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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. How to: Compile and Run a Complete Windows Forms Code Example Using Visual Studio
How to: Compile and Run a Complete Windows Forms Code Example Using Visual Studio
How to: Compile and Run a Complete Windows Forms Code Example Using Visual Studio
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

Reference

DataGridView

Other Resources

Displaying Data in the Windows Forms DataGridView Control