US Patent 7143340 Row sharing techniques for grid controls

A grid control for displaying a table with columns and rows is provided that reduces memory requirements by sharing a single row characteristic object between multiple row objects. The grid control can create a template row object that includes various characteristics used in presenting the underlying data within each cell of the row. This template can then be shared among other rows with similar characteristics. An index can also be used for linking the shared rows to the template row characteristic object.