GroupingCollection with improved performance

There were some concerns over the performance of GroupingCollection class while grouping and calculating summaries.

So, a new class GroupingCollection2 is introduced in the data visualization components.

The major improvements in GroupingCollection2 are –
1. Grouping performance improved.
2. Summary calculation performance improved. Now, instead of looping over the data again and again, summaries are calculated in a single loop.
3. When using async refresh, the summaries are calculated as soon as each Group is built. Earlier, the summaries were calculated only after all the Groups have been made.

What has changed –
1. Introduced class GroupingCollection2 which replaces existing class GroupingCollection.
2. Introduced class SummaryField2 which replaces existing class SummaryField.

No no, classes GroupingCollection and SummaryField are not removed.
They will continue to exist to maintain backward compatibility.
So, you can use either GroupingCollection or GroupingCollection2 and AdvancedDataGrid will continue to work 🙂

The difference between SummaryField and SummaryField2 is –
SummaryField2 does not have “operation” and “summaryFunction” properties.
A new property “summaryOperation” in added in SummaryField2. It is an Object which takes one of the following –
* SUM, MIN, MAX, AVG or COUNT as String.
OR
* An implemtatation of mx.collections.ISummaryCalculator for calculating custom summaries.
The default value is SUM.

API changes –
1. Method refresh() has been changed in GroupingCollection2. The syntax now is –

function refresh(async:Boolean = false, 
		dispatchCollectionEvents:Boolean = false):Boolean;

Code changes required to start using GroupingCollection2 –
1. Use GroupingCollection2 instead of GroupingCollection.
2. Use SummaryField2 instead of SummaryField.
3. Replace operation/summaryFunction in SummaryField with summaryOperation in SummaryField2.

An example is shown here:
With GroupingCollection –

<mx:GroupingCollection id="gc" source="{arr}">
	<mx:Grouping>
		<mx:GroupingField name="name" >
			<mx:SummaryRow>
				<mx:SummaryField dataField="sal" 
					operation="MAX" />
			</mx:SummaryRow>
		</mx:GroupingField>
	</mx:Grouping>
</mx:GroupingCollection>

With GroupingCollection2 –

<mx:GroupingCollection2 id="gc" source="{arr}">
	<mx:Grouping>
		<mx:GroupingField name="name">
			<mx:SummaryRow >
				<mx:SummaryField2 dataField="sal" 
					summaryOperation="MAX" />
			</mx:SummaryRow>
		</mx:GroupingField>
	</mx:Grouping>
</mx:GroupingCollection2>

Try it and let us know your feedback.

Preserving the open nodes in AdvancedDataGrid after re-grouping

Consider a scenario in which you want to group some data and display it in an AdvancedDataGrid. Now, you open some nodes. And you want to add summaries to the data. Adding summaries means to re-group the data by calling GroupingCollection.refresh(). But the state of open nodes will be lost as new Objects are created for the group nodes while re-grouping.

I’m posting a sample in which the open nodes are preserved.

Sample here.

Source here.

Open the sample, click on Group data, open some nodes and then click on Add Summary. The nodes which are open will remain open.

Basically, here I’m giving the same UID for the group nodes as they were before (re-grouping). That’s why, the open state is maintained.

Note: This sample will work only if the grouping fields are same for both groupings. It’ll need some tweaking in case the grouping fields are changed.

Dynamically creating a column grouped AdvancedDataGrid

Usually people like to write the AdvancedDataGrid component in mxml. But there are some scenarios where there is a need to create the grid dynamically.

Here is a simple sample in which an AdvancedDataGrid is created dynamically with column groups.

Source is posted here.

AdvancedDataGrid Performance Polls

Hello Advanced DataGrid users,

We have added a poll about AdvancedDataGrid’s performance. Please take part in the poll and help us identify the areas which needs improvement.

The poll is hosted at flexpearls

Thanks again.

Advanced DataGrid as an item renderer within an Advanced DataGrid

In this sample, I’m using an Advanced DataGrid as an item renderer within another Advanced DataGrid. This type of configuration is very useful to give a master-detail view. This configuration can be customized more depending on any specific requirements.

Sample here

Application Source, Renderer source

Thanks to Sreeni for coming up with this.