How to: Bind Objects to Windows Forms DataGridView Controls
The following code example demonstrates how to bind a collection of objects to a DataGridView control so that each object displays as a separate row. This example also illustrates how to display a property with an enumeration type in a DataGridViewComboBoxColumn so that the combo box drop-down list contains the enumeration values.
Example
Imports System.Windows.Forms
Imports System.Collections.Generic
Public Enum Title
King
Sir
End Enum
Public Class EnumsAndComboBox
Inherits Form
Private flow As New FlowLayoutPanel()
Private WithEvents checkForChange As Button = New Button()
Private knights As List(Of Knight)
Private dataGridView1 As New DataGridView()
Public Sub New()
MyBase.New()
SetupForm()
SetupGrid()
End Sub
Private Sub SetupForm()
AutoSize = True
End Sub
Private Sub SetupGrid()
knights = New List(Of Knight)
knights.Add(New Knight(Title.King, "Uther", True))
knights.Add(New Knight(Title.King, "Arthur", True))
knights.Add(New Knight(Title.Sir, "Mordred", False))
knights.Add(New Knight(Title.Sir, "Gawain", True))
knights.Add(New Knight(Title.Sir, "Galahad", True))
' Initialize the DataGridView.
dataGridView1.AutoGenerateColumns = False
dataGridView1.AutoSize = True
dataGridView1.DataSource = knights
dataGridView1.Columns.Add(CreateComboBoxWithEnums())
' Initialize and add a text box column.
Dim column As DataGridViewColumn = _
New DataGridViewTextBoxColumn()
column.DataPropertyName = "Name"
column.Name = "Knight"
dataGridView1.Columns.Add(column)
' Initialize and add a check box column.
column = New DataGridViewCheckBoxColumn()
column.DataPropertyName = "GoodGuy"
column.Name = "Good"
dataGridView1.Columns.Add(column)
' Initialize the form.
Controls.Add(dataGridView1)
Me.AutoSize = True
Me.Text = "DataGridView object binding demo"
End Sub
Private Function CreateComboBoxWithEnums() As DataGridViewComboBoxColumn
Dim combo As New DataGridViewComboBoxColumn()
combo.DataSource = [Enum].GetValues(GetType(Title))
combo.DataPropertyName = "Title"
combo.Name = "Title"
Return combo
End Function
#Region "business object"
Private Class Knight
Private hisName As String
Private good As Boolean
Private hisTitle As Title
Public Sub New(ByVal title As Title, ByVal name As String, _
ByVal good As Boolean)
hisTitle = title
hisName = name
Me.good = good
End Sub
Public Property Name() As String
Get
Return hisName
End Get
Set(ByVal Value As String)
hisName = Value
End Set
End Property
Public Property GoodGuy() As Boolean
Get
Return good
End Get
Set(ByVal Value As Boolean)
good = Value
End Set
End Property
Public Property Title() As Title
Get
Return hisTitle
End Get
Set(ByVal Value As Title)
hisTitle = Value
End Set
End Property
End Class
#End Region
Public Shared Sub Main()
Application.Run(New EnumsAndComboBox())
End Sub
End Class
using System;
using System.Windows.Forms;
public enum Title
{
King,
Sir
};
public class EnumsAndComboBox : Form
{
private DataGridView dataGridView1 = new DataGridView();
private BindingSource bindingSource1 = new BindingSource();
public EnumsAndComboBox()
{
this.Load += new System.EventHandler(EnumsAndComboBox_Load);
}
private void EnumsAndComboBox_Load(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
{
// Populate the data source.
bindingSource1.Add(new Knight(Title.King, "Uther", true));
bindingSource1.Add(new Knight(Title.King, "Arthur", true));
bindingSource1.Add(new Knight(Title.Sir, "Mordred", false));
bindingSource1.Add(new Knight(Title.Sir, "Gawain", true));
bindingSource1.Add(new Knight(Title.Sir, "Galahad", true));
// Initialize the DataGridView.
dataGridView1.AutoGenerateColumns = false;
dataGridView1.AutoSize = true;
dataGridView1.DataSource = bindingSource1;
dataGridView1.Columns.Add(CreateComboBoxWithEnums());
// Initialize and add a text box column.
DataGridViewColumn column = new DataGridViewTextBoxColumn();
column.DataPropertyName = "Name";
column.Name = "Knight";
dataGridView1.Columns.Add(column);
// Initialize and add a check box column.
column = new DataGridViewCheckBoxColumn();
column.DataPropertyName = "GoodGuy";
column.Name = "Good";
dataGridView1.Columns.Add(column);
// Initialize the form.
this.Controls.Add(dataGridView1);
this.AutoSize = true;
this.Text = "DataGridView object binding demo";
}
DataGridViewComboBoxColumn CreateComboBoxWithEnums()
{
DataGridViewComboBoxColumn combo = new DataGridViewComboBoxColumn();
combo.DataSource = Enum.GetValues(typeof(Title));
combo.DataPropertyName = "Title";
combo.Name = "Title";
return combo;
}
#region "business object"
private class Knight
{
private string hisName;
private bool good;
private Title hisTitle;
public Knight(Title title, string name, bool good)
{
hisTitle = title;
hisName = name;
this.good = good;
}
public Knight()
{
hisTitle = Title.Sir;
hisName = "<enter name>";
good = true;
}
public string Name
{
get
{
return hisName;
}
set
{
hisName = value;
}
}
public bool GoodGuy
{
get
{
return good;
}
set
{
good = value;
}
}
public Title Title
{
get
{
return hisTitle;
}
set
{
hisTitle = value;
}
}
}
#endregion
[STAThread]
public static void Main()
{
Application.Run(new EnumsAndComboBox());
}
}
Compiling the Code
This example requires:
- References to the System and System.Windows.Forms assemblies.
For information about building this example from the command line for Visual Basic or Visual C#, see Building from the Command Line (Visual Basic) or Command-line Building With csc.exe. You can also build this example in Visual Studio by pasting the code into a new project. For more information, see How to: Compile and Run a Complete Windows Forms Code Example Using Visual Studio and How to: Compile and Run a Complete Windows Forms Code Example Using Visual Studio and How to: Compile and Run a Complete Windows Forms Code Example Using Visual Studio and How to: Compile and Run a Complete Windows Forms Code Example Using Visual Studio.
See Also
Tasks
How to: Access Objects Bound to Windows Forms DataGridView Rows