10tec.com

What is 10Tec iGrid?

10Tec iGrid is a commercial grid (data table) control for building desktop business applications. It comes in two main editions: an ActiveX version for classic Windows development and a WinForms .NET version, iGrid.NET. It is positioned as a faster, more capable replacement for the grids developers often outgrow — the classic VB6 DataGrid, the .NET DataGridView, the editable ListView, and VB6's MSFlexGrid. According to the vendor's own description, it is especially aimed at unbound grids, where you populate and manage cells yourself rather than binding to a database source.

Where it fits

• VB6 and VBA: The ActiveX edition works in classic Visual Basic and as a VBA grid on UserForms in Microsoft Word and Excel, and as a grid control in Microsoft Access.
• WinForms .NET: iGrid.NET targets VB.NET and C# developers who want an alternative to DataGridView, including in VSTO-based Office solutions.
• Editable list-style views: It replaces ListView and MSFlexGrid when you need in-place editing and smoother, flicker-free redraw.

What the vendor highlights

• Speed and drawing quality as the main selling points over the built-in controls.
• A deliberately simple object model, so developers can get a basic grid running quickly.
• Recent iGrid.NET 14 work on dark mode alongside Windows Forms dark mode in .NET 10, improved high-DPI handling, and simpler control over rendering style and colors.

Trade-offs to weigh

Because it is a third-party component, you take on a license, a learning curve, and a dependency on the vendor for updates and support. In exchange you get capabilities and performance that the stock grids do not offer, particularly for unbound, heavily customized tables. If your needs are modest — a simple bound table in a small internal tool — DataGridView may be enough and costs nothing extra. If you are fighting flicker, slow scrolling, or missing editing features, iGrid is the kind of component worth evaluating.

A practical next step: download the demo and rebuild one screen from your current application with it. Compare scrolling smoothness, editing behavior, and the amount of code you write against your existing grid. If you develop in VB6 or VBA, test the ActiveX edition in the actual host (Word, Excel, or Access), since host integration is often where grid controls differ most.

How do I replace DataGridView or MSFlexGrid with iGrid in an existing VB6 or VB.NET project?

Replacing DataGridView or MSFlexGrid with iGrid is mostly a drop-in swap: you remove the old grid, add the iGrid control to the form, and rewrite the code that filled and read the grid. The ActiveX edition targets VB6/VBA, while iGrid.NET targets VB.NET/C# WinForms, so pick the edition that matches your project type.

What changes in a VB6 project (MSFlexGrid)

MSFlexGrid is a read-mostly, cell-based grid. iGrid's ActiveX edition is positioned as an editable replacement with better functionality and flicker-free drawing, so the migration is not a one-to-one property rename.

• Remove the MSFlexGrid reference and add the iGrid OCX to the toolbox, then place it on the form.
• Replace TextMatrix(row, col) style access with iGrid's cell/row/column object model.
• Rebuild formatting: MSFlexGrid formatting is largely per-cell string manipulation; iGrid gives you column objects and rendering properties instead.
• Re-implement selection, edit and sort behaviour explicitly, since MSFlexGrid did little of this for you.
• Expect to redo flicker handling — iGrid advertises optimized flicker-free drawing, so existing LockWindowUpdate or redraw hacks can usually be dropped.

The same ActiveX control is documented as working inside Microsoft Word and Excel VBA UserForms and as an Access grid control, so if your VB6 grid logic lives in an Office add-in or Access form, the migration path is the same control rather than a rewrite into .NET.

What changes in a VB.NET or C# project (DataGridView)

Here the swap is conceptually similar but the API surface is different. iGrid.NET is described as an advanced DataGridView alternative, and the object model is deliberately simple so you can start using it in minutes.

• Data binding: DataGridView is strongly binding-oriented; iGrid.NET is described as the ideal choice for an unbound grid. If your DataGridView relies on DataSource, BindingSource and DataTable, plan to populate iGrid manually or keep a thin adapter layer.
• Columns: recreate DataGridViewColumn definitions as iGrid columns, including widths, headers and per-column formatting.
• Editing: wire up your own commit/validate logic rather than relying on DataGridView's cell validation events.
• Appearance: iGrid.NET 14 adds dark mode support, improved high-DPI handling, a simpler rendering-style system and finer color properties. If you were fighting DataGridView's theming or DPI blurriness, this is the main practical gain.

Choosing between the two editions

A practical next step

Before touching production code, build one throwaway form that reproduces your real grid: your actual column set, your worst-case row count, and your slowest refresh path. Measure how long it takes to fill and repaint in both the old and new control. That single test tells you whether the migration is a few hours of property renaming or a genuine re-architecture — particularly if you were relying on data binding, which is the biggest behavioural difference between DataGridView and an unbound grid.

The vendor's own site is the place to confirm edition-to-platform mapping and current release notes: 10Tec.

Can I use iGrid as a VBA grid control inside Microsoft Excel or Word UserForms?

Yes. 10Tec explicitly states that iGrid ActiveX works in Microsoft Word and Excel as a VBA grid control on UserForms, and also describes it as a Microsoft Access grid control. So the intended use case is exactly the one you're asking about: dropping an ActiveX grid onto a VBA UserForm rather than building a Windows Forms application.

What that means in practice

• You get a real grid control on a UserForm, with editing and flicker-free drawing, instead of pushing data into a ListBox or a multi-column ListView.
• 10Tec positions it as an editable replacement for the VB6 MSFlexGrid and for ListView, and as a faster alternative to the older DataGrid/DataGridView controls.
• The object model is described as simple, so the learning curve is mostly about binding your own data rather than learning a large framework.
• 10Tec specifically calls it the ideal choice when you need an unbound grid. That matters in VBA: you populate rows yourself from a recordset, array or worksheet range, and you control what gets written back.

A concrete scenario

Say you have an Excel workbook where users review and correct imported records before they're committed to a worksheet. A UserForm with iGrid lets them edit cells in place, sort and scroll a large result set without the form redrawing constantly, and you read the edited values back into VBA when they click OK. The same pattern applies in Word or Access when the data lives outside the document.

Decision criteria

Next step

Confirm your host bitness and Office version before downloading, because ActiveX controls must match the Office process architecture, and older 32-bit-only builds will not load in 64-bit Office. Then install the demo and drop the control onto a scratch UserForm to verify it appears in the More Controls list. 10Tec maintains separate pages for the ActiveX and WinForms editions, so start at 10Tec and pick the ActiveX product rather than iGrid.NET, which targets VB.NET and C# WinForms instead.

What are the main differences between iGrid ActiveX and iGrid.NET for C# and VB.NET developers?

iGrid ActiveX and iGrid.NET share the same grid engine and object model, but they target different hosts and toolchains. The practical split is: choose ActiveX for VB6, VBA and Access; choose iGrid.NET for C#/VB.NET WinForms projects.

The split at a glance

What this means in practice

If you maintain a VB6 or VBA codebase, iGrid ActiveX is the one that plugs into your existing forms and UserForms; it also lets you embed a real grid in Word, Excel and Access rather than fighting the built-in list controls. Registration is part of the deployment story, and 10Tec has added per-user (HKCU) alongside machine-wide (HKLM) registration for the modern ActiveX editions, which matters if your users lack admin rights.

If you are writing new WinForms code in C# or VB.NET, iGrid.NET is the relevant product. Version 14 added dark mode support tied to the dark mode in .NET 10, separate .NET 10 builds, improved high-DPI handling, and a simpler way to control overall rendering style. That is the version to evaluate if you are modernising an older WinForms UI.

The shared selling point in both cases is an unbound grid: you populate it yourself rather than binding to a data source. That suits virtual or computed data, but it means you handle data loading and synchronisation yourself.

Next step

Decide by host first, not by feature list. Open your project, note whether it is a .vbproj/.csproj or a .vbp/.xlsm, and pick the matching product; then check the product's own What's New and demo before committing. 10Tec's site at 10Tec lists both the WinForms and ActiveX grid pages, and the demo installation is the fastest way to judge whether the unbound model fits how your data arrives.

How does iGrid support dark mode and high-DPI rendering in .NET 10 WinForms applications?

iGrid.NET 14 adds dark mode support specifically for .NET 10 WinForms applications, where Windows Forms gained official dark mode integration. The grid ships in separate .NET 10 builds that include built-in support for this mode, so the control adapts to a dark UI rather than forcing you to hand-paint colors. The same release also improves high-DPI support, simplifies control over the grid's overall rendering style, and adds properties for finer control of color appearance in both light and dark interfaces.

What that means in practice

• Dark mode: the .NET 10 builds handle dark rendering natively, which matters if your application follows the system theme. A demo sample showing the grid's main visual features in dark mode is included in the demo installation, so you can compare behavior before committing to an upgrade.
• High-DPI: improved support reduces the blurry text, misaligned row heights and clipped glyphs that typically appear when a grid is scaled on 125–200% displays. Test this on your actual target monitors, since DPI issues often surface only at specific scale factors.
• Rendering-style control: a simpler system for controlling the overall rendering style plus new color-appearance properties means you can match the grid to your application's palette without overriding individual drawing events.

A concrete scenario

Suppose you maintain a VB.NET or C# WinForms line-of-business app that is moving to .NET 10 and needs to respect the user's light/dark preference. Rather than theming the grid manually, you would take the .NET 10 build, rely on its dark mode support, and use the new color properties to fine-tune contrast for headers, selection and alternating rows. If your users run mixed-DPI setups, the high-DPI improvements are the second reason to move.

Decision criterion

If you are staying on older .NET versions or on the ActiveX side (VB6, VBA, Access), dark mode in the .NET 10 builds is not relevant to you — evaluate iGrid there on its unbound grid behavior and flicker-free drawing instead. If you are on .NET 10 WinForms and dark mode or per-monitor DPI is a requirement, the version 14 builds are the ones to test.

Next step: download the iGrid.NET 14 demo and run the dark-mode sample on a high-DPI display to confirm the rendering matches your expectations. Details are on 10Tec.

What licensing and registration options are available for 10Tec ActiveX controls?

10Tec's ActiveX controls use two registration scopes, HKCU and HKLM, for its "modern editions." The company announced new builds of iGrid and ImageList ActiveX controls that ship as two sets of OCX files, covering per-user (HKCU) and per-machine (HKLM) registration. The page does not state prices, license tiers or payment methods, so treat those as unknown from this source.

H3 What the two options mean in practice

• HKCU (per-user): registration is tied to the logged-in Windows account. Fits single-developer machines or locked-down environments where the developer lacks admin rights.
• HKLM (per-machine): registration applies to all users of that computer. Fits shared build servers, lab or training PCs, and classic deployments where an installer runs with elevation.

H3 Why the distinction matters ActiveX controls must be registered before a host application can instantiate them. If you develop in VB6, VBA (Word/Excel UserForms) or Access, or embed the grid in a WinForms project, the registration hive determines who on the machine can use the control. A per-user install can be simpler to roll out but may surprise you when another Windows account on the same PC cannot see the control; a per-machine install avoids that but typically needs administrator rights.

H3 Choosing between them Pick HKCU when only one account uses the machine and you want to avoid elevation. Pick HKLM when multiple accounts, CI agents or deployment images are involved, or when your installer already runs elevated. If you are unsure, start with the per-machine option on a test machine and confirm the control loads in each host you target (VB6 IDE, a VBA UserForm, and your .NET designer).

For current editions, build numbers and licensing terms, check the vendor's own pages: 10Tec and the ActiveX grid product page linked from it.