How to: Display Some Text When No Record is Displayed in the Grid

• Nov 13, 2018
• 3 minutes to read

The code below employs the ColumnView.CustomDrawEmptyForeground event to draw a custom string within the Data Grid control area when the Grid has no records to display. Clicking the “Try Searching Again” link displays a dialog that allows end-users to modify the currently applied filter.

C#

private void Form3_Load1(object sender, EventArgs e) {
    CustomDrawEmptyForeground(gridControl1, gridView1);
}

public static void CustomDrawEmptyForeground(GridControl gridControl, GridView gridView) {
    string searchName = string.Empty;
    gridView.ActiveFilterCriteria = new BinaryOperator("Category_Name", searchName);

    // Initialize variables used to paint View's empty space in a custom manner
    Font noMatchesFoundTextFont = new Font("Tahoma", 10);
    Font trySearchingAgainTextFont = new Font("Tahoma", 15, FontStyle.Underline);
    Font trySearchingAgainTextFontBold = new Font(trySearchingAgainTextFont, FontStyle.Underline | FontStyle.Bold);
    SolidBrush linkBrush = new SolidBrush(DevExpress.Skins.EditorsSkins.GetSkin(DevExpress.LookAndFeel.UserLookAndFeel.Default.ActiveLookAndFeel).Colors["HyperLinkTextColor"]);
    string noMatchesFoundText = "No matches found";
    string trySearchingAgainText = "Try searching again";
    Rectangle noMatchesFoundBounds = Rectangle.Empty;
    Rectangle trySearchingAgainBounds = Rectangle.Empty;
    bool trySearchingAgainBoundsContainCursor = false;
    int offset = 10;

    //Handle this event to paint View's empty space in a custom manner
    gridView.CustomDrawEmptyForeground += (s, e) => {
        e.DefaultDraw();
        e.Appearance.Options.UseFont = true;
        e.Appearance.Font = noMatchesFoundTextFont;
        //Draw the noMatchesFoundText string
        Size size = e.Appearance.CalcTextSize(e.Cache, noMatchesFoundText, e.Bounds.Width).ToSize();
        int x = (e.Bounds.Width - size.Width) / 2;
        int y = e.Bounds.Y + offset;
        noMatchesFoundBounds = new Rectangle(new Point(x, y), size);
        e.Appearance.DrawString(e.Cache, noMatchesFoundText, noMatchesFoundBounds);
        //Draw the trySearchingAgain link
        e.Appearance.Font = trySearchingAgainBoundsContainCursor ? trySearchingAgainTextFontBold : trySearchingAgainTextFont;
        size = e.Appearance.CalcTextSize(e.Cache, trySearchingAgainText, e.Bounds.Width).ToSize();
        x = noMatchesFoundBounds.X - (size.Width - noMatchesFoundBounds.Width) / 2;
        y = noMatchesFoundBounds.Bottom + offset;
        size.Width += offset;
        trySearchingAgainBounds = new Rectangle(new Point(x, y), size);
        e.Appearance.DrawString(e.Cache, trySearchingAgainText, trySearchingAgainBounds, linkBrush);
    };

    gridView.MouseMove += (s, e) => {
        trySearchingAgainBoundsContainCursor = trySearchingAgainBounds.Contains(e.Location);
        gridControl.Cursor = trySearchingAgainBoundsContainCursor ? Cursors.Hand : Cursors.Default;
        gridView.InvalidateRect(trySearchingAgainBounds);
    };

    gridView.MouseDown += (s, e) => {
        if (trySearchingAgainBoundsContainCursor) {
            searchName = XtraInputBox.Show(string.Format("Enter {0}", "Name"), string.Format("Enter {0} dialog", "Name"), searchName);
            gridView.ActiveFilterCriteria = new DevExpress.Data.Filtering.BinaryOperator("Category_Name", searchName);
        }
    };
}

VB.NET

Private Sub Form3_Load1(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As EventArgs)
    CustomDrawEmptyForeground(gridControl1, gridView1)
End Sub

Public Shared Sub CustomDrawEmptyForeground(ByVal gridControl As GridControl, ByVal gridView As GridView)
    Dim searchName As String = String.Empty
    gridView.ActiveFilterCriteria = New BinaryOperator("Category_Name", searchName)

    ' Initialize variables used to paint View's empty space in a custom manner
    Dim noMatchesFoundTextFont As New Font("Tahoma", 10)
    Dim trySearchingAgainTextFont As New Font("Tahoma", 15, FontStyle.Underline)
    Dim trySearchingAgainTextFontBold As New Font(trySearchingAgainTextFont, FontStyle.Underline Or FontStyle.Bold)
    Dim linkBrush As New SolidBrush(DevExpress.Skins.EditorsSkins.GetSkin(DevExpress.LookAndFeel.UserLookAndFeel.Default.ActiveLookAndFeel).Colors("HyperLinkTextColor"))
    Dim noMatchesFoundText As String = "No matches found"
    Dim trySearchingAgainText As String = "Try searching again"
    Dim noMatchesFoundBounds As Rectangle = Rectangle.Empty
    Dim trySearchingAgainBounds As Rectangle = Rectangle.Empty
    Dim trySearchingAgainBoundsContainCursor As Boolean = False
    Dim offset As Integer = 10

    'Handle this event to paint View's empty space in a custom manner
    AddHandler gridView.CustomDrawEmptyForeground, Sub(s, e)
        e.DefaultDraw()
        e.Appearance.Options.UseFont = True
        e.Appearance.Font = noMatchesFoundTextFont
        'Draw the noMatchesFoundText string
        Dim size As Size = e.Appearance.CalcTextSize(e.Cache, noMatchesFoundText, e.Bounds.Width).ToSize()
        Dim x As Integer = (e.Bounds.Width - size.Width) \ 2
        Dim y As Integer = e.Bounds.Y + offset
        noMatchesFoundBounds = New Rectangle(New Point(x, y), size)
        e.Appearance.DrawString(e.Cache, noMatchesFoundText, noMatchesFoundBounds)
        'Draw the trySearchingAgain link
        e.Appearance.Font = If(trySearchingAgainBoundsContainCursor, trySearchingAgainTextFontBold, trySearchingAgainTextFont)
        size = e.Appearance.CalcTextSize(e.Cache, trySearchingAgainText, e.Bounds.Width).ToSize()
        x = noMatchesFoundBounds.X - (size.Width - noMatchesFoundBounds.Width) \ 2
        y = noMatchesFoundBounds.Bottom + offset
        size.Width += offset
        trySearchingAgainBounds = New Rectangle(New Point(x, y), size)
        e.Appearance.DrawString(e.Cache, trySearchingAgainText, trySearchingAgainBounds, linkBrush)
    End Sub

    AddHandler gridView.MouseMove, Sub(s, e)
        trySearchingAgainBoundsContainCursor = trySearchingAgainBounds.Contains(e.Location)
        gridControl.Cursor = If(trySearchingAgainBoundsContainCursor, Cursors.Hand, Cursors.Default)
        gridView.InvalidateRect(trySearchingAgainBounds)
    End Sub

    AddHandler gridView.MouseDown, Sub(s, e)
        If trySearchingAgainBoundsContainCursor Then
            searchName = XtraInputBox.Show(String.Format("Enter {0}", "Name"), String.Format("Enter {0} dialog", "Name"), searchName)
            gridView.ActiveFilterCriteria = New DevExpress.Data.Filtering.BinaryOperator("Category_Name", searchName)
        End If
    End Sub
End Sub