What is the difference between an Expression Field and a Formula Cell?

[Jeff Davis]

The documentation says that the GridGroupingControl supports expression columns but you can also set a column CellType to FormulaCell.  What is the difference between these two features and why would you use one over the others.

I need a grid that has the ability to sort and filter columns and have columns with formulas that can be persisted with the data but that are predetermined before the data is assigned to the grid.  I also want to be able to write custom formulas as well.

The GridGroupControl can easily sort and filter columns with very little added code and if you set a column  CellType to formulaCell you have support for Excel style formulas.

[Jeff Davis]

And what is the difference between these and the Calculate that is now part of XlsIO?

[Arun Kumar V]

Hi Jeff Davis,

Thanks for your interest in Syncfusion products.

Expression fields are a generic way of validating and deriving data of an associated Grid’s Column. In detail Expression fields allows you to add a column that holds calculated values based on other fields in the same record. These expression columns can be used in grouping and sorting. This also can be employed as summary fields for summary rows.


In the other hand Formula cell is a celltype which has ExcelLike Formula Support associated with it.
Note:
If you set CellType property to FormulaCell for every cell in a grid, the default behavior is to treat such cells as text box cells, unless you start the cell entry with an equal sign. Please refer to the below KB which provides detailed information of the reported.

KB Link:
http://help.syncfusion.com/ug/windows%20forms/index.html#!documents/definingformulacell.htm

http://help.syncfusion.com/ug/windows%20forms/index.html#!Documents/expressionfields.htm

Please let us know if you have any concerns.

Regards,
Arun.