[Solved] Bind MVC-Grid to dynamic data

[Ron]

I have a project that I am converting an existing ASP.NET website to an ASP.NET MVC site.  This conversion is more for my own experience, but if I can accomplish this, the additional changes will be so much simpler.


Here is my scenario.  I have a stored procedure that returns a dynamically created dataset (columns returned are specific to the input parameters).  When I use ASP.NET and a Telerik RadGrid control, it binds perfectly.  However when I try to port this logic over to MVC I get multiple errors.

I initially attempted to bind the data is a similar way that I bind the data using ASP.NET.  The data I retrieve comes from a webmethod from a legacy ASP.NET 2.0 web service.  So due to that, I am stuck with dealing with the DataSet it returns.  

I have tried to return the first table in the DataSet (using the  AsEnumerable method) and then use the AutoGenerate method in the view to automatically generate the columns.

Controller's code

return View(ds.Tables[0].AsEnumerable());

View's Code

@{ Html.Telerik().Grid(Model)
        .Name("Grid")
        .Columns(c => c.AutoGenerate(true))
    .Pageable()
    .Render();
}

This logic will return the grid, and will generate the pager correctly with the total number of rows and everything.  However, it shows no columns nor column headers.

When I change up the controller to add the following

private GridColumnSettings[] GetGridColumns(DataTable dataTable)
{
    GridColumnSettings[] gridColumnSettings = new GridColumnSettings[dataTable.Rows.Count];

    for (int i = 0; i < dataTable.Rows.Count;i++ )
    {
        gridColumnSettings[i] = new GridColumnSettings
        {
            Member = dataTable.Rows[i].Field<string>("DBFIELD"),
            Title = dataTable.Rows[i].Field<string>("CAPTION"),
            Format = (
                       (dataTable.Rows[i].Field<int>("NDATATYPE") == 4) ?
                           "{0:c}" :
                           (dataTable.Rows[i].Field<int>("NDATATYPE") == 5) ?
                               "{0:d}" :
                           "{0}"
                      ),
            Width = "20em",
        };
    }
    return gridColumnSettings;
}

and then add this to the view

.Columns(columns => columns.LoadSettings((IEnumerable<GridColumnSettings>)ViewData["Columns"]))

I get this error.

'object' does not contain a definition for 'Column0'


Is there a setting that I'm forgetting that will fix this issue?

Thanks.

Russ

[Atanas Korchev]

Hi Russell Smith,

 You can check this code library project which shows how to bind the Telerik MVC Grid to a datatable.

All the best,
Atanas Korchev
the Telerik team

[Ron]

Thank you.  that was the missing piece of the puzzle.

[Gaurav]

Hi Atanas,

The code you have provided is really amazing. But we want batch editing in addition to that in the grid. We are really not able to implement that. Here is another thread I have started. http://www.telerik.com/community/forums/aspnet-mvc/grid/batch-editing-in-grid-with-dynamic-model.aspx

Can you please help implementing this.