I’m almost ready to buy a license for your plugin. I am building mostly custom back-end php/mysql applications and have been looking for an ajax grid. I’ve also been using Jquery UI and other plugins to enhance the user interfaces. But I like the look of your grid and the crud functionality. I do have a few questions:

1. I would like to build interfaces with the jquery layout plugin (http://layout.jquery-dev.net/index.cfm) . Is there any reason jqgrid would not work in one or more panes in a jquery layout? I’m sure you can see the value in doing so. To my mind, if I can use your grid plugin along with the layout (and other plugins, of course) the possibilities for very functional admin consoles are very good.
2. Can the custom footers include min, max, avg as well as sum calculations? Are there examples of such?
3. Is the forum on your site the main support portal or is there another portal or means of support for licensed users? Please explain how the support works for the developer license.
4. If I buy a developers license for $299 and need to upgrade to the subscription version is there an upgrade path? Can I just pay the difference or will I need a new license.
5. Can I build custom forms with the edit functionality? For example, I’d like the grid to display only 4 columns of a table with 25 columns, but the edit form needs to contain all 25 fileds.
6. Can I include dynamically populated drop downs in the forms? For example, a drop down populated with values from a table?

Thanks in advance for the great plugin and any help. I was looking at Extjs, but I’m already somewhat familiar with jquery. If this would work for me I’d have no need for Extjs! I’m looking to buy in the next week or so if I can get this sorted out. I have several projects ready to start.