DataGridView in Windows Forms – Tips, Tricks

DataGridView control is a Windows Forms control that gives you the ability to customize and edit tabular data. It gives you number of properties, methods
and events to customize its appearance and behavior. In this article, we will discuss some frequently asked questions and their solutions. These questions
have been collected from a variety of sources including some newsgroups, MSDN site and a few, answered by me at the MSDN forums.

Tip 1 – Populating a DataGridView

In this short snippet, we will populate a DataGridView using the LoadData() method. This method uses the SqlDataAdapter to populate a DataSet. The table
‘Orders’ in the DataSet is then bound to the BindingSource component which gives us the flexibility to choose/modify the data location.

VB.NET
Public Partial Class Form1
Inherits Form
Private da As SqlDataAdapter
Private conn As SqlConnection
Private bsource As BindingSource = New BindingSource()
Private ds As DataSet = Nothing
Private sql As String

Public Sub New()

InitializeComponent()
End Sub

Private Sub btnLoad_Click(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As EventArgs)

LoadData()
End Sub

Private Sub LoadData()

Dim connectionString As String = "Data Source=localhost;Initial Catalog=Northwind;" & "Integrated Security=SSPI;"
conn = New SqlConnection(connectionString)
sql = "SELECT OrderID, CustomerID, EmployeeID, OrderDate, Freight," & "ShipName, ShipCountry FROM Orders"

da = New SqlDataAdapter(sql, conn)

conn.Open()
ds = New DataSet()
Dim commandBuilder As SqlCommandBuilder = New SqlCommandBuilder(da)
da.Fill(ds, "Orders")
bsource.DataSource = ds.Tables("Orders")
dgv.DataSource = bsource
End Sub
End Class
Tip 2 – Update the data in the DataGridView and save changes in the database

After editing the data in the cells, if you would like to update the changes permanently in the database, use the following code:

VB.NET
Private Sub btnUpdate_Click(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As EventArgs)
Dim dt As DataTable = ds.Tables("Orders")
Me.dgv.BindingContext(dt).EndCurrentEdit()
Me.da.Update(dt)
End Sub

Tip 3 – Display a confirmation box before deleting a row in the DataGridView

Handle the UserDeletingRow event to display a confirmation box to the user. If the user confirms the deletion, delete the row. If the user clicks cancel, set
e.cancel = true which cancels the row deletion.

VB.NET
Private Sub dgv_UserDeletingRow(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As DataGridViewRowCancelEventArgs)
If (Not e.Row.IsNewRow) Then
Dim res As DialogResult = MessageBox.Show("Are you sure you want to delete this row?", "Delete confirmation",
MessageBoxButtons.YesNo, MessageBoxIcon.Question)
If res = DialogResult.No Then
e.Cancel = True
End If
End If
End Sub

Tip 4 – How to autoresize column width in the DataGridView

The snippet shown below, first auto-resizes the columns to fit its content. Then the AutoSizeColumnsMode is set to the
‘DataGridViewAutoSizeColumnsMode.AllCells’ enumeration value which automatically adjust the widths of the columns when the data changes.

VB.NET
Private Sub btnResize_Click(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As EventArgs)
dgv.AutoResizeColumns()
dgv.AutoSizeColumnsMode = DataGridViewAutoSizeColumnsMode.AllCells

End Sub
Tip 5 - Select and Highlight an entire row in DataGridView

VB.NET
Dim rowToBeSelected As Integer = 3 ' third row
If dgv.Rows.Count >= rowToBeSelected Then
' Since index is zero based, you have to subtract 1
dgv.Rows(rowToBeSelected - 1).Selected = True
End If

Tip 6 - How to scroll programmatically to a row in the DataGridView

The DataGridView has a property called FirstDisplayedScrollingRowIndex that can be used in order to scroll to a row programmatically.

VB.NET
Dim jumpToRow As Integer = 20
If dgv.Rows.Count >= jumpToRow AndAlso jumpToRow >= 1 Then
dgv.FirstDisplayedScrollingRowIndex = jumpToRow
dgv.Rows(jumpToRow).Selected = True
End If

Tip 7 - Calculate a column total in the DataGridView and display in a textbox

A common requirement is to calculate the total of a currency field and display it in a textbox. In the snippet below, we will be calculating the total of the
‘Freight’ field. We will then display the data in a textbox by formatting the result (observe the ToString("c")) while displaying the data, which displays the
culture-specific currency.

VB.NET
Private Sub btnTotal_Click(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As EventArgs)
If dgv.Rows.Count > 0 Then
txtTotal.Text = Total().ToString("c")
End If
End Sub

Private Function Total() As Double

Dim tot As Double = 0
Dim i As Integer = 0
For i = 0 To dgv.Rows.Count - 1
tot = tot + Convert.ToDouble(dgv.Rows(i).Cells("Freight").Value)
Next i
Return tot
End Function
Tip 8 - Change the Header Names in the DataGridView

If the columns being retrieved from the database do not have meaningful names, we always have the option of changing the header names as shown in this
snippet:

VB.NET
Private Sub btnChange_Click(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As EventArgs)
dgv.Columns(0).HeaderText = "MyHeader1"
dgv.Columns(1).HeaderText = "MyHeader2"
End Sub

Tip 9 - Change the Color of Cells, Rows and Border in the DataGridView

VB.NET
Private Sub btnCellRow_Click(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As EventArgs)
' Change ForeColor of each Cell
Me.dgv.DefaultCellStyle.ForeColor = Color.Coral
' Change back color of each row
Me.dgv.RowsDefaultCellStyle.BackColor = Color.AliceBlue
' Change GridLine Color
Me.dgv.GridColor = Color.Blue
' Change Grid Border Style
Me.dgv.BorderStyle = BorderStyle.Fixed3D
End Sub

Tip 10 - Hide a Column in the DataGridView

If you would like to hide a column based on a certain condition, here’s a snippet for that.

VB.NET
Private Sub btnHide_Click(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As EventArgs)
Me.dgv.Columns("EmployeeID").Visible = False
End Sub
Tip 11 - Handle SelectedIndexChanged of a ComboBox in the DataGridView

To handle the SelectedIndexChanged event of a DataGridViewComboBox, you need to use the DataGridView.EditingControlShowing event as shown below.
You can then retrieve the selected index or the selected text of the combobox.

VB.NET
Private Sub dataGridView1_EditingControlShowing(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As DataGridViewEditingControlShowingEventArgs)
Dim editingComboBox As ComboBox = CType(e.Control, ComboBox)
If Not editingComboBox Is Nothing Then
AddHandler editingComboBox.SelectedIndexChanged, AddressOf editingComboBox_SelectedIndexChanged
End If
End Sub

Private Sub editingComboBox_SelectedIndexChanged(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs)

Dim comboBox1 As ComboBox = CType(sender, ComboBox)
' Display index
MessageBox.Show(comboBox1.SelectedIndex.ToString())
' Display value
MessageBox.Show(comboBox1.Text)
End Sub

Tip 12 - Change Color of Alternate Rows in the DataGridView

VB.NET
Private Sub btnAlternate_Click(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As EventArgs)
Me.dgv.RowsDefaultCellStyle.BackColor = Color.White
Me.dgv.AlternatingRowsDefaultCellStyle.BackColor = Color.Aquamarine
End Sub

Tip 13 - Formatting Data in the DataGridView

The DataGridView exposes properties that enable you to format data such as displaying a currency column in the culture specific currency or displaying nulls
in a desired format and so on.

VB.NET
Private Sub btnFormat_Click(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As EventArgs)
' display currency in culture-specific currency for
Me.dgv.Columns("Freight").DefaultCellStyle.Format = "c"
' display nulls as 'NA'
Me.dgv.DefaultCellStyle.NullValue = "NA"
End Sub
Tip 14 – Change the order of columns in the DataGridView

In order to change the order of columns, just set the DisplayIndex property of the DataGridView to the desired value. Remember that the index is zero
based.

VB.NET
Private Sub btnReorder_Click(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As EventArgs)
dgv.Columns("CustomerID").DisplayIndex = 5
dgv.Columns("OrderID").DisplayIndex = 3
dgv.Columns("EmployeeID").DisplayIndex = 1
dgv.Columns("OrderDate").DisplayIndex = 2
dgv.Columns("Freight").DisplayIndex = 6
dgv.Columns("ShipCountry").DisplayIndex = 0
dgv.Columns("ShipName").DisplayIndex = 4
End Sub