Were I love ViewControls, since it handles a lot of the work and I can just use it. But recently I needed to use a DataTable so I could include a button for a dialog box. Where DataTables are more flexible then ViewControls, there are some things ViewControls have that other controls don't - such as startKeys.
startKeys operate like the QuickSearch in classic Notes. I want to use this in a DataTable. What I ended up doing is creating an editBox which populates a viewScope, if that viewScope isn't null, the NotesViewEntryCollection I use to populate the DataTable is created by a getAllEntriesByKey('value', false) (i.e. non-precise look up). It's pretty quick on the 500 entry view I'm using. I've not tried it on larger datasets yet.
Here is a link to a DXL (Bleedyellow restricts upload types, just open in any text editor). that is the entire XPage - just change the name of your view and you should be able to use it. I don't think this is groundbreaking, but could be useful to someone.
Cheers,
Brian