Binding of values in the UI

Plain contains some helper classes that will help you transfer field values between the user interface and your domain model. Basically the mapping is done through reflection.

We wanted the generation of a UI to be as familiar and flexible as possible. This means that an idea of having visual Plain controls for the UI were turned down.

Detail Views

The only requirement it has is that you name the fields the UI fields the same as your properties on your domain classes.

As the UI binding is closely related to the technology used to present your data, binding is only available for certain technologies. Currently only implemented for ASP.Net web forms.

List Views

When it comes binding lists with data, Plain comes with DataSource classes that will help you hook every thing together. Just specify what kind of objects to return and point it to a query (Searching). If your data layer supports it you will get paging and sorting for free :)

To retrieve hierarchical data please use the PlainHierarchyDataSource.

As Plain is made to handle rich domain models, Plain also provides helpers to display data that is not retrieved in a 'flat' data table. One such is the PlainBoundField. It's basically a bound field, but with the possibility to dot your way down through your domain model.