jqGrid vs. Html.Grid Helper

I have been using jqGrid as my grid view to my data for some time now. It works well and开发者_如何学Python it was easy to implement into my solution. However, due to some refactoring going on within the project right now, I have been looking into it again.

The project itself is built around ASP.NET MVC 2 (.NET 4.0). We need some extra functionality such as:

• Being able to add columns.
• Inline editing of columns.
• Sorting
• Filter
• Paging
• Searching

jqGrid does all of this (although, not all of this functionality is implemented yet - some of it is new based on new needs). But, given that I am using ASP.NET MVC, I was wondering if it would make more sense to switch to the Html.Grid helper. It looks just as easy to implement for the things I know it can do (Sorting/Filtering/Paging), but I do not know if it can even do the other tasks (in a fairly straightforward manner) - anything I have found seems somewhat "hackish."

Can anybody enlighten me on A.) the capabilities of Html.Grid to jqGrid and B.) if there is any reason I'd want to take Html.Grid.

I use jqGrid successfully with ASP.NET MVC 2 (.NET 4.0) and have all the features which you describe in your question. Moreover all pages having jqGrid looks like very simple.

I don't use Html.Grid or any MVC controls. I include just pure HTML fragment <table id="list"></table><div id="pager"></div> on the page. Additionally I include the JavaScript which initialize the "list" table and the "pager" div as the jqGrid. So the implementation is independent from MVC concept. The most important part of the jqGrid integrations is the actions which get back pure JSON output and which implement GET/PUT/POST/DELETE operations with the jqGrid. You can read more about the approach here (see also many links with code examples included in the answer).

To be exactly I prefer to use WCF as a part on my ASP.NET MVC solution and the WCF methods provide the data needed for jqGrid (see here more details), but you can implement all as pure ASP.NET MVC actions.

If you use Unit testes for you ASP.NET MVC site you can successfully write tests for WFC methods or controller actions used by jqGrid. In the way you will test the most parts of jqGrid implementation.

After looking at both approach, I decided the jqGrid was a far easier (and simpler) approach for what I was attempting to do.