How to: Bind Objects to Windows Forms DataGridView Controls

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.NET Framework 4 - Windows Forms

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

Visual Basic


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.

Community Content

Jean_Christophe

DataGridView Exception

When I copy this example, the DataGridView is not populated, the combobox do not keep the selected value and, randomly, this exception pop up:

The following exception occured in the DataGridView:
System.ArgumentException:DataGridViewComboBoxCell value is not valid.

Any idea?

How to: Bind Objects to Windows Forms DataGridView Controls

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