Batch Editing Server-side API

When RadGrid performs CRUD operations ItemCommand, InsertCommand, DeleteCommand, UpdateCommand events are fired. To continue this trend when Batch Editing is enabled the events will be called multiple times for each operation made on the client. The event argument passed to the event handler will be of type GridBatchEditingEventArgument that contains OldValues and NewValues Hashtables. They hold the original values and the newly entered ones respectively.

When automatic operations are enabled you can cancel the command by setting the e.Canceled to true (Can be useful when performing validation).

Once a postback to the server has been initiated, the user input cannot be restored in the browser. This can result in loss of data. To minimize this, use client-side validation and cancel the OnUserAction or OnCommand event in case the batch editing manager hasChanges() on the client.

protected void RadGrid1_ItemCommand(object sender, Telerik.Web.UI.GridCommandEventArgs e)
{
    if (e.CommandName == RadGrid.BatchEditCommandName)
    {
        GridBatchEditingEventArgument argument = e.CommandArgument as GridBatchEditingEventArgument;
        Hashtable oldValues = argument.OldValues;
        Hashtable newValues = argument.NewValues;
        string newFirstName = newValues["FirstName"].ToString();
    }
}

Protected Sub RadGrid1_ItemCommand(sender As Object, e As Telerik.Web.UI.GridCommandEventArgs)
    If e.CommandName = RadGrid.BatchEditCommandName Then
        Dim argument As GridBatchEditingEventArgument = TryCast(e.CommandArgument, GridBatchEditingEventArgument)
        Dim oldValues As Hashtable = argument.OldValues
        Dim newValues As Hashtable = argument.NewValues
        Dim newFirstName As String = newValues("FirstName").ToString()
    End If
End Sub

Additionally, if you want more control over all commands that are executed you could subscribe to the RadGrid.BatchEdit event where you have the e.Commands which is a List of GridBatchEditingCommand objects. The collection could be modified by adding, removing or modifying commands. Every command holds the old and modified values thus providing the user the capability to review all the changes at once.

protected void RadGrid1_BatchEditCommand(object sender, GridBatchEditingEventArgs e)
{
    foreach (GridBatchEditingCommand command in e.Commands)
    {
        Response.Write(String.Format("<strong>command name: {0}</strong><br/>", command.Type.ToString()));
        Hashtable newValues = command.NewValues;
        Hashtable oldValues = command.OldValues;
        foreach (string key in command.NewValues.Keys)
        {
            if(newValues[key] != oldValues[key]) //You may want to implement stronger difference checks here, or a check for the command name (e.g., when inserting there is little point in looking up old values
            {
                string output = String.Format("column: {0} with new value {1}<br />", key, command.NewValues[key]);
                Response.Write(output);
            }
        }
        //a simple way of getting the value of a column whose name you know
        string newFirstName = newValues["FirstName"].ToString();
    }
}

Protected Sub RadGrid1_BatchEditCommand(sender As Object, e As GridBatchEditingEventArgs)
    For Each command As GridBatchEditingCommand In e.Commands
        Response.Write(String.Format("<strong>command name: {0}</strong><br/>", command.Type.ToString()))
        Dim newValues As Hashtable = command.NewValues
        Dim oldValues As Hashtable = command.OldValues
        For Each key As String In command.NewValues.Keys
            If newValues(key) <> oldValues(key) Then 'You may want to implement stronger difference checks here, or a check for the command name (e.g., when inserting there is little point in looking up old values
                Dim output As String = String.Format("column: {0} with new value {1}<br />", key, command.NewValues(key))
                Response.Write(output)
            End If
        Next
        'a simple way of getting the value of a column whose name you know
        Dim newFirstName As String = newValues("FirstName").ToString()
    Next
End Sub

The keys for the hash tables are the DataField names of the columns.

For template columns, make sure to set their DataField property, otherwise the new values will be available under the UniqueName of the column. The old values for a TemplateColumn are available in the OldValues hashtable only if the DataField is added to the DataKeyNames collection.

When working with custom data acccess logic and not with declarative data sources, you will usually need a unique record ID in order to perform the CRUD operations in your server code. Often, you will not want to put the ID column in the grid because the user will not need it. In such cases, add the ID field to the DataKeyNames collection of the MasterTableView so it becomes available in the NewValues hash table.

RadGrid commands in Batch Editing mode

When batch editing functionality is enabled some of the RadGrid commands assigned to the autogenerated IButtonControl controls are changed to perform client-side batch editing functions.

For example a button with CommandName=”Edit” will not perform a postback but will open it's parent row for editing instead. This is done by calling RadGrid.get_batchEditingManager().openRowForEdit and passing the appropriate arguments. All commands that will be changed and the client-side function that will be called instead are listed below.

Server-side commands	Client-side command
RadGrid.InitInsertCommandName	RadGrid.get_batchEditingManager().addNewRecord
RadGrid.EditCommandName	RadGrid.get_batchEditingManager().openRowForEdit
RadGrid.DeleteCommandName	RadGrid.get_batchEditingManager().deleteRecord
RadGrid.UpdateCommandName, RadGrid.PerformInsertCommandName, RadGrid.UpdateEditedCommandName	RadGrid.get_batchEditingManager().saveChanges
RadGrid.CancelAllCommandName, RadGrid.CancelCommandName	RadGrid.get_batchEditingManager().cancelChanges

Column editors

Another key element of the Batch Editing mode is the use of only one editor for a single column. All editors are rendered in a hidden panel and are only visible when a cell/row is opened for edit. Accessing these editors and the panel which holds them is achievable by calling the GetBatchColumnEditor or GetBatchEditorContainer methods of the GridTableView which take as an argument the column or it's UniqueName. A sample demonstration on how to call the mentioned methods is provided below.

<telerik:RadGrid RenderMode="Lightweight" ID="RadGrid2" runat="server" OnPreRender="RadGrid1_PreRender" DataSourceID="SqlDataSource1">
    <MasterTableView EditMode="Batch">
        <Columns>
            <telerik:GridBoundColumn DataField="ProductName" UniqueName="ProductName" HeaderText="Product Name"></telerik:GridBoundColumn>
            <telerik:GridTemplateColumn HeaderText="Category" UniqueName="CategoryID" DataField="CategoryID">
                <ItemTemplate>
                    <%# Eval("CategoryName") %>
                </ItemTemplate>
                <EditItemTemplate>
                    <telerik:RadDropDownList RenderMode="Lightweight" runat="server" ID="CategoryIDDropDown" DataValueField="CategoryID"
                        DataTextField="CategoryName" DataSourceID="SqlDataSource2"></telerik:RadDropDownList>
                </EditItemTemplate>
            </telerik:GridTemplateColumn>
        </Columns>
    </MasterTableView>
</telerik:RadGrid>

protected void RadGrid1_PreRender(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    GridTableView masterTable = (sender as RadGrid).MasterTableView;
    GridColumn productNameColumn = masterTable.GetColumnSafe("ProductName") as GridColumn;
    TextBox productNameEditor = (masterTable.GetBatchColumnEditor(productNameColumn) as GridTextBoxColumnEditor).TextBoxControl;
    RadDropDownList categoryEditor = masterTable.GetBatchColumnEditor("CategoryID") as RadDropDownList;
    Panel batchEditingContainer = masterTable.GetBatchEditorContainer("CategoryID") as Panel;
}

Protected Sub RadGrid1_PreRender(sender As Object, e As EventArgs)
    Dim masterTable As GridTableView = TryCast(sender, RadGrid).MasterTableView
    Dim productNameColumn As GridColumn = TryCast(masterTable.GetColumnSafe("ProductName"), GridColumn)
    Dim productNameEditor As TextBox = TryCast(masterTable.GetBatchColumnEditor(productNameColumn), GridTextBoxColumnEditor).TextBoxControl
    Dim categoryEditor As RadDropDownList = TryCast(masterTable.GetBatchColumnEditor("CategoryID"), RadDropDownList)
    Dim batchEditingContainer As Panel = TryCast(masterTable.GetBatchEditorContainer("CategoryID"), Panel)
End Sub

See Also

• Client-Side API