DataGridView.MultiSelect Property (System.Windows.Forms)

MultiSelect Property

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Microsoft Visual Studio 2008/.NET Framework 3.5

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.NET Framework Class Library

DataGridView..::.MultiSelect Property

Gets or sets a value indicating whether the user is allowed to select more than one cell, row, or column of the DataGridView at a time.

Namespace: System.Windows.Forms
Assembly: System.Windows.Forms (in System.Windows.Forms.dll)

Syntax

Visual Basic (Declaration)

Public Property MultiSelect As Boolean

Visual Basic (Usage)

Dim instance As DataGridView
Dim value As Boolean

value = instance.MultiSelect

instance.MultiSelect = value

public bool MultiSelect { get; set; }

Visual C++

public:
property bool MultiSelect {
    bool get ();
    void set (bool value);
}

JScript

public function get MultiSelect () : boolean
public function set MultiSelect (value : boolean)

Property Value

Type: System..::.Boolean
true if the user can select more than one cell, row, or column at a time; otherwise, false. The default is true.

Remarks

When the MultiSelect property is set to true, multiple elements (cells, rows, or columns) can be selected in the DataGridView control. To select multiple elements, the user can hold down the CTRL key while clicking the elements to select. Consecutive elements can be selected by clicking the first element to select and then, while holding down the SHIFT key, clicking the last element to select. The selection scope is based on the SelectionMode property. For example, if SelectionMode is set to DataGridViewSelectionMode..::.FullColumnSelect, the user can select multiple columns.

You can use the MultiSelect property to allow a user to select multiple elements in the DataGridView control and perform an operation on all the selected elements. For example, the user could select multiple cells and then right-click a selected cell to display a shortcut menu that displays a set of tasks to perform on the selected cells.

To determine which cells, rows, or columns are selected in the DataGridView control, you can access the SelectedCells, SelectedRows, or SelectedColumns property. To determine the number of selected cells, call the GetCellCount method with an argument value of DataGridViewElementStates..::.Selected. Use the GetRowCount method to retrieve the number of selected rows and the GetColumnCount method to retrieve the number of columns. These methods are more efficient than accessing the collections directly when working with large amounts of data. For more information, see Best Practices for Scaling the Windows Forms DataGridView Control.

Examples

The following code example demonstrates how to use the MultiSelect property. To run this example, paste the code into a form that contains a DataGridView named dataGridView1, and then call the SetUpDataGridView method from the form's constructor or Load event handler. Ensure all events are associated with their event handlers.

Visual Basic

Private Sub SetUpDataGridView()

    Me.Controls.Add(dataGridView1)
    dataGridView1.ColumnCount = 5

    With dataGridView1.ColumnHeadersDefaultCellStyle
        .BackColor = Color.Navy
        .ForeColor = Color.White
        .Font = New Font(dataGridView1.Font, FontStyle.Bold)
    End With

    With dataGridView1
        .EditMode = DataGridViewEditMode.EditOnEnter
        .Name = "dataGridView1"
        .Location = New Point(8, 8)
        .Size = New Size(500, 300)
        .AutoSizeRowsMode = _
            DataGridViewAutoSizeRowsMode.DisplayedCellsExceptHeaders
        .ColumnHeadersBorderStyle = _
            DataGridViewHeaderBorderStyle.Raised
        .CellBorderStyle = _
            DataGridViewCellBorderStyle.Single
        .GridColor = SystemColors.ActiveBorder
        .RowHeadersVisible = False

        .Columns(0).Name = "Release Date"
        .Columns(1).Name = "Track"
        .Columns(1).DefaultCellStyle.Alignment = DataGridViewContentAlignment.MiddleCenter
        .Columns(2).Name = "Title"
        .Columns(3).Name = "Artist"
        .Columns(4).Name = "Album"

        ' Make the font italic for row four.
        .Columns(4).DefaultCellStyle.Font = _
            New Font(Control.DefaultFont, _
                FontStyle.Italic)

        .SelectionMode = _
            DataGridViewSelectionMode.FullRowSelect
        .MultiSelect = False

        .BackgroundColor = Color.Honeydew

        .Dock = DockStyle.Fill
    End With

End Sub

private void SetUpDataGridView()
{
    this.Controls.Add(dataGridView1);
    dataGridView1.ColumnCount = 5;
    DataGridViewCellStyle style = 
        dataGridView1.ColumnHeadersDefaultCellStyle;
    style.BackColor = Color.Navy;
    style.ForeColor = Color.White;
    style.Font = new Font(dataGridView1.Font, FontStyle.Bold);

    dataGridView1.EditMode = DataGridViewEditMode.EditOnEnter;
    dataGridView1.Name = "dataGridView1";
    dataGridView1.Location = new Point(8, 8);
    dataGridView1.Size = new Size(500, 300);
    dataGridView1.AutoSizeRowsMode = 
        DataGridViewAutoSizeRowsMode.DisplayedCellsExceptHeaders;
    dataGridView1.ColumnHeadersBorderStyle = 
        DataGridViewHeaderBorderStyle.Raised;
    dataGridView1.CellBorderStyle = DataGridViewCellBorderStyle.Single;
    dataGridView1.GridColor = SystemColors.ActiveBorder;
    dataGridView1.RowHeadersVisible = false;

    dataGridView1.Columns[0].Name = "Release Date";
    dataGridView1.Columns[1].Name = "Track";
    dataGridView1.Columns[1].DefaultCellStyle.Alignment = 
        DataGridViewContentAlignment.MiddleCenter;
    dataGridView1.Columns[2].Name = "Title";
    dataGridView1.Columns[3].Name = "Artist";
    dataGridView1.Columns[4].Name = "Album";

    // Make the font italic for row four.
    dataGridView1.Columns[4].DefaultCellStyle.Font = new Font(DataGridView.DefaultFont, FontStyle.Italic);

    dataGridView1.SelectionMode = DataGridViewSelectionMode.FullRowSelect;
    dataGridView1.MultiSelect = false;

    dataGridView1.BackgroundColor = Color.Honeydew;

    dataGridView1.Dock = DockStyle.Fill;

    dataGridView1.CellFormatting += new DataGridViewCellFormattingEventHandler(dataGridView1_CellFormatting);
    dataGridView1.CellParsing += new DataGridViewCellParsingEventHandler(dataGridView1_CellParsing);
    addNewRowButton.Click += new EventHandler(addNewRowButton_Click);
    deleteRowButton.Click += new EventHandler(deleteRowButton_Click);
    ledgerStyleButton.Click += new EventHandler(ledgerStyleButton_Click);
    dataGridView1.CellValidating += new DataGridViewCellValidatingEventHandler(dataGridView1_CellValidating);

}

Visual C++

void SetUpDataGridView()
{
   this->Controls->Add( dataGridView1 );
   dataGridView1->ColumnCount = 5;
   DataGridViewCellStyle^ style = dataGridView1->ColumnHeadersDefaultCellStyle;
   style->BackColor = Color::Navy;
   style->ForeColor = Color::White;
   style->Font = gcnew System::Drawing::Font( dataGridView1->Font,FontStyle::Bold );
   dataGridView1->EditMode = DataGridViewEditMode::EditOnEnter;
   dataGridView1->Name = "dataGridView1";
   dataGridView1->Location = Point(8,8);
   dataGridView1->Size = System::Drawing::Size( 500, 300 );
   dataGridView1->AutoSizeRowsMode = DataGridViewAutoSizeRowsMode::DisplayedCellsExceptHeaders;
   dataGridView1->ColumnHeadersBorderStyle = DataGridViewHeaderBorderStyle::Raised;
   dataGridView1->CellBorderStyle = DataGridViewCellBorderStyle::Single;
   dataGridView1->GridColor = SystemColors::ActiveBorder;
   dataGridView1->RowHeadersVisible = false;
   dataGridView1->Columns[ 0 ]->Name = "Release Date";
   dataGridView1->Columns[ 1 ]->Name = "Track";
   dataGridView1->Columns[ 1 ]->DefaultCellStyle->Alignment = DataGridViewContentAlignment::MiddleCenter;
   dataGridView1->Columns[ 2 ]->Name = "Title";
   dataGridView1->Columns[ 3 ]->Name = "Artist";
   dataGridView1->Columns[ 4 ]->Name = "Album";

   // Make the font italic for row four.
   dataGridView1->Columns[ 4 ]->DefaultCellStyle->Font = gcnew System::Drawing::Font( DataGridView::DefaultFont,FontStyle::Italic );
   dataGridView1->SelectionMode = DataGridViewSelectionMode::FullRowSelect;
   dataGridView1->MultiSelect = false;
   dataGridView1->BackgroundColor = Color::Honeydew;
   dataGridView1->Dock = DockStyle::Fill;
   dataGridView1->CellFormatting += gcnew DataGridViewCellFormattingEventHandler( this, &Form1::dataGridView1_CellFormatting );
   dataGridView1->CellParsing += gcnew DataGridViewCellParsingEventHandler( this, &Form1::dataGridView1_CellParsing );
   addNewRowButton->Click += gcnew EventHandler( this, &Form1::addNewRowButton_Click );
   deleteRowButton->Click += gcnew EventHandler( this, &Form1::deleteRowButton_Click );
   ledgerStyleButton->Click += gcnew EventHandler( this, &Form1::ledgerStyleButton_Click );
   dataGridView1->CellValidating += gcnew DataGridViewCellValidatingEventHandler( this, &Form1::dataGridView1_CellValidating );
}

Platforms

Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP SP2, Windows XP Media Center Edition, Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, Windows XP Starter Edition, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2000 SP4, Windows Millennium Edition, Windows 98

The .NET Framework and .NET Compact Framework do not support all versions of every platform. For a list of the supported versions, see .NET Framework System Requirements.

Version Information

.NET Framework

Supported in: 3.5, 3.0, 2.0

Reference

DataGridView Class

DataGridView Members

System.Windows.Forms Namespace

Other Resources

DataGridView Control (Windows Forms)