asp.net - Repeater, ListView, DataList, DataGrid, GridView ... Which to choose?

Question

So many different controls to choose from! What are best practices for determining which control to use for displaying data in ASP.NET?

Answer 1

It's really about what you trying to achieve

• Gridview - Limited in design, works like an html table. More in built functionality like edit/update, page, sort. Lots of overhead.

• DataGrid - Old version of the Gridview. A gridview is a super datagrid.

• Datalist - more customisable version of the Gridview. Also has some overhead. More manual work as you have to design it yourself.

• ListView - the new Datalist :). Almost a hybrid of the datalist and gridview where you can use paging and build in Gridview like functionality, but have the freedom of design. One of the new controls in this family

• Repeater - Very light weight. No built in functionality like Headers, Footers. Has the least overhead.