's position. The edit form also allows you to create row/column spans to create more appealing interfaces (using memo edits, image edits).

You can also customize the manner in which users display the edit form (either by double-click, F2-key, or Enter-key).

Data binding options include both a direct and cached mode. 

• In direct mode - values are posted to the row immediately after leaving a given field.
• In cached mode – values are posted only when you click the update button. 

If you have any questions or would like more information on this feature, feel free to leave me a comment...I look forward to your feedback. 

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