We are happy to announce the availability of VIBlend Silverlight Controls 6.0.  The newest version of VIBlend Silverlight Controls includes a set of new Metro UI Themes - Metro Blue, Metro Green and Metro Orange themes.

This example demonstrates how to bind the VIBlend DataGrid for Silverlight to a list of invoices that has nested properties. The schema of data source contains the following DataFields / Properties: SalesPerson(string), ShipperCompany(string), ProductName(string), UnitPrice(double),
Quantity(double), Discount(double), ExtendedPrice(double), Freight(double) and Address(Address). The address object has the following properties: City(string), Region(string) and Country(string).

We'll create a Pivot Table with 3 pivot rows - City, Country and Region and 1 pivot column - Shipper Company.

<viblend:DataGrid ItemsSource="{Binding}" x:Name="dataGrid1" Margin="4" Background="White" AutoGenerateColumns="True">
    <viblend:DataGrid.BoundFields>
        <viblend:BoundField Text="Country" DataField="Address.Country" Width="160" SortMode="NotSortable"/>
        <viblend:BoundField Text="City" DataField="Address.City" Width="140" SortMode="NotSortable"/>
        <viblend:BoundField Text="Region" DataField="Address.Region" Width="140" SortMode="NotSortable"/>
        <viblend:BoundField Text="Carrier" DataField="ShipperCompany" Width="140" SortMode="NotSortable" />
        <viblend:BoundField Text="ExtendedPrice" DataField="ExtendedPrice" Width="140" SortMode="NotSortable" />
    </viblend:DataGrid.BoundFields>
    <viblend:DataGrid.BoundPivotRows>
        <viblend:BoundField Text="Country" DataField="Address.Country" Width="160" SortMode="NotSortable"/>
        <viblend:BoundField Text="Region" DataField="Address.Region" Width="160" SortMode="NotSortable"/>
        <viblend:BoundField Text="City" DataField="Address.City" Width="140" SortMode="NotSortable"/>
    </viblend:DataGrid.BoundPivotRows>
    <viblend:DataGrid.BoundPivotColumns>
        <viblend:BoundField Text="Carrier" DataField="ShipperCompany" Width="140" SortMode="NotSortable"/>
    </viblend:DataGrid.BoundPivotColumns>
    <viblend:DataGrid.BoundPivotValues>
        <viblend:BoundValueField Width="120" CellHorizontalContentAlignment="Center" Text="Count of Sales" Function="Count" DataField="ExtendedPrice"></viblend:BoundValueField>
         <viblend:BoundValueField Width="120" CellHorizontalContentAlignment="Right" CellVerticalContentAlignment="Center" CellTextFormatString="{}{0:C}" Text="Amount of Sales" Function="Sum" DataField="ExtendedPrice"></viblend:BoundValueField>
        <viblend:BoundValueField Width="120" CellHorizontalContentAlignment="Right" CellVerticalContentAlignment="Center" CellTextFormatString="{}{0:C}" Text="Avg Sale Amount" Function="Average" DataField="ExtendedPrice"></viblend:BoundValueField>
    </viblend:DataGrid.BoundPivotValues>
</viblend:DataGrid>

The following code generates the sample data in the example:

C#

public PivotTableDemo()
{
    InitializeComponent();
    PrepareGridData();
    this.DataContext = this.lst;
}

public class Invoice
{
    public Invoice(
        string City,
        string Region,
        string Country,
        string SalesPerson,
        string ShipperCompany,
        string ProductName,
        double UnitPrice,
        double Quantity,
        double Discount,
        double ExtendedPrice,
        double Freight)
    {
        this.SalesPerson = SalesPerson;
        this.Address = new Address();
        this.Address.City = City;
        this.Address.Region = string.IsNullOrEmpty(Region) ? "All Regions" : Region;
        this.Address.Country = Country;
        this.ShipperCompany = ShipperCompany;
        this.ProductName = ProductName;
        this.UnitPrice = UnitPrice;
        this.Quantity = Quantity;
        this.Discount = Discount;
        this.ExtendedPrice = ExtendedPrice;
        this.Freight = Freight;
    }

    public string SalesPerson { get; set; }
    public string ShipperCompany { get; set; }
    public Address Address { get; set; }
    public string ProductName { get; set; }
    public double UnitPrice { get; set; }
    public double Quantity { get; set; }
    public double Discount { get; set; }
    public double ExtendedPrice { get; set; }
    public double Freight { get; set; }
}

public class Address
{
    public string City { get; set; }
    public string Region { get; set; }
    public string Country { get; set; }
}

public List<Invoice> lst = new List<Invoice>();
private void PrepareGridData()
{
    try
    {
        StreamResourceInfo sri = Application.GetResourceStream(new Uri("IntegratedDemo;component/Examples/Grid/invoices.tab", UriKind.Relative));
        System.IO.StreamReader sr = new System.IO.StreamReader(sri.Stream);
        string line = null;
        sr.ReadLine();
        while ((line = sr.ReadLine()) != null)
        {
            string[] tabs = line.Split('\t');
            lst.Add(new Invoice(tabs[0], tabs[1], tabs[2], tabs[3], tabs[4], tabs[5], double.Parse(tabs[6]), double.Parse(tabs[7]), double.Parse(tabs[8]), double.Parse(tabs[9]), double.Parse(tabs[10])));
        }
        sr.Close();
    }
    catch (System.Exception)
    {
    }
}

VB .NET

Public Sub New()
    InitializeComponent()
    PrepareGridData()
    Me.DataContext = Me.lst
End Sub

Public Class Invoice
    Public Sub New(ByVal City As String, ByVal Region As String, ByVal Country As String, ByVal SalesPerson As String, ByVal ShipperCompany As String, ByVal ProductName As String, ByVal UnitPrice As Double, ByVal Quantity As Double, ByVal Discount As Double, ByVal ExtendedPrice As Double, ByVal Freight As Double)
        Me.SalesPerson = SalesPerson
        Me.Address = New Address()
        Me.Address.City = City
        Me.Address.Region = If(String.IsNullOrEmpty(Region), "All Regions", Region)
        Me.Address.Country = Country
        Me.ShipperCompany = ShipperCompany
        Me.ProductName = ProductName
        Me.UnitPrice = UnitPrice
        Me.Quantity = Quantity
        Me.Discount = Discount
        Me.ExtendedPrice = ExtendedPrice
        Me.Freight = Freight
    End Sub

    Private privateSalesPerson As String
    Public Property SalesPerson() As String
        Get
            Return privateSalesPerson
        End Get
        Set(ByVal value As String)
            privateSalesPerson = value
        End Set
    End Property
    Private privateShipperCompany As String
    Public Property ShipperCompany() As String
        Get
            Return privateShipperCompany
        End Get
        Set(ByVal value As String)
            privateShipperCompany = value
        End Set
    End Property
    Private privateAddress As Address
    Public Property Address() As Address
        Get
            Return privateAddress
        End Get
        Set(ByVal value As Address)
            privateAddress = value
        End Set
    End Property
    Private privateProductName As String
    Public Property ProductName() As String
        Get
            Return privateProductName
        End Get
        Set(ByVal value As String)
            privateProductName = value
        End Set
    End Property
    Private privateUnitPrice As Double
    Public Property UnitPrice() As Double
        Get
            Return privateUnitPrice
        End Get
        Set(ByVal value As Double)
            privateUnitPrice = value
        End Set
    End Property
    Private privateQuantity As Double
    Public Property Quantity() As Double
        Get
            Return privateQuantity
        End Get
        Set(ByVal value As Double)
            privateQuantity = value
        End Set
    End Property
    Private privateDiscount As Double
    Public Property Discount() As Double
        Get
            Return privateDiscount
        End Get
        Set(ByVal value As Double)
            privateDiscount = value
        End Set
    End Property
    Private privateExtendedPrice As Double
    Public Property ExtendedPrice() As Double
        Get
            Return privateExtendedPrice
        End Get
        Set(ByVal value As Double)
            privateExtendedPrice = value
        End Set
    End Property
    Private privateFreight As Double
    Public Property Freight() As Double
        Get
            Return privateFreight
        End Get
        Set(ByVal value As Double)
            privateFreight = value
        End Set
    End Property
End Class

Public Class Address
    Private privateCity As String
    Public Property City() As String
        Get
            Return privateCity
        End Get
        Set(ByVal value As String)
            privateCity = value
        End Set
    End Property
    Private privateRegion As String
    Public Property Region() As String
        Get
            Return privateRegion
        End Get
        Set(ByVal value As String)
            privateRegion = value
        End Set
    End Property
    Private privateCountry As String
    Public Property Country() As String
        Get
            Return privateCountry
        End Get
        Set(ByVal value As String)
            privateCountry = value
        End Set
    End Property
End Class

Public lst As List(Of Invoice) = New List(Of Invoice)()
Private Sub PrepareGridData()
    Try
        Dim sri As StreamResourceInfo = Application.GetResourceStream(New Uri("IntegratedDemo;component/Examples/Grid/invoices.tab", UriKind.Relative))
        Dim sr As New System.IO.StreamReader(sri.Stream)
        Dim line As String = Nothing
        sr.ReadLine()
        line = sr.ReadLine()
        Do While line IsNot Nothing
            Dim tabs() As String = line.Split(ControlChars.Tab)
            lst.Add(New Invoice(tabs(0), tabs(1), tabs(2), tabs(3), tabs(4), tabs(5), Double.Parse(tabs(6)), Double.Parse(tabs(7)), Double.Parse(tabs(8)), Double.Parse(tabs(9)), Double.Parse(tabs(10))))
            line = sr.ReadLine()
        Loop
        sr.Close()
    Catch e1 As System.Exception
    End Try
End Sub

Note: The 'invoices.tab' file is included in the installation package of VIBlend Controls for Silverlight. The default path to the file is: C:\Program Files\VIBlend\SilverlightControls v.5.0\Source Code\CSharp\Examples\Grid\invoices.tab.

The new version of VIBlend Controls for WinForms is coming in a few weeks and will deliver an upgrade to the DataGridView control with new features, better UI and styling capabilities.

-  Extended filtering options

The DataGridView filtering window will be extended by providing an easier and user-friendly experience. The new filtering window will show a checked list, allowing for single and/or multiple selections. The previous filtering mechanism will still be available and you will be able to switch to it by clicking a single button. The filtering improvements will also include new case-sensitive filtering options.

-    Improved support for Totals

The Pivot-Table totals support will be extended by adding a capability that will allow you to display Sub-Totals, Grand-Totals or a combination of Sub-Totals and Grand-Totals

-    New Cell Editors

The new version will include several new cell editors – Currency, Percentage, Number, Mask and Fixed-Point Editors

-    New Pivot-Table Filtering and enhanced Pivot-Design panel

The DataGridView will expose a new BoundFieldsFilters collection that will allow you to filter data in the Pivot-Table and display only a subset of data that meet the filtering criteria (criteria: Conditions you specify to limit which records are included in the result set of a filter.) that you specify and hides data that you do not want displayed. The Pivot-Design panel will feature a new Filter Area box that will enable you to manipulate the BoundFieldsFilters collection by drag and drop. Another addition to the Pivot-Design panel will be the Localization support.

One of the most common data binding scenarios is to bind a DataGrid to a SQL Server Database and to load records from a specified data table. In this post, we will explain you how to set up basic data binding in VIBlend WPF DataGrid to the Customer table of the AdventureWorksLT Database.

So the first step would be to create a new WPF Application Project and then create a new instance of the DataGrid via drag and drop from the toolbox or create it programmatically. The DataGrid fields that will represent data source fields are created in XAML markup. Below you will see that we have very simple XAML for our WPF application which adds a DataGrid to the window

       <viblendDataGrid:DataGrid ItemsSource="{Binding Customer}" Name="dataGrid1" Margin="10">
            <viblendDataGrid:DataGrid.BoundFields>
                <viblendDataGrid:BoundField Text="First Name" DataField="FirstName" Width="70"/>
                <viblendDataGrid:BoundField Text="Last Name" DataField="LastName" Width="70"/>
                <viblendDataGrid:BoundField Text="Company Name" DataField="CompanyName" Width="150"/>
                <viblendDataGrid:BoundField Text="Phone" DataField="Phone" Width="100"/>
                <viblendDataGrid:BoundField Text="Email Address" DataField="EmailAddress" Width="100"/>
            </viblendDataGrid:DataGrid.BoundFields>
        </viblendDataGrid:DataGrid>

 Next, create a new AdventureWorksLTDataSet. In order to create it, do the following: Select Data->Add New DataSource->DataBase->DataSet. Add a connection to the AdventureWorksLT Database and Click the 'Next' button. Then expand the 'Tables' tree node, select Customer and click the 'Finish' button.

Note: The AdventureWorksLT Database is installed with the installation of the SQL Server. However, you can also download and install it from http://sqlserversamples.codeplex.com 
Once the Data Source is configured, create new instances of the AdventureWorksLTDataSet data set. and CustomerTableAdapter , then fill the Customer table with data. Finally, bind the VIBlend DataGrid for WPF to the Customer table.

C#

   public partial class MainWindow : Window
    {
        AdventureWorksLTDataSet dataSet = new AdventureWorksLTDataSet();
        AdventureWorksLTDataSetTableAdapters.CustomerTableAdapter adapter = new AdventureWorksLTDataSetTableAdapters.CustomerTableAdapter();
   
        public MainWindow()
        {
            InitializeComponent();
            adapter.Fill(dataSet.Customer);
            this.dataGrid1.DataContext = this;
        }

        public WpfApplication2.AdventureWorksLTDataSet.CustomerDataTable Customer
        {
            get
            {
                return this.dataSet.Customer;
            }
        }
    }

VB .NET

   Partial Public Class MainWindow
       Inherits Window
        Private dataSet As New AdventureWorksLTDataSet()
        Private adapter As New AdventureWorksLTDataSetTableAdapters.CustomerTableAdapter()

        Public Sub New()
            InitializeComponent()
            adapter.Fill(dataSet.Customer)
            Me.dataGrid1.DataContext = Me
        End Sub

        Public ReadOnly Property Customer() As WpfApplication2.AdventureWorksLTDataSet.CustomerDataTable
            Get
                Return Me.dataSet.Customer
            End Get
        End Property
   End Class

 

In this post we will demonstrate you how to bind the VIBlend WPF DataGrid to "Invoices" view in the Nwind.mdb database, which is shipped with the installation. The control will be used to analyze sales per country and shippers companies.

At first you need to create a new instance of the NwindDataSet and InvoicesTableAdapter. Then you need to fill the table with data and set the DataContext property.

C#

NwindDataSet dataSet = new NwindDataSet();
InvoicesTableAdapter adapter = new InvoicesTableAdapter();
adapter.Fill(dataSet.Invoices);
this.DataContext = dataSet.Invoices;

VB .NET

Dim dataSet As New NwindDataSet()
Dim adapter As New InvoicesTableAdapter()
adapter.Fill(dataSet.Invoices)
Me.DataContext = dataSet.Invoices

The DataGrid fields that will represent data source fields are created in XAML markup. In order to format the currency data, you should specify the StringFormat property in the binding expression.

 <Window x:Class="DataBinding.MainWindow"
        xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
        xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
        xmlns:local="clr-namespace:DataBinding"
        Title="MainWindow" Height="350" Width="525" xmlns:viblendDataGrid="clr-namespace:VIBlend.WPF.Controls;assembly=VIBlend.WPF.DataGrid">
    <Grid>
        <Grid.Resources>
            <DataTemplate x:Key="CellTemplate">
                <TextBlock HorizontalAlignment="Right" Text="{Binding StringFormat=C2}"/>
            </DataTemplate>
        </Grid.Resources>
        <viblendDataGrid:DataGrid ItemsSource="{Binding}" Name="dataGrid1" Margin="10">
            <viblendDataGrid:DataGrid.BoundFields>
                <viblendDataGrid:BoundField Text="Shippers Company" DataField="Shippers_CompanyName"/>
                <viblendDataGrid:BoundField Text="Country" DataField="Country"/>
                <viblendDataGrid:BoundField Text="ExtendedPrice" DataField="ExtendedPrice"/>
            </viblendDataGrid:DataGrid.BoundFields>
            <viblendDataGrid:DataGrid.BoundPivotRows>
                <viblendDataGrid:BoundField Width="100" Text="Country" DataField="Country"/>
            </viblendDataGrid:DataGrid.BoundPivotRows>
            <viblendDataGrid:DataGrid.BoundPivotColumns>
                <viblendDataGrid:BoundField Text="Shippers Company" DataField="Shippers_CompanyName"/>
            </viblendDataGrid:DataGrid.BoundPivotColumns>
            <viblendDataGrid:DataGrid.BoundPivotValues>
                <viblendDataGrid:BoundValueField CellDataTemplate="{StaticResource CellTemplate}" Text="Sum" DataField="ExtendedPrice" Function="Sum"/>
                <viblendDataGrid:BoundValueField CellDataTemplate="{StaticResource CellTemplate}" Text="Average Price" DataField="ExtendedPrice" Function="Average"/>
            </viblendDataGrid:DataGrid.BoundPivotValues>
        </viblendDataGrid:DataGrid>
    </Grid>
</Window>

Here is an image of the result:

The latest version of VIBlend Controls for Silverlight features significant improvements to the DataGrid’s scrolling capabilities.  DataGrid now offers fast animated smooth scrolling with inertia for impressive UI performance.  In this blog post, we will introduce you how to use the properties that you need to know, in order to set up the DataGrid’s scrolling behavior. The ScrollAnimationMode property allows you to enable or disable the animated scrolling. The DataGrid’s default animation mode is scrolling with intertia,  In order to disable the scrolling, you need to set the ScrollAnimationMode property to ScrollAnimationMode.No_Animation.

C#

dataGrid.ScrollAnimationMode = DataGrid.ScrollAnimationModes.NO_ANIMATION;

VB .NET

dataGrid.ScrollAnimationMode = DataGrid.ScrollAnimationModes.NO_ANIMATION

Use the following code snippet to enable the smooth scrolling mode:

C#

dataGrid.ScrollAnimationMode = DataGrid.ScrollAnimationModes.SMOOTH_SCROLL;

VB .NET

dataGrid.ScrollAnimationMode = DataGrid.ScrollAnimationModes.SMOOTH_SCROLL

VIBlend DataGrid control also supports a beautiful opacity animation while you scroll its content. You can enable this animation by using the ScrollOpacityAnimationEnabled property. The code snippet below enables the scrolling opacity animation:

C#

dataGrid.ScrollOpacityAnimationEnabled = true;

VB .NET

dataGrid.ScrollOpacityAnimationEnabled = True

The ScrollAnimationTime property allows you to change the duration of the scrolling animation. Here is demonstrated how to the set the duration to 1 second:

C#

dataGrid.ScrollAnimationTime = new TimeSpan(0, 0, 1);

VB .NET

dataGrid.ScrollAnimationTime = New TimeSpan(0, 0, 1)

By default, when the user drags the thumb on a scrollbar, the content view continuously updates. In deferred scrolling, the content is updated only when the user releases the thumb. You can enable the deferred scrolling mode by using the DeferredScrollingEnabled property.

For example:

C#

dataGrid.DeferredScrollingEnabled = true;

VB .NET

dataGrid.DeferredScrollingEnabled = True

We are pleased to announce the availability of the VIBlend Controls for WinForms ver. 5.0.0. the next generation of user interface controls for Windows Forms from VIBlend. The new release is expanding our commitment to business intelligence and data visualization by adding a Pivot Design panel. The Pivot Design panel integrates with VIBlend DataGrid for Windows Forms and provides an intuitive and easy to use drag and drop interface for defining pivot table views. You can choose the pivot rows, pivot colums, data fields and data aggregation functions.

Key benefits of the new release are:

- 2 new themes for all VIBlend WinForms Controls
- Pivot Design panel
- DataGrid Localization Provider
- Improved Ribbon Bar performance and rendering
- Quick Start projects now have a full support for VS 2010 which will decrease development time

If you want to check out the latest release, it is now available for download.

One of the key features that you can expect in the new release is the Pivot Design Panel.  The Pivot Design panel integrates with VIBlend DataGrid for Windows Forms. It provides an intuitive and easy to use drag and drop interface for defining pivot table views. You can choose the pivot rows, pivot colums, data fields and data aggregation functions.  This solution is ideal for building a wide range of in-house OLAP and BI applications.

Another improvement will be the DataGrid’s Localization Provider that enables you to localize the ContextMenu and FilteringWindow strings.

For more information regarding the new release, feel free to contact us at support@viblend.com

New in version 1.4 of VIBlend Silverlight Controls is the ability to create a Pivot Table entirely in XAML.

As usual you have to specify which columns (data fields) from the data source will represent the pivot table's rows, columns and values fields.

Below is the full XAML required to declare a pivot table:

<UserControl x:Class="SilverlightApplication1.MainPage"
    xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
    xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
    xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008"
    xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006"
    mc:Ignorable="d"
    d:DesignHeight="600" d:DesignWidth="800"
    xmlns:viblend="clr-namespace:VIBlend.Silverlight.Controls;assembly=DataGrid">

    <Grid x:Name="LayoutRoot" Background="White">
            <viblend:DataGrid AutoGenerateColumns="True" PivotValuesOnRows="False" Name="dataGrid1"  Height="200" Width="500">
                <viblend:DataGrid.BoundPivotRows>
                    <viblend:BoundField DataField="Country" Text="Country"/>
                    <viblend:BoundField DataField="Region" Text="Region"/>
                    <viblend:BoundField DataField="City" Text="City"/>
                </viblend:DataGrid.BoundPivotRows>
                <viblend:DataGrid.BoundPivotColumns>
                   <viblend:BoundField DataField="ShipperCompany" Text="Shipper Company"/>
                </viblend:DataGrid.BoundPivotColumns>
                <viblend:DataGrid.BoundPivotValues>
                    <viblend:BoundValueField DataField="ExtendedPrice" Text="Count of Sales" Function="Count"/>
                    <viblend:BoundValueField DataField="ExtendedPrice" Text="Amount of Sales" Function="Sum"/>
                    <viblend:BoundValueField DataField="ExtendedPrice" Text="Avg Sale Amount" Function="Average"/>
                </viblend:DataGrid.BoundPivotValues>
            </viblend:DataGrid>
    </Grid>
</UserControl>

After that simply bind to the data source by setting the ItemsSource property of the data grid control:

dataGrid1.ItemsSource = myData;

The result is a great looking pivot table with interactive drill down support.

VIBlend DataGrid for Silverlight uses a built-in OLAP engine to construct the pivot table. You can bind the DataGrid to any data source and easily build in-house Business Intelligence and reporting tools within minutes.

We are proud to announce the release of the latest version of VIBlend Silverlight Controls.

The new edition includes many improvements in VIBlend’s OLAP Grid for Silverlight:

• Significantly better performance
• Lower memory use
• Data binding improvements and LINQ support
• Layout enhancements with variable height columns
• Pivot table sorting by label
• Better design time support in Visual Studio 2010 Beta

The release of version 1.3 brings a new Silverlight TreeView control loaded with advanced features, stylish animations and offering easy to use and flexible programming model.

See our Silverlight Controls Live Demo and Download a free trial today.