Scrolling performance in Mango

[Bernhard König]

Currently, RadDataBoundListBox is clearly the way to go to have as smooth as possible scrolling in WP7 apps. But with Mango, Microsoft has greatly improved scrolling performance for their own listboxes that's also better than what DataBoundListBox offers now.

I'd definitely like to continue to use DataBoundListBox because of all the other superior features so I'd like to ask what to expect in the future and when there will be a "Mango" release of the controls that maybe brings further improvements here?

I noticed that DataBoundListBox also works even better under Mango, but when using Microsofts own Listbox, it's just that bit smoother and more responsive, mostly noticeable when I try to stop scrolling by a quick tap on screen - it stops immediately with Microsofts Listbox, but takes a noticeable amount of time with your control.

Just curious :)

Thanks,
Bernhard

[Deyan]

Hello Bernhard,

I am happy to inform you that we plan to release a build that targets Windows Phone 7 Mango and introduces an upgraded version of RadDataBoundListBox that makes use of all performance improvements that Microsoft have introduced in terms of scrolling. We've managed to upgrade our control by reducing the amount of breaking changes as much as possible - in fact, only the ScrollStateChanged event has changed its behavior a bit. We will describe this in the release notes accompanying the assemblies.

Do not hesitate to get back to us in case you have further questions on this.

Best wishes,
Deyan
the Telerik team

[Bernhard König]

This are great news, looking forward to the release!

Thanks,
b.

[JDBPocketware]

Hi, does the latest build include the Mango performance improvements?

[Bernhard König]

Hi Jandieg,

I can confirm that those improvements are implemented into the controls since months (September 2011 IIRC), scrolls like a champ now :)

cheers,
Bernhard

[JDBPocketware]

Thanks, will try.

[Deyan]

Hello Jandieg,

As of Windows Phone Mango we are fully supporting this version of Windows Phone and utilize all performance improvements that were made available in it in our controls.

Let me know if you have further questions or need assistance.

Greetings,
Deyan
the Telerik team

[JDBPocketware]

Thanks.

Wondering if it supports virtualization on a multicolumn listbox?

[Deyan]

Hi Jandieg,

We are releasing a Beta version of virtualized Wrap Mode in RadDataBoundListBox with Q1 2012. The release is due to in a couple of days so stay tuned and you will be able to check this new feature out.

Let me know if you have further questions or need assistance.

Kind regards,
Deyan
the Telerik team

[JDBPocketware]

Looking forward to that.

And what about using an under demand listbox with automatic loading? Which cons/pros against the virtualized? (listbox will display thumbnails of photo album of say 100 pictures, hosted on web)

Thank you

[Deyan]

Hello Jandieg,

RadDataBoundListBox supports both UI and Data virtualization. You can use both techniques simultaneously and it is a matter of whether you want to fetch the whole data from your webservice at once or simply want to fetch a given portion of it and load it in the list box on demand. No matter which Data virtualization technique you are using, RadDataBoundListBox always has its UI virtualization mechanism working. If you want to show images in your listbox, I guess the On Demand Data Virtualization would suit your needs.

You can take a look at our online documentation for further information on the Data Virtualization modes that RadDataBoundListBox exposes:

http://www.telerik.com/help/windows-phone/raddataboundlistbox-features-datavirtualization-overview.html

Let me know if you have further questions here.

Greetings,
Deyan
the Telerik team

[JDBPocketware]

Ok. So after virtualized data has been downloaded, can that data be accessed from the app to perform other tasks? (How?) Or is that data merely for the listbox UI?

Edit: Opened this case to better address my problem: http://www.telerik.com/community/forums/windows-phone/databound-listbox/automatic-virtualization-without-odata.aspx 

[Deyan]

Hi Jandieg,

You can store and use the downloaded data however and wherever you want. RadDataBoundListBox can just consume and visualize it.

Please refer to the newly opened thread regarding the same topic.

Kind regards,
Deyan
the Telerik team