When the data is available in a plain text file (tabs or comma-delimited) you can load it into the grid without any server-side processing at all.
The file may look like this (click to open):
MSFT Microsoft Corporation "314,571.16" "32,187.00" 55000
ORCL Oracle Corporation "62,615.27" "9,519.00" 40650
SAP SAP AG (ADR) "40,986.33" "8,296.42" 28961
CA Computer Associates Inter "15,606.34" "3,164.00" 16000
ERTS Electronic Arts Inc. "14,490.90" "2,503.73" 4000
...
first step is to create an external data model object, which will load the data and provide a necessary interface for the grid to access it.
var table = new Active.Text.Table;
The data model should know the URL of the file.
table.setProperty("URL", "/examples/data/companies.txt");
And you should ask the model to start loading the file.
table.request();
After the grid object is created
var obj = new Active.Controls.Grid;
obj.setProperty("column/count", 5);
it is assigned our new external data model.
obj.setModel("data", table);
Don't forget to write the grid HTML to the page as usual.
document.write(obj);