In many simple cases, this is all you need, but notice that every column will display in the exact order in which it is discovered in the database. A .NET datagrid is a user interface (UI) control for displaying bound data in a tabular format. They are powerful controls that provide many productivity and data analysis features for .NET applications. A datagrid is similar to the HTML Table but has added features like column sorting, column resizing, and built-in cell editing. We’ve reviewed displaying and editing, but you may be wondering about import and export. Regardless of what datagrid or .NET framework you use, these features will require additional C# or VB.NET code.
An exception is that, by design, many WPF DataGrid features require custom converters or styles or rely on configuring the CollectionViewSource. While these may not be “built-in” the same way as WinForms, they are fairly easy to use, considering the nature of the platform. The DataGridView in WinForms and DataGrid in WPF are still supported and used today with .NET 8.0 (and soon .NET 9.0) applications.
Now, you can use all of these controls like any other WPF control by dragging and dropping them to a window or simply typing XAML manually. I will show you how to build a complete data-driven WPF app using Visual Studio 2017, C#, and Infragistics DataGrid control, XamDataGrid. In the XAML file of your WPF window, add a DataGrid element and bind it to the ViewModel.
The primary uses of .NET datagrids include features for displaying, editing, and analyzing data. Let’s break down some key features in these areas across each .NET platform. Next, we’ll look at the full feature set for a typical C# .NET datagrid and how the features compare across frameworks and third-party datagrids. When a new row or changes to an existing row is committed to a DataTable, constraints are checked (e.g., nullable columns, unique constraints) and an exception thrown if they are violated. It would make sense to catch these exceptions and display the problem as a validation error to the DataGrid user. Unfortunately, the WPF DataGrid v1 has a bug whereby it does not catch exceptions when IEditableObject.EndEdit is invoked.
- The learning curve is steep, and fine-tuning it for less demanding use cases often requires more effort.
- The following code in Listing is the code behind event handlers where we can write code that will be executed when these events are fired.
- This control added enhanced design-time capabilities, new data-binding features, and out-of-the-box sorting and paging features.
- Note that we are still binding the DataGrid’s ItemsSource to the inherited DataContext.
Similarly, you can add as many as columns you would like to participate in the sort operation. As you can see in Figure 22, the xamDataGrid now has text boxes where we can enter the value of a column to filter the DataGrid results. Now, build and run the app and you will see the DataGrid view is changed. Click on icon at the top right of the xamDataGrid to view settings, then go to the FieldSettings tab under the Settings tab. Click on the icon at the top right of xamDataGrid to view settings. Click on the icon at the top right of the xamDataGrid to view its settings.
Now, let’s bind the xamDataGrid control to a data source so we can load data in the grid control. We’re going to use C# and ADO.NET to connect to a SQL “Northwind” database. The code snippet listed in Listing 1 is a method that connects to a database and loads data in a DataSet and binds the default view of the first table to the control. The standard .NET datagrids are designed primarily for displaying and editing.
Styling the Column Header
This can make working with DevExpress more resource-intensive and challenging, particularly for smaller teams and more agile projects. The learning curve is steep, and fine-tuning it for less demanding use cases often requires more effort. To see the datagrid in action, we need to set up a sample data source. You can use the sample code below or replace this section with your own code.
Creating a Simple Data Grid
The following slightly lengthy validation rule can be applied at cell and row level. The rule will check a column (or all the row’s columns) for length, unique, and null constraints. Any updates / deletions to the Customer or Order rows are written to the database. However, the interface is a little peculiar in that when inserting a new order row via the bottom DataGrid, you have to type in the related CustomerID. It would make sense to remove this column and the generated ID from the interface. A classic use of a DataGrid is in the display of master / details data, a common example is the display of Orders (master) in one table with OrderLines (details) displayed in another.
- With the above code, the design-time support of the DataGrid is now available, allowing you to configure which columns are present, their bindings, sorting, etc.
- Microsoft Excel is the most well-known and used spreadsheet application in the world.
- Now, run the application to view the theme, you can see the “LunaOlive” theme for the xamDataGrid.
- The Infragistics product, Ultimate UI for WPF provides rich, fast, modern controls for WPF.
- The app may also include some advanced UI operations such as sorting, searching, filtering, multiple views, and data export.
This generates a simple list of objects and assigns it to the datagrid’s ItemsSource property. The mission of MESCIUS is to provide customers with the premier studio of innovative UI controls, tools, and solutions including deep functionality reporting, analysis, and spreadsheet platforms. Improve performance and reduce load times for very large data sets with on-demand loading virtual mode, where data is only retrieved as the user scrolls, or paging, where data is loaded in segments. To disable add, update, and delete operations in xamDataGrid, you can make it read-only by setting its AllowEdit property to false.
Display Custom Cells
Developed entirely for WPF and built for .NET 4 and 3.5, it also features high-quality, pixel-perfect themes, including Glass, Office 2007, and Windows Media Player 11. The datagrid’s rich printing support allows for easy report creation, while its statistical rows and functions can be used both inside and outside of a grid in any element. Column stretching and column widths supporting star values are also supported.
Now, we need to add the fields (columns) that we want to show in our xamDataGrid. Under the “Miscellaneous” section click on the “FieldItems” “…” item. The Infragistics product, Ultimate UI for WPF provides rich, fast, modern https://traderoom.info/displaying-data-in-tables-with-wpf-s-datagrid/ controls for WPF. The Ultimate UI for WPF product consists 80+ WPF controls and starts at the US $899 with standard support.
Datagrids are primarily designed for editing, as you can get a quick, barebones table editor by simply databinding. The standard .NET datagrids provide basic features and extensibility but do not have as many built-in features as third-party datagrids. Validation within the WPF DataGrid occurs both at the cell level and at the row level. Cell level validation makes use of the standard Binding validation mechanisms which are described in great detail in this excellent CodeProject article. Row level validation makes use of the new .NET SP1 feature, BindingGroups. A binding group does pretty much what you would expect, it groups together a number of bindings, allowing them to be validated as a single entity.
To begin building a .NET WPF application, you must first install Visual Studio with .NET tools. The Excel export functionality is defined in the DataPresenter and related namespaces. You need to import the following namespace in your code before you can export a xamDataGrid in to excel. Similar to add and update events, there are two delete events that are fired when a record is being deleted in a xamDataGrid. When adding a new record, the RecordAdding and RecordAdded events are important. Here you can drag and drop the column header to group data by the xamDataGrid field name (or column name).
For more advanced needs, such as custom expressions or complex conditional filters, developers must rely on manual coding, which can slow down development and complicate implementation. We provide developers with the widest range of Microsoft Visual Studio components, IDE platform development tools, and applications. For example, many WPF DataGrid features require custom converters and styles or rely on configuring the CollectionViewSource.