How can I prevent the DataGridView header column from being highlighted when a row is selected

Pat Hanks 141

I am using Visual Studio 17.5.4 and building a Windows Forms app with a DataGridView as a list of items to select then populate the form fields. All this works but I have a nagging problem to overcome. When you select a row from the grid, it will highlight the column header for whichever cell that was clicked, or if you click the row header panel of the row it will highlight the first column. User's image

I am currently using the SelectionChanged event to capture the selection but have tried CellClick & RowEnter with the same result. Are there any suggestions on how to prevent the column header from changing color?

Jiale Xue - MSFT 48,856 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2023-04-25T03:08:01.5933333+00:00

Hi @Pat Hanks , welcome to Q&A. Could you tell me how to reproduce your issue? My default style does not show like that.

Pat Hanks 141

I have the table populated from a class object that used the ADO.net to interface with an Access database. Using the CellClick event below will call the populate method to update the form fields. I also included the configuration of the gridview object and the method to return the dataset to be bound.

private void RecipesDataGridView_CellClick(object sender, DataGridViewCellEventArgs e)
{
	if (((RecipesDataGridView.SelectedRows.Count > 0) & _formLoaded) & !_suppressEventFlags.RecipesDataGridView)
	{
		int selectedRecipeID = Convert.ToInt32(RecipesDataGridView.CurrentRow.Cells["RecipeID"].Value);
		_recipe = new Recipe(selectedRecipeID);
		if (_recipe.ID > 0)
		{
			int rowIndex = RecipesDataGridView.CurrentRow.Index;
			PopulateRecipeData(selectedRecipeID);
			this.NameTextbox.Select();
			this.NameTextbox.SelectionStart = this.NameTextbox.SelectionLength;
		}
	}
}

// 
// RecipesDataGridView
// 
this.RecipesDataGridView.AllowUserToAddRows = false;
this.RecipesDataGridView.AllowUserToDeleteRows = false;
this.RecipesDataGridView.Anchor = ((System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles)((((System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles.Top | System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles.Bottom) 
| System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles.Left) 
| System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles.Right)));
this.RecipesDataGridView.CausesValidation = false;
this.RecipesDataGridView.ColumnHeadersHeightSizeMode = System.Windows.Forms.DataGridViewColumnHeadersHeightSizeMode.AutoSize;
this.RecipesDataGridView.EditMode = System.Windows.Forms.DataGridViewEditMode.EditProgrammatically;
this.RecipesDataGridView.Location = new System.Drawing.Point(10, 25);
this.RecipesDataGridView.Margin = new System.Windows.Forms.Padding(3, 2, 3, 2);
this.RecipesDataGridView.MultiSelect = false;
this.RecipesDataGridView.Name = "RecipesDataGridView";
this.RecipesDataGridView.ReadOnly = true;
this.RecipesDataGridView.RowHeadersWidth = 51;
this.RecipesDataGridView.RowTemplate.Height = 24;
this.RecipesDataGridView.SelectionMode = System.Windows.Forms.DataGridViewSelectionMode.FullRowSelect;
this.RecipesDataGridView.ShowEditingIcon = false;
this.RecipesDataGridView.Size = new System.Drawing.Size(864, 96);
this.RecipesDataGridView.TabIndex = 0;

//
// From the recipe class object to return the dataset
//
public static System.Data.DataSet RecipesDataGridSource(string WhereClause = null)
{
	DataSet ds = new DataSet();
	string listTableName = OLETable.OLETable.TableNames.TABLE_LISTS;
	string recipesTableName = OLETable.OLETable.TableNames.TABLE_RECIPES;
	string caliberTableName = OLETable.OLETable.TableNames.TABLE_CALIBER;

	string sqlText = "SELECT " + listTableName + "." + ListItems.ColumnNames.Value + " as RecipeType,";
	sqlText += ColumnNames.Name + "," + caliberTableName + "." + Caliber.ColumnNames.Caliber + ",";
	sqlText += ColumnNames.Favorite + "," + ColumnNames.ID + ",";
	sqlText += recipesTableName + "." + ColumnNames.CaliberID + "," + ColumnNames.Active + ",";
	sqlText += ColumnNames.Type + " AS TypeID ";
	sqlText += "FROM (" + caliberTableName + " ";
	sqlText += "RIGHT JOIN " + recipesTableName + " ON ";
	sqlText += caliberTableName + "." + Caliber.ColumnNames.CaliberID + "=";
	sqlText += recipesTableName + "." + ColumnNames.CaliberID + ") ";
	sqlText += "INNER JOIN " + listTableName + " ON " + recipesTableName + "." + ColumnNames.Type + "=";
	sqlText += listTableName + "." + ListItems.ColumnNames.ID + " ";
	if (WhereClause != null)
	{
		sqlText += "WHERE " + WhereClause;
	}

	try
	{
		using (var connection = new OleDbConnection(libRegistry.ConnectString))
		using (OleDbDataAdapter dataadapter = new OleDbDataAdapter(sqlText, connection))
		{
			connection.Open();
			dataadapter.Fill(ds, RecipeTableName);
		}   // end outter using
	}
	catch (Exception ex)
	{
		string errorMessage = "Error retrieving data from table '" +
		OLETable.OLETable.TableNames.TABLE_RECIPES + "'";
		Logging.AddException(ex, Logging.EventNumbers.RetrievingData, errorMessage, System.Diagnostics.EventLogEntryType.Error);
		return null;
	}

	return ds;
}

1 answer

Karen Payne MVP 35,471 Reputation points

2023-04-24T15:31:50.2666667+00:00
Here is a solution but will prevent sorting via the column header

someDataGridView.EnableHeadersVisualStyles = false; someDataGridView.ColumnHeadersDefaultCellStyle.SelectionBackColor = someDataGridView.ColumnHeadersDefaultCellStyle.BackColor;
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Pat Hanks 141 Reputation points

2023-04-24T21:12:10.53+00:00

Thanks I appreciate the response, but I do need to have the sorting functional.

Karen Payne MVP 35,471 Reputation points

2023-04-24T22:33:22.8466667+00:00

When you need to create a custom DataGridView that provides your needs. Have not done this myself as I like the default behavior.
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