Product: VSFlexGrid Pro 6.0

Summary: The VSFlexGrid Pro control is a lightweight, full-featured grid control that comes with no DLLs attached. It has a limited GUI design interface, but it is quite flexible and includes a powerful search and replace expression matching engine.

Suggested List Price: $299.00 ($249 competitive upgrade)

The first tool purchased by most programmers is a grid to replace the limited version included with their compiler. Grids are without doubt the most flexible tools for both complex entry screens and direct database access. The variety and sheer number of third party grids available is daunting. VideoSoft’s VSFlexGrid Pro is a feature-rich entry backed by a solid company.

Let me start off by strongly recommending a personal evaluation of several products before deciding on a new grid control. You are inviting painful reprogramming if you have to switch grids in midstream. I’ve never seen any tools capable of converting between grids and preserving similar information, so be sure to get it right the first time. Although the evaluation process can take several days, do it anyway.

The VSFlexGrid control comes with a good manual and a sample application that covers most features. You’ll need those sample applications because the VSFlexGrid has a minimal GUI interface. That is, you can’t really see what the grid is going to look like as you write your program. Almost all functionality must be programmed via code. I’m used to programming with a grid that seems to have a zillion properties and hierarchies in its "custom" property dialog. VSFlexGrid’s approach does have the advantage of quicker modifications to the grid structure, but you can’t immediately see what your changes have wrought. The object hierarchy is also hidden in the type libraries rather than visible on the property dialog.

Most grids now include hierarchical capabilities, and VSFlexGrid is no exception. A hierarchical grid can display data relationships that can be expressed in a tree structure. For example, hierarchical data could be a customer list, orders for that customer, and items on the order. The VSFlexGrid can display the data like a TreeView control or even a finished report.

The VSFlexGrid can not only bind to data using standard database access protocols like ADO, but it can bind directly to Visual Basic variant data arrays. This makes it easier to add to an existing project where your data is kept in flat binary files or text files. There are plenty of times where the overhead of DAO or ADO is unwarranted. The VSFlexGrid with variant array binding is perfect for those occasions.

Included with VSFlexGrid is the vsFlexString regular expression engine. Even if you don’t need the grid, this control is worth having. It isn’t specifically tied to the grid – you can use it for any text search and replace or parsing needs. The search and replace expressions are well documented and easy to use.

Building an application with the VSFlexGrid isn’t as easy as using the Data Form Designer in VB 6, but it adds significant functionality including outlines and array binding. If you aren’t satisfied with your existing grid, check out the features and spend some time evaluating VSFlexGrid Pro.