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GridColumn Class

Represents an individual column in Grid Views and Card Views.

Namespace: DevExpress.XtraGrid.Columns

Assembly: DevExpress.XtraGrid.v24.1.dll

NuGet Packages: DevExpress.Win.Grid, DevExpress.Win.Navigation

Declaration

public class GridColumn :
    Component,
    IAppearanceOwner,
    IXtraSerializableLayoutEx,
    ISupportLookAndFeel,
    IDataColumnInfoProvider,
    ISupportDXSkinColorsEx,
    ISupportDXSkinColors,
    IUnboundColumnTypeProvider,
    IAccessiblePropertiesProvider,
    ISupportAppearanceObjectPropertiesFilter

Remarks

GridColumn objects represent columns and card fields in Grid Views and Card Views respectively. Such objects are used to display data from an individual data field. The bound data field is specified by the GridColumn.FieldName property. Settings provided by the GridColumn class also allow you to control how column data is displayed and edited, column header contents, the column’s position and visibility, etc. Note that some of the settings provided are in effect only for columns displayed in Grid Views. For instance, the GridColumn.GroupIndex and GridColumn.SummaryItem properties are in effect for Grid View columns only, as Card Views do not support the grouping and summary features.

You can access a View’s column collection using the ColumnView.Columns property. This property returns an object whose indexer can be used to access individual GridColumn objects. Note also that column objects are Component descendants. This enables you to access columns in code directly by their names.

You don’t need to create column objects manually using the GridColumn class constructor. Columns can be created using methods of the owning column collection (GridColumnCollection class) or by using the ColumnView.PopulateColumns method of the required View.

For additional information regarding columns, refer to the Columns article.

Example

The following example creates a GridControl at runtime and shows how to perform basic customization tasks:

  • Bind the grid to a data source
  • Access the View that displays the underlying data
  • Access columns
  • Assign an in-place editor (a combo box editor) to a column
  • Sort and group data
  • Calculate total and group summaries
  • Create a filter
  • Hide columns and calculate column “best” widths
  • Expand group rows
  • Focus a specific cell
  • Specify DataAnnotation attributes (column display names and data formats) at the data source level

Note

Add the corresponding assemblies to your Windows Forms project.

Read the following topic for information: Redistribution and Deployment.

Grid-create-at-runtime

using System;
using DevExpress.ClipboardSource.SpreadsheetML;
using DevExpress.Data;
using DevExpress.XtraEditors;
using DevExpress.XtraEditors.Repository;
using DevExpress.XtraGrid;
using DevExpress.XtraGrid.Columns;
using DevExpress.XtraGrid.Views.Grid;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations;
using System.Runtime.CompilerServices;
using System.Windows.Forms;

namespace DXApplication {
    public partial class Form1 : XtraForm {
        public Form1() {
            InitializeComponent();
            this.Load += Form1_Load;
        }
        private void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e) {
            GridControl gridControl1 = new GridControl() {
                Name = "gridControl1",
                Parent = this,
                Dock = DockStyle.Fill
            };
            gridControl1.DataSource = DataHelper.GetData(30);
            // The grid automatically creates columns for the public fields found in the data source. 
            // Calling the gridView1.PopulateColumns method is not required unless gridView1.OptionsBehavior.AutoPopulateColumns is disabled.

            // The grid automatically creates a GridView that displays the underlying data as a two-dimensional table.
            GridView gridView1 = gridControl1.MainView as GridView;

            // Obtain created columns.
            GridColumn colCompany = gridView1.Columns["CompanyName"];
            GridColumn colID = gridView1.Columns["ID"];
            GridColumn colDate = gridView1.Columns["RequiredDate"];
            GridColumn colPayment = gridView1.Columns["Value"];
            GridColumn colProcessed = gridView1.Columns["Processed"];

            // The Company column uses a ComboBox in-place editor that shows a list of available companies.
            RepositoryItemComboBox riComboBox = new RepositoryItemComboBox();
            riComboBox.Items.AddRange(DataHelper.companies);
            gridControl1.RepositoryItems.Add(riComboBox);
            colCompany.ColumnEdit = riComboBox;

            // Hide a column.
            colID.Visible = false;

            // Group and sort data.
            colCompany.GroupIndex = 0;
            colDate.SortIndex = 0;
            colDate.SortOrder = DevExpress.Data.ColumnSortOrder.Descending;

            // Show group columns in the table.
            gridView1.OptionsView.ShowGroupedColumns = true;

            // Expand group rows.
            gridView1.ExpandAllGroups();

            // Apply a filter.
            gridView1.ActiveFilterString = "[RequiredDate]>= #" + DateTime.Today.ToString() + "#";

            // Calculate two total summaries.
            colDate.Summary.Add(SummaryItemType.Count, colDate.FieldName, "Count={0}");
            colDate.Summary.Add(SummaryItemType.Max, colDate.FieldName, "Max={0:d}");
            gridView1.OptionsView.ShowFooter = true;

            // Calculate group summaries.
            GridGroupSummaryItem item = new GridGroupSummaryItem();
            item.FieldName = colCompany.FieldName;
            item.SummaryType = DevExpress.Data.SummaryItemType.Count;
            gridView1.GroupSummary.Add(item);

            GridGroupSummaryItem item1 = new GridGroupSummaryItem();
            item1.FieldName = colPayment.FieldName;
            item1.SummaryType = SummaryItemType.Sum;
            item1.DisplayFormat = "group total={0:c2}";
            item1.ShowInGroupColumnFooter = colPayment;
            gridView1.GroupSummary.Add(item1);

            // Forcibly move group footer summaries to positions in group rows under corresponding column headers. 
            gridView1.OptionsBehavior.AlignGroupSummaryInGroupRow = DevExpress.Utils.DefaultBoolean.True;

            // Focus a specific cell.
            gridView1.FocusedRowHandle = 1;
            gridView1.FocusedColumn = colCompany;

            // Optimize column widths.
            colDate.BestFit();
            colProcessed.BestFit();
        }
    }

    public class Record : INotifyPropertyChanged {
        public Record() {
        }
        int id;
        public int ID {
            get { return id; }
            set {
                if(id != value) {
                    id = value;
                    OnPropertyChanged();
                }
            }
        }

        string text;
        [DisplayName("Company")]
        public string CompanyName {
            get { return text; }
            set {
                if(text != value) {
                    if(string.IsNullOrEmpty(value))
                        throw new Exception();
                    text = value;
                    OnPropertyChanged();
                }
            }
        }
        Nullable<decimal> val;
        [DataType(System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations.DataType.Currency)]
        [DisplayName("Payment")]
        public Nullable<decimal> Value {
            get { return val; }
            set {
                if(val != value) {
                    val = value;
                    OnPropertyChanged();
                }
            }
        }
        DateTime dt;
        [DisplayFormat(DataFormatString = "d")]
        public DateTime RequiredDate {
            get { return dt; }
            set {
                if(dt != value) {
                    dt = value;
                    OnPropertyChanged();
                }
            }
        }
        bool state;
        public bool Processed {
            get { return state; }
            set {
                if(state != value) {
                    state = value;
                    OnPropertyChanged();
                }
            }
        }

        public override string ToString() {
            return string.Format("ID = {0}, Text = {1}", ID, CompanyName);
        }

        public event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged;
        protected void OnPropertyChanged([CallerMemberName] string propertyName = "") {
            if(PropertyChanged != null)
                PropertyChanged(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs(propertyName));
        }
    }

    public class DataHelper {

        public static string[] companies = new string[] { "Hanari Carnes", "Que Delícia", "Romero y tomillo", "Mère Paillarde",
            "Comércio Mineiro", "Reggiani Caseifici", "Maison Dewey" };
        public static BindingList<Record> GetData(int count) {
            BindingList<Record> records = new BindingList<Record>();
            Random rnd = new Random();
            for(int i = 0; i < count; i++) {
                int n = rnd.Next(10);
                records.Add(new Record() {
                    ID = i + 100,
                    CompanyName = companies[i % companies.Length],
                    RequiredDate = DateTime.Today.AddDays(n - 5),
                    Value = i % 2 == 0 ? (i + 1) * 123 : i * 231,
                    Processed = i % 2 == 0,
                });
            };
            return records;
        }
    }

}
See Also