I am using Infragistics but I am not familiar with the AutoGenerate property. I would assume that it gives you the option to dynamically create your own columns.

My best practice is to always allow the columns to be automatically generated. My stored procedure determines what order the data comes back in. I place any static columns at the beginning of the grid. Any bound grid will tack the data onto the columns that you define statically. I bind all my business objects to the grid by setting the BindingSource property. I noticed that the key field in the webgrid does not work the same as the wingrid field. I give the name to both the key and BaseNameColumn fields, which typically is the database field name.

I hope this helps.