I am always reluctant to use Netadvantage for ASP.NET controls when there already exist the same controls in VS2005 (i.e.: gridview, panel, tab). Although Infragistics controls are easier to use and has plenty of formatting options, the load that these controls add (JavaScript code in the resource file and styling images) push me away. I am not sure exactly how much it would increase the loading time or it would be noticeable for the user. I hope I am wrong
No developer I know tries to upgrade with each new release; we wait a year or so and jump 2-4 versions. The possibility of regression outweighs the new feature value of a one-version upgrade.
Some of us see this as a good reason why Infragistics should consider doing one release a year. They could release more features, and less bugs, if they used the extra time well. OTOH, it would tend to undermine the perceived (but not actual) value of their subscription-based marketing strategy.
At least that's how I see it. YMMV. And despite all of the above, and my many other pet peeves, I think the product is well worth the price.
well, one of the features you seem to be most excited about (app styling) was not in the last 3 updates but about 5 updates ago. Personally I feel things like dialog window and image viewer are very minor additions since they are readily available without having them in my netadvantage toolkit.
Overall the last 4 releases have left me unimpressed.
ASP.NET 2008 Vol. 2-WebSlider (don't care about it)-WebHierarchicalDataSource (don't even understand it yet)-add one new chart type to existing charts (I generally feel a new chart type is way too minor to be touted as a new feature)
ASP.NET 2008 Vol. 1-Aikido Framework with three new controls (only three? no grid? and no Aikido in latest release? is this really coming?)
ASP.NET 2007 Vol. 3-export features (kinda cool but not strong enough to be the basis for a new release)-enhancements to existing controls (ho hum)
ASP.NET 2007 Vol. 2-SEO (I don't believe anything you have added to the controls will replace or significantly reduce my custom SEO efforts)-official release of gauges that were released previously (kind of a letdown that they were used as a major feature of two releases! plus once I tried to use them I realized they produce static images without any sort of animation-gauges should move!- and are difficult to set up and generally not worth the trouble IMHO)-enhancements to existing controls (again, ho hum)
maybe my expectations are too high. that is possible. the primary reason we purchased the netadvantage components when we did was because at the time you appeared to have the best scheduler component out there. however once we started using it we quickly realized that some of the features available in the Winform version were not in the web version. and key things became deal-breakers for us. for example, you can drag an appointment from one time to another time within a day but you cannot drag to a different day. both we and our customers are puzzled by this limitation.
when I have asked about the web scheduler I was told you are going to continue to improve it but I have no idea if and when that will ever happen. it has not happened during my 1.5 years of subscriptions! and as far as I can tell you do not publish a roadmap for the product lines so we never know whether something is going to be fixed or not. my impression is you created it and then abandoned it to work on other components. and now one of your main competitors has a really superior scheduler that we are evaluating.
your competitor also appears to be way ahead when it comes to their native Ajax support. your Aikido Framework seems to have stalled while they have already released a completely new framework.
I apologize if I sound too negative. I admit to being a bit frustrated. It is not my intent to disparage your components as you clearly have some big fans (Chris!) but at this point we are planning to switch to another component vendor when our subscription expires. I need a solid scheduler component and don't know if you are ever going to update yours. fortunately (for me at least) I can get one right now that will do what I need.
@JohnBobby - I'm interested in hearing what your disappointments were with the last 3 updates. I personally use the WebDialogWindow and WebImageViewer in just about every app I build these days. I also don't know how I used to live without application styling. If I ever have to go back and set indidivdual CssClassName properties/attributes on various controls and objects again, I think I'll cry. AppStylist alone I think was worth a 1 year subscription. There's also a brand new reporting/document engine capable of producing PDF or XPS documents. And underneath all of that was a re-tooling ontop of Microsoft ASP.NET AJAX Extensions. I think it's safe to say you wont find anyone able to reproduce that workload for what ammounts to less than 1 week's pay. I seriously am intersted in better understanding why the releases left you disappointed, so if you're in a sharing mood, I've got my 'ears on'.
-Tony
I wanted to point out something that just occured to me about your list, and that is since (i am assuming) that it is a user list for administration stuff you might want to change the paging to custom paging and use ABCD... which will allow the user to find and pull the list based on that. I normally use "ABC, DEF" buttons and then paging on the grid to give the end user more of a outlook type feel.
I have to appoligize about my comments as I was in a very bad mood as I just found out the company I work for is closing its doors so was in rare form to say the least. I do agree with you on several points an I think there is a fine line of over engineering for features and using the KISS method I think IG recognizes this and is trying to resolve the problem with akido and future releases. and FYI I am in the 90% and don't consider myself a expert at anything as I don't think "anyone" can truely be a expert at anything in life because there is always an unkown factor... :)
Anyway, Your page is looking better and the sorting is working 100x better than before and regardless of what grid you end up using I would suggest the ABC, DEF etc. buttons to reduce overhead on network and database :)
@nmonge - Sorry for the lack of response on my part, I've been out of the office. It sounds like you got some solid advice from your peers, and I just checked the the sample app you have up and the performance was quite good. Sorting a column sorted the entire collection, so I'm guessing you got that figured out as well? Are there any remaining issues or questions?
Thanks for the feedback on your experience with the grid. One of the things we're working hard on is the initial experience for developers using our controls. You'll notice that we're working on a new grid control (a public CTP is availalbe for download), and one of the items we spent a lot of time on was the object model and default settings. In my working with it, I found that it was very intuitive, and much easier to get configured with out having to resort to reading the documentation. The existing WebGrid is still the most powerful grid out there, but it sometimes can be a little tricky to get it to do everything you want, when first starting out with it.