Most Efficient Data Control

[errorfunktion]

Hi, I need to display a data set in some sort of table format, which will be scrollable.. This set contains approximately 500 rows of data items, say contact information. Some rows need to be in a different color than the other rows according to some criteria which is why I can't use a big textbox. I was thinking about several ways to implement this: 1. Using a ListView Control 2. Using a DataGrid Control 3. Using a Picture box and simply painting the item information on it. I have no need to interact with the data just display it. 4. Using a TableLayooutPanel and filling it with labels. Which of these ways is the most efficient way to do this, performance wise, least memory requirements, best application responsiveness etc? Thanks, Gary

[Luc Pattyn]

Hi, I only know some of these Controls, so here is a partial answer: A PictureBox is not the solution; it does not help you whatsoever, the only thing it tries to do reasonably well is showing an existing IMAGE. It is not intended to be drawn upon (a Panel would fit that). I would not choose the ListView, I expect it is tailored to the Explorer functionality, and either too complex or not really fitting your needs. Hence my choice would boil down to DataGrid vs. TableLayoutPanel Hope this helps.

Luc Pattyn [Forum Guidelines] [My Articles]

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[errorfunktion]

Not really sorry, A picture box provides a graphics object that you may use to draw paint whatever you like on, text included hence it can be used to show a table of data. I may have neglected to mention this: If this data was static then I wouldn't even bother asking the question. New data is constantly received and displayed in new lines while older lines are deleted, this is my concern with performance. The update rate is fast perhaps once a second. Updating a ListView control therefore might seem more efficient since it only requires two actions: add and remove item. Updating the tablepanel will take a loop of 500*NumberOfColumns actions. Which one of the ways I have listed is likely to take the least amount of CPU time?

[Dave Kreskowiak]

errorfunktion wrote:

A picture box provides a graphics object that you may use to draw paint whatever you like on

No, it doesn't. Every control that's visible has a canvas you can paint on, not the jsut the PictureBox control. The PictureBox was designed to just show an image. It loads an image and paints that image on itself. For your situation, the ListView control would probably be the most appropriate. You'd have to remember to remove items at the beginning of the list if they are no longer needed since adding more and more items (without removing any!) will take long and longer to paint.

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