Grids where the recordsource contains Foreign Keys

[is_grizzly_adams]

I am working on a Bid, Bid Details data entry screen and
have decisions to make on how to work with
Grids/Datasets/Lookups and Templates. My table layouts
are as follows:

Bid
Bid_ID, Company_ID, Bid_Date ...

Bid_Item
Bid_ID, Item_ID, Cost_Category_ID...

Item
Item_ID, Item_Name...

Item_Item_Category
Item_ID, Category_ID ...

Item_Category
Category_ID, Category_Name ...

When displaying the Bid Items, I wish to show the Name of
the item and category not the ids(Foreign Keys) and am not
sure if the grid should have a Select statement for it's
datasource, and if it does how does this affect changes
and updates, I know if the dataset is bound directly to a
table it isn't an issue.

My users are currently using a system where when they tab
I am working on the Bid, Bid Details data entry screen and
have decisions to make on how to work with
Grids/Datasets/Lookups and Templates. My table layouts
are as follows:

Bid
Bid_ID, Company_ID, Bid_Date ...

Bid_Item
Bid_ID, Item_ID, Cost_Category_ID...

Item
Item_ID, Item_Name...

Item_Item_Category
Item_ID, Category_ID ...

Item_Category
Category_ID, Category_Name ...

When displaying the Bid Items, I wish to show the Name of
the item, not the description and am not sure if the grid
should have a Select statement for it's datasource, and if
it does how does this affect changes and updates, I know
if the dataset is bound directly to a table it isn't an
issue.

I also have a couple quick questions on allowing users to
add records, should it be text fields on the form or a
second grid based on a select routine. My users are
currently using a system where when they tab off the last
fiend it auto adds a new record off the last field it auto
adds a new record.

Has anyone encountered examples which I could gain an
insight through

 

[William Ryan]

You can set up your grid to bind to a dataset and see that the tables have
the relations defined via a DataRelation object. This will allow you to
expand and collapse partent items and then edit/view the child records in
the same grid. I think this is what you are wanting to do right?

Also, if you want to do some fancy stuff with your gird, like adding
datetimeprickers and comboboxes, the Infragistics grid is a wonderful too.