This was not the problem at all.   In the Beta release q1 2008, the .FieldName property was added to the grid to set the dataitem from the datasource.   Not only now does it blow up if the field is not a valid field name (before it simply didn't display data), it is case sensitive. i.e.  FieldName <> fieldname.

Hello Jeffrey,

Thank you for writing.

Actually, the reason for the FieldName property to be Case-sensitive is coming from the DataSet specification. The DataSet fields are case sensitive too, and there is a possibility to have two fields that differs only in their case (for example "column1" and "Column1", which is allowed in DataSet).

If you have other questions, do not hesitate to contact me again.

 
Sincerely yours,
Martin Vasilev
the Telerik team