C# windows forms for data control: Grid

The DataGridView control in C# Windows Forms is a powerful and flexible way to display and manipulate data in a tabular format. It provides a variety of features such as sorting, filtering, editing, and selection, which make it ideal for working with large sets of data.

To use the DataGridView control, you first need to add it to your form. You can do this by dragging and dropping the control from the Toolbox onto the form designer.

Once you have added the control, you can set its properties and bind it to a data source. Here is an example of how to bind a DataGridView control to a data source:

csharp                                                                      
private void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    // Create a data table
    DataTable table = new DataTable("Customers");

    // Add columns to the table
    table.Columns.Add("ID", typeof(int));
    table.Columns.Add("Name", typeof(string));
    table.Columns.Add("Email", typeof(string));

    // Add rows to the table
    table.Rows.Add(1, "John Smith", "john@example.com");
    table.Rows.Add(2, "Jane Doe", "jane@example.com");

    // Bind the DataGridView to the data table
    dataGridView1.DataSource = table;
}

In this example, we create a DataTable object called "Customers" and add three columns to it: "ID", "Name", and "Email". We then add two rows to the table with sample data. Finally, we set the DataSource property of the DataGridView control to the table, which causes it to display the data in a tabular format.

Once the DataGridView control is bound to a data source, you can customize its appearance and behavior using its many properties and events. For example, you can set the AllowSorting property to true to enable sorting of the data by clicking on column headers. You can also handle the CellClick event to perform an action when the user clicks on a cell in the grid.

Here is an example of how to customize the appearance of the DataGridView control:

csharp                                                                     
private void dataGridView1_CellFormatting(object sender, DataGridViewCellFormattingEventArgs e)
{
    // Change the background color of the row based on the value in the "Name" column
    if (dataGridView1.Columns[e.ColumnIndex].Name == "Name")
    {
        string name = (string)e.Value;
        if (name.Contains("Smith"))
        {
            e.CellStyle.BackColor = Color.Yellow;
        }
        else if (name.Contains("Doe"))
        {
            e.CellStyle.BackColor = Color.Green;
        }
    }
}

In this example, we handle the CellFormatting event of the DataGridView control and change the background color of the row based on the value in the "Name" column. If the name contains the string "Smith", we set the background color to yellow. If it contains the string "Doe", we set the background color to green.

In summary, the DataGridView control in C# Windows Forms is a powerful and flexible way to display and manipulate data in a tabular format. It provides many features and customization options that make it ideal for working with large sets of data.