When you start to build an application with BeeGrid control, as a first step you have to choose which data mode to use. Data mode defines where is data that is displayed in grid cells, stored. In bound mode grid is connected to the ICursor (DAO) or OLEDB (ADO) recordset. In unbound mode grid uses internal buffer for storing data, and in virtual modes, programmer is responsible for storing and maintaining data displayed in grid cells. The most of the grid's functionality is same for all data modes. For example, data validation, row grouping, row filtering and style manipulation are the same within all data modes. In addition, you can save grid layout in one data mode and use it in another.
BeeGrid supports following data access modes:
The grid is connected to the external data source: OLEDB (ADO) or ICursor (VB Data Control). In this mode grid is synchronized with data source and automatically handles data manipulation. This is the most common way of using BeeGrid control.
In unbound mode, BeeGrid stores data in the internal two-dimensional array. You can access this internal array with the grid's Array property. Data can be easily saved and loaded with the ImportData and the ExportData methods. This is the simplest way to use the BeeGrid control.
The BeeGrid control uses events to fetch and request data manipulation. Programmer must maintain data, usually in some kind of an array or recordset.
The grid uses custom COM interface as an interface to the data source. This mode is useful when you have large amounts of data stored in custom structures or objects.