The first methodology to support Hierarchical Collection DataBinding is by using Inbound Mode. This mode indicates that you have accessed to the Collection and Business Object source codes during development where you can easily implement the required Interfaces directly to your collections and objects.
The inbound mode offers a more powerful control to the behavior of how the object would be displayed in the Grid. It also offers more automation process, such as you can easily mark a property as PrimaryKey or specify a different display Caption for the property by simply utilizing the provided Attributes.
Despite of the power and flexibility offered by Inbound Mode, it also introduced some limitations such as the following:
- Business Layer Separation.
The Inbound mode assumes that you have the Business Layer in the same project along with the User Interface layer such as the WebForm aspx files. This could cause confusion and mix up between Business and UI Layer.
You can still use Inbound mode in separate project for Business Layer. However, you need to refer to WebGrid's assembly in the Business Layer project. - Packaged Business Object scenario.
There is no way to modify Packaged Business Object, that means you do not have access to development sources and hence cannot easily perform any Interface implementation to the compiled objects. The Packaged Business Object is usually generated by 3rd party tool or developed by other team. The result is usually assembly (DLL) files.
Recognizing the above limitations, a new Outbound Mode is revealed to solve these limitations and therefore, enabling broader scenarios of business object binding support.
The tutorial for Inbound mode is available in Tutorial Solution >> V4.0 >> Hierarchical_Binding.aspx
See Also
Overview
Getting Started
WebGrid Features Overview
Other Resources
Walkthrough Topics
How-to Topics