A question about datasource objects in ASP.net

Question

When using DataSources in ASP.net applications, paging and sorting along with GridView only works out of the box when using DataSet, DataTable, DataViews if you are using anything else you need to implement methods that perform paging as well as partial data retrieval from the datasource. I dont know many design nowadays that pass around DataSets accross layers. I am a big POCO fan and I like to keep things simple specially when working with DataContracts in WCF.

Am I missing something or is it too much to expect paging and sorting working out of the box or is it guys at MS dont think its important??? Is the DataPager control the answer??

Also,I would really appreciate if someone can give me a fully functional [gridview- object data source - Paging & sorting] tutorial/link. The ones I saw online made me feel that you need to hack your way in order to make it work.

Answer 1

You may have already come across them, but I've found Scott Mitchell's data access tutorials very helpful in the past. Tutorials #24-27 cover paging and sorting, and he uses the ObjectDataSource.