DataGrid.AutoGenerateColumns Property

Definition

Important

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Gets or sets a value that indicates whether the columns are created automatically.

C#
public bool AutoGenerateColumns { get; set; }

Property Value

true if columns are created automatically; otherwise, false. The registered default is true. For more information about what can influence the value, see DependencyProperty.

Examples

The following example shows how to auto-generate columns and change the columns at creation time in the AutoGeneratingColumn event handler.

XAML
<!-- The DataGrid.DataContext is a DataTable that contains a list of customers.  The DataTable columns are  
     Title, FirstName, MiddleName, LastName, Suffix, CompanyName, EmailAddress, and Phone.-->
<DataGrid Name="DG1" ItemsSource="{Binding}" AutoGenerateColumns="True" AutoGeneratingColumn="DG1_AutoGeneratingColumn" />
C#
//Access and update columns during autogeneration
private void DG1_AutoGeneratingColumn(object sender, DataGridAutoGeneratingColumnEventArgs e)
{
    string headername = e.Column.Header.ToString();

    //Cancel the column you don't want to generate
    if (headername == "MiddleName")
    {
        e.Cancel = true;
    }

    //update column details when generating
    if (headername == "FirstName")
    {
        e.Column.Header = "First Name";
    }
    else if (headername == "LastName")
    {
        e.Column.Header = "Last Name";
    }
    else if (headername == "EmailAddress")
    {
        e.Column.Header = "Email";
    }
}

Remarks

Setting AutoGenerateColumns to true or false creates or removes auto-generated columns. When the AutoGenerateColumns property is set to true, the AutoGeneratingColumn event will be raised for each column that is created. You can change or cancel the column being created in the AutoGeneratingColumn event handler.

When auto-generation of all columns is complete, the AutoGeneratedColumns event is raised.

Note

DataGrid cannot auto-generate columns when the source is XML data. In this case, create a custom Columns collection. For an example, see DataGridTextColumn.

Applies to

Product Versions
.NET Framework 4.0, 4.5, 4.5.1, 4.5.2, 4.6, 4.6.1, 4.6.2, 4.7, 4.7.1, 4.7.2, 4.8, 4.8.1
Windows Desktop 3.0, 3.1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

See also