How to: Set the Sizing Modes of the Windows Forms DataGridView Control

Article
11/16/2012

The following procedures demonstrate some common scenarios that customize or combine the sizing options available for the DataGridView control and for specific columns in a control.

To create a fixed-width column

Set the AutoSizeMode property to None, the Resizable property to False, the ReadOnly property to true, and the Width property to an appropriate value.

Dim idColumn As New DataGridViewTextBoxColumn()
idColumn.HeaderText = "ID"
idColumn.AutoSizeMode = DataGridViewAutoSizeColumnMode.None
idColumn.Resizable = DataGridViewTriState.False
idColumn.ReadOnly = True
idColumn.Width = 20

DataGridViewTextBoxColumn idColumn =
    new DataGridViewTextBoxColumn();
idColumn.HeaderText = "ID";
idColumn.AutoSizeMode = DataGridViewAutoSizeColumnMode.None;
idColumn.Resizable = DataGridViewTriState.False;
idColumn.ReadOnly = true;
idColumn.Width = 20;

To create a column that adjusts its size to fit its content

Set the AutoSizeMode property to a content-based sizing mode.

Dim titleColumn As New DataGridViewTextBoxColumn()
titleColumn.HeaderText = "Title"
titleColumn.AutoSizeMode = _
    DataGridViewAutoSizeColumnMode.AllCellsExceptHeader

DataGridViewTextBoxColumn titleColumn =
    new DataGridViewTextBoxColumn();
titleColumn.HeaderText = "Title";
titleColumn.AutoSizeMode =
    DataGridViewAutoSizeColumnMode.AllCellsExceptHeader;

To create fill-mode columns for values of varying size and importance

Set the DataGridView.AutoSizeColumnsMode property to Fill to set the sizing mode for all columns that do not override this value. Set the FillWeight properties of the columns to values that are proportional to their average content widths. Set the MinimumWidth properties of important columns to ensure partial content display.

dataGridView1.AutoSizeColumnsMode = _
    DataGridViewAutoSizeColumnsMode.Fill

Dim subTitleColumn As new DataGridViewTextBoxColumn()
subTitleColumn.HeaderText = "Subtitle"
subTitleColumn.MinimumWidth = 50
subTitleColumn.FillWeight = 100

Dim summaryColumn As new DataGridViewTextBoxColumn()
summaryColumn.HeaderText = "Summary"
summaryColumn.MinimumWidth = 50
summaryColumn.FillWeight = 200

Dim contentColumn As new DataGridViewTextBoxColumn()
contentColumn.HeaderText = "Content"
contentColumn.MinimumWidth = 50
contentColumn.FillWeight = 300

dataGridView1.AutoSizeColumnsMode =
    DataGridViewAutoSizeColumnsMode.Fill;

DataGridViewTextBoxColumn subTitleColumn =
    new DataGridViewTextBoxColumn();
subTitleColumn.HeaderText = "Subtitle";
subTitleColumn.MinimumWidth = 50;
subTitleColumn.FillWeight = 100;

DataGridViewTextBoxColumn summaryColumn =
    new DataGridViewTextBoxColumn();
summaryColumn.HeaderText = "Summary";
summaryColumn.MinimumWidth = 50;
summaryColumn.FillWeight = 200;

DataGridViewTextBoxColumn contentColumn =
    new DataGridViewTextBoxColumn();
contentColumn.HeaderText = "Content";
contentColumn.MinimumWidth = 50;
contentColumn.FillWeight = 300;

Example

The following complete code example provides a demonstration application that can help you understand the sizing options described in this topic.

Imports System
Imports System.Collections.Generic
Imports System.ComponentModel
Imports System.Data
Imports System.Drawing
Imports System.Text
Imports System.Windows.Forms

Public Class Form1
    Inherits Form

    <STAThreadAttribute()> _
    Public Shared Sub Main()
        Application.Run(New Form1())
    End Sub 

    Private dataGridView1 As New DataGridView()

    Public Sub New()
        dataGridView1.Dock = DockStyle.Fill
        Controls.Add(dataGridView1)
        Width *= 2
        Text = "DataGridView Sizing Scenarios" 
    End Sub 

    Protected Overrides Sub OnLoad(ByVal e As System.EventArgs)

        Dim idColumn As New DataGridViewTextBoxColumn()
        idColumn.HeaderText = "ID"
        idColumn.AutoSizeMode = DataGridViewAutoSizeColumnMode.None
        idColumn.Resizable = DataGridViewTriState.False
        idColumn.ReadOnly = True
        idColumn.Width = 20

        Dim titleColumn As New DataGridViewTextBoxColumn()
        titleColumn.HeaderText = "Title"
        titleColumn.AutoSizeMode = _
            DataGridViewAutoSizeColumnMode.AllCellsExceptHeader

        dataGridView1.AutoSizeColumnsMode = _
            DataGridViewAutoSizeColumnsMode.Fill

        Dim subTitleColumn As new DataGridViewTextBoxColumn()
        subTitleColumn.HeaderText = "Subtitle"
        subTitleColumn.MinimumWidth = 50
        subTitleColumn.FillWeight = 100

        Dim summaryColumn As new DataGridViewTextBoxColumn()
        summaryColumn.HeaderText = "Summary"
        summaryColumn.MinimumWidth = 50
        summaryColumn.FillWeight = 200

        Dim contentColumn As new DataGridViewTextBoxColumn()
        contentColumn.HeaderText = "Content"
        contentColumn.MinimumWidth = 50
        contentColumn.FillWeight = 300

        dataGridView1.Columns.AddRange(New DataGridViewTextBoxColumn() { _
            idColumn, titleColumn, subTitleColumn, _
            summaryColumn, contentColumn})
        dataGridView1.Rows.Add(New String() {"1", _
            "A Short Title", "A Longer SubTitle", _
            "A short description of the main point.", _
            "The full contents of the topic, with detailed examples."})

        MyBase.OnLoad(e)
    End Sub 
End Class

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Data;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Text;
using System.Windows.Forms;

public class Form1 : Form
{
    [STAThreadAttribute()]
    public static void Main()
    {
        Application.Run(new Form1());
    }

    private DataGridView dataGridView1 = new DataGridView();

    public Form1()
    {
        dataGridView1.Dock = DockStyle.Fill;
        Controls.Add(dataGridView1);
        Width *= 2;
        Text = "DataGridView Sizing Scenarios";
    }

    protected override void OnLoad(EventArgs e)
    {
        DataGridViewTextBoxColumn idColumn =
            new DataGridViewTextBoxColumn();
        idColumn.HeaderText = "ID";
        idColumn.AutoSizeMode = DataGridViewAutoSizeColumnMode.None;
        idColumn.Resizable = DataGridViewTriState.False;
        idColumn.ReadOnly = true;
        idColumn.Width = 20;

        DataGridViewTextBoxColumn titleColumn =
            new DataGridViewTextBoxColumn();
        titleColumn.HeaderText = "Title";
        titleColumn.AutoSizeMode =
            DataGridViewAutoSizeColumnMode.AllCellsExceptHeader;

        dataGridView1.AutoSizeColumnsMode =
            DataGridViewAutoSizeColumnsMode.Fill;

        DataGridViewTextBoxColumn subTitleColumn =
            new DataGridViewTextBoxColumn();
        subTitleColumn.HeaderText = "Subtitle";
        subTitleColumn.MinimumWidth = 50;
        subTitleColumn.FillWeight = 100;

        DataGridViewTextBoxColumn summaryColumn =
            new DataGridViewTextBoxColumn();
        summaryColumn.HeaderText = "Summary";
        summaryColumn.MinimumWidth = 50;
        summaryColumn.FillWeight = 200;

        DataGridViewTextBoxColumn contentColumn =
            new DataGridViewTextBoxColumn();
        contentColumn.HeaderText = "Content";
        contentColumn.MinimumWidth = 50;
        contentColumn.FillWeight = 300;

        dataGridView1.Columns.AddRange(new DataGridViewTextBoxColumn[] { 
            idColumn, titleColumn, subTitleColumn, 
            summaryColumn, contentColumn });
        dataGridView1.Rows.Add(new String[] { "1", 
            "A Short Title", "A Longer SubTitle", 
            "A short description of the main point.", 
            "The full contents of the topic, with detailed examples." });

        base.OnLoad(e);
    }
}

To use this demonstration application:

Change the size of the form. Observe how the fill-mode columns change their widths while retaining the proportions indicated by the FillWeight property values. Observe how a column's MinimumWidth prevents it from changing when the form is too small.
Change the column sizes by dragging the column dividers with the mouse. Observe how some columns cannot be resized, and how resizable columns cannot be made narrower than their minimum widths.

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

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How to: Set the Sizing Modes of the Windows Forms DataGridView Control

To create a fixed-width column

To create a column that adjusts its size to fit its content

To create fill-mode columns for values of varying size and importance

Example

Compiling the Code

See Also

Reference

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