ASP.NET 2.0 Cookbook, 2nd Edition

2.1. Selecting the Right Tabular Control

Problem

You want to use an ASP.NET control to display some data in a tabular format.

Solution

Use a Repeater, DataList, DataGrid, or GridView control. Always choose the smallest and fastest control that meets your needs, which invariably will be influenced by other criteria as in these examples:

If you need a quick and easy solution

Use a GridView.

If you need a lightweight read-only tabular display

Use a Repeater.

If you need your solution to be small and fast

Use a Repeater (lightest) or DataList (lighter).

If you want to use a template to customize the appearance of the display

Choose a Repeater or DataList.

If you want to select rows or edit the contents of a data table

Choose a DataList, a DataGrid, or a GridView.

If you want built-in support to sort your data by column or paginate its display

Choose a GridView.

If you want to use custom pagination

Choose a DataGrid.

Discussion

ASP.NET provides four excellent options for displaying tabular data: Repeater, DataList, DataGrid, and GridView. Each comes with trade-offs. For instance, the GridView control is versatile, but you can pay a price in terms of performance. On the flip side, the Repeater control is lighter weight but is for read-only display; if you later decide you need to edit your data, you will have to rework your code to use the DataList, DataGrid, or GridView control instead (unless, of course, you want to embark on your own custom coding odyssey).

The impact on performance is because ASP.NET ...