How to: Create an Unbound Windows Forms DataGridView Control
The following code example demonstrates how to populate a DataGridView control programmatically without binding it to a data source. This is useful when you have a small amount of data that you want to display in a table format.
For a complete explanation of this code example, see Walkthrough: Creating an Unbound Windows Forms DataGridView Control.
Example
Imports System
Imports System.Drawing
Imports System.Windows.Forms
Public Class Form1
Inherits System.Windows.Forms.Form
Private buttonPanel As New Panel
Private WithEvents songsDataGridView As New DataGridView
Private WithEvents addNewRowButton As New Button
Private WithEvents deleteRowButton As New Button
Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, _
ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
SetupLayout()
SetupDataGridView()
PopulateDataGridView()
End Sub
Private Sub songsDataGridView_CellFormatting(ByVal sender As Object, _
ByVal e As System.Windows.Forms.DataGridViewCellFormattingEventArgs) _
Handles songsDataGridView.CellFormatting
If e IsNot Nothing Then
If Me.songsDataGridView.Columns(e.ColumnIndex).Name = _
"Release Date" Then
If e.Value IsNot Nothing Then
Try
e.Value = DateTime.Parse(e.Value.ToString()) _
.ToLongDateString()
e.FormattingApplied = True
Catch ex As FormatException
Console.WriteLine("{0} is not a valid date.", e.Value.ToString())
End Try
End If
End If
End If
End Sub
Private Sub addNewRowButton_Click(ByVal sender As Object, _
ByVal e As EventArgs) Handles addNewRowButton.Click
Me.songsDataGridView.Rows.Add()
End Sub
Private Sub deleteRowButton_Click(ByVal sender As Object, _
ByVal e As EventArgs) Handles deleteRowButton.Click
If Me.songsDataGridView.SelectedRows.Count > 0 AndAlso _
Not Me.songsDataGridView.SelectedRows(0).Index = _
Me.songsDataGridView.Rows.Count - 1 Then
Me.songsDataGridView.Rows.RemoveAt( _
Me.songsDataGridView.SelectedRows(0).Index)
End If
End Sub
Private Sub SetupLayout()
Me.Size = New Size(600, 500)
With addNewRowButton
.Text = "Add Row"
.Location = New Point(10, 10)
End With
With deleteRowButton
.Text = "Delete Row"
.Location = New Point(100, 10)
End With
With buttonPanel
.Controls.Add(addNewRowButton)
.Controls.Add(deleteRowButton)
.Height = 50
.Dock = DockStyle.Bottom
End With
Me.Controls.Add(Me.buttonPanel)
End Sub
Private Sub SetupDataGridView()
Me.Controls.Add(songsDataGridView)
songsDataGridView.ColumnCount = 5
With songsDataGridView.ColumnHeadersDefaultCellStyle
.BackColor = Color.Navy
.ForeColor = Color.White
.Font = New Font(songsDataGridView.Font, FontStyle.Bold)
End With
With songsDataGridView
.Name = "songsDataGridView"
.Location = New Point(8, 8)
.Size = New Size(500, 250)
.AutoSizeRowsMode = _
DataGridViewAutoSizeRowsMode.DisplayedCellsExceptHeaders
.ColumnHeadersBorderStyle = DataGridViewHeaderBorderStyle.Single
.CellBorderStyle = DataGridViewCellBorderStyle.Single
.GridColor = Color.Black
.RowHeadersVisible = False
.Columns(0).Name = "Release Date"
.Columns(1).Name = "Track"
.Columns(2).Name = "Title"
.Columns(3).Name = "Artist"
.Columns(4).Name = "Album"
.Columns(4).DefaultCellStyle.Font = _
New Font(Me.songsDataGridView.DefaultCellStyle.Font, FontStyle.Italic)
.SelectionMode = DataGridViewSelectionMode.FullRowSelect
.MultiSelect = False
.Dock = DockStyle.Fill
End With
End Sub
Private Sub PopulateDataGridView()
Dim row0 As String() = {"11/22/1968", "29", "Revolution 9", _
"Beatles", "The Beatles [White Album]"}
Dim row1 As String() = {"1960", "6", "Fools Rush In", _
"Frank Sinatra", "Nice 'N' Easy"}
Dim row2 As String() = {"11/11/1971", "1", "One of These Days", _
"Pink Floyd", "Meddle"}
Dim row3 As String() = {"1988", "7", "Where Is My Mind?", _
"Pixies", "Surfer Rosa"}
Dim row4 As String() = {"5/1981", "9", "Can't Find My Mind", _
"Cramps", "Psychedelic Jungle"}
Dim row5 As String() = {"6/10/2003", "13", _
"Scatterbrain. (As Dead As Leaves.)", _
"Radiohead", "Hail to the Thief"}
Dim row6 As String() = {"6/30/1992", "3", "Dress", "P J Harvey", "Dry"}
With Me.songsDataGridView.Rows
.Add(row0)
.Add(row1)
.Add(row2)
.Add(row3)
.Add(row4)
.Add(row5)
.Add(row6)
End With
With Me.songsDataGridView
.Columns(0).DisplayIndex = 3
.Columns(1).DisplayIndex = 4
.Columns(2).DisplayIndex = 0
.Columns(3).DisplayIndex = 1
.Columns(4).DisplayIndex = 2
End With
End Sub
<STAThreadAttribute()> _
Public Shared Sub Main()
Application.EnableVisualStyles()
Application.Run(New Form1())
End Sub
End Class
using System;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Windows.Forms;
public class Form1 : System.Windows.Forms.Form
{
private Panel buttonPanel = new Panel();
private DataGridView songsDataGridView = new DataGridView();
private Button addNewRowButton = new Button();
private Button deleteRowButton = new Button();
public Form1()
{
this.Load += new EventHandler(Form1_Load);
}
private void Form1_Load(System.Object sender, System.EventArgs e)
{
SetupLayout();
SetupDataGridView();
PopulateDataGridView();
}
private void songsDataGridView_CellFormatting(object sender,
System.Windows.Forms.DataGridViewCellFormattingEventArgs e)
{
if (e != null)
{
if (this.songsDataGridView.Columns[e.ColumnIndex].Name == "Release Date")
{
if (e.Value != null)
{
try
{
e.Value = DateTime.Parse(e.Value.ToString())
.ToLongDateString();
e.FormattingApplied = true;
}
catch (FormatException)
{
Console.WriteLine("{0} is not a valid date.", e.Value.ToString());
}
}
}
}
}
private void addNewRowButton_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
this.songsDataGridView.Rows.Add();
}
private void deleteRowButton_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
if (this.songsDataGridView.SelectedRows.Count > 0 &&
this.songsDataGridView.SelectedRows[0].Index !=
this.songsDataGridView.Rows.Count - 1)
{
this.songsDataGridView.Rows.RemoveAt(
this.songsDataGridView.SelectedRows[0].Index);
}
}
private void SetupLayout()
{
this.Size = new Size(600, 500);
addNewRowButton.Text = "Add Row";
addNewRowButton.Location = new Point(10, 10);
addNewRowButton.Click += new EventHandler(addNewRowButton_Click);
deleteRowButton.Text = "Delete Row";
deleteRowButton.Location = new Point(100, 10);
deleteRowButton.Click += new EventHandler(deleteRowButton_Click);
buttonPanel.Controls.Add(addNewRowButton);
buttonPanel.Controls.Add(deleteRowButton);
buttonPanel.Height = 50;
buttonPanel.Dock = DockStyle.Bottom;
this.Controls.Add(this.buttonPanel);
}
private void SetupDataGridView()
{
this.Controls.Add(songsDataGridView);
songsDataGridView.ColumnCount = 5;
songsDataGridView.ColumnHeadersDefaultCellStyle.BackColor = Color.Navy;
songsDataGridView.ColumnHeadersDefaultCellStyle.ForeColor = Color.White;
songsDataGridView.ColumnHeadersDefaultCellStyle.Font =
new Font(songsDataGridView.Font, FontStyle.Bold);
songsDataGridView.Name = "songsDataGridView";
songsDataGridView.Location = new Point(8, 8);
songsDataGridView.Size = new Size(500, 250);
songsDataGridView.AutoSizeRowsMode =
DataGridViewAutoSizeRowsMode.DisplayedCellsExceptHeaders;
songsDataGridView.ColumnHeadersBorderStyle =
DataGridViewHeaderBorderStyle.Single;
songsDataGridView.CellBorderStyle = DataGridViewCellBorderStyle.Single;
songsDataGridView.GridColor = Color.Black;
songsDataGridView.RowHeadersVisible = false;
songsDataGridView.Columns[0].Name = "Release Date";
songsDataGridView.Columns[1].Name = "Track";
songsDataGridView.Columns[2].Name = "Title";
songsDataGridView.Columns[3].Name = "Artist";
songsDataGridView.Columns[4].Name = "Album";
songsDataGridView.Columns[4].DefaultCellStyle.Font =
new Font(songsDataGridView.DefaultCellStyle.Font, FontStyle.Italic);
songsDataGridView.SelectionMode =
DataGridViewSelectionMode.FullRowSelect;
songsDataGridView.MultiSelect = false;
songsDataGridView.Dock = DockStyle.Fill;
songsDataGridView.CellFormatting += new
DataGridViewCellFormattingEventHandler(
songsDataGridView_CellFormatting);
}
private void PopulateDataGridView()
{
string[] row0 = { "11/22/1968", "29", "Revolution 9",
"Beatles", "The Beatles [White Album]" };
string[] row1 = { "1960", "6", "Fools Rush In",
"Frank Sinatra", "Nice 'N' Easy" };
string[] row2 = { "11/11/1971", "1", "One of These Days",
"Pink Floyd", "Meddle" };
string[] row3 = { "1988", "7", "Where Is My Mind?",
"Pixies", "Surfer Rosa" };
string[] row4 = { "5/1981", "9", "Can't Find My Mind",
"Cramps", "Psychedelic Jungle" };
string[] row5 = { "6/10/2003", "13",
"Scatterbrain. (As Dead As Leaves.)",
"Radiohead", "Hail to the Thief" };
string[] row6 = { "6/30/1992", "3", "Dress", "P J Harvey", "Dry" };
songsDataGridView.Rows.Add(row0);
songsDataGridView.Rows.Add(row1);
songsDataGridView.Rows.Add(row2);
songsDataGridView.Rows.Add(row3);
songsDataGridView.Rows.Add(row4);
songsDataGridView.Rows.Add(row5);
songsDataGridView.Rows.Add(row6);
songsDataGridView.Columns[0].DisplayIndex = 3;
songsDataGridView.Columns[1].DisplayIndex = 4;
songsDataGridView.Columns[2].DisplayIndex = 0;
songsDataGridView.Columns[3].DisplayIndex = 1;
songsDataGridView.Columns[4].DisplayIndex = 2;
}
[STAThreadAttribute()]
static void Main()
{
Application.EnableVisualStyles();
Application.Run(new Form1());
}
}
Compiling the Code
This example requires:
- References to the System, System.Drawing, 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
Walkthrough: Creating an Unbound Windows Forms DataGridView Control
Reference
Concepts
Data Display Modes in the Windows Forms DataGridView Control