DataGridView.MultiSelect Property

Definition

Namespace:

System.Windows.Forms

Assembly:

System.Windows.Forms.dll

Gets or sets a value indicating whether the user is allowed to select more than one cell, row, or column of the DataGridView at a time.

public:
 property bool MultiSelect { bool get(); void set(bool value); };

public bool MultiSelect { get; set; }

member this.MultiSelect : bool with get, set

Public Property MultiSelect As Boolean

Property Value

Boolean

true if the user can select more than one cell, row, or column at a time; otherwise, false. The default is true.

Examples

The following code example demonstrates how to use the MultiSelect property. To run this example, paste the code into a form that contains a DataGridView named dataGridView1, and then call the SetUpDataGridView method from the form's constructor or Load event handler. Ensure all events are associated with their event handlers.

void SetUpDataGridView()
{
   this->Controls->Add( dataGridView1 );
   dataGridView1->ColumnCount = 5;
   DataGridViewCellStyle^ style = dataGridView1->ColumnHeadersDefaultCellStyle;
   style->BackColor = Color::Navy;
   style->ForeColor = Color::White;
   style->Font = gcnew System::Drawing::Font( dataGridView1->Font,FontStyle::Bold );
   dataGridView1->EditMode = DataGridViewEditMode::EditOnEnter;
   dataGridView1->Name = "dataGridView1";
   dataGridView1->Location = Point(8,8);
   dataGridView1->Size = System::Drawing::Size( 500, 300 );
   dataGridView1->AutoSizeRowsMode = DataGridViewAutoSizeRowsMode::DisplayedCellsExceptHeaders;
   dataGridView1->ColumnHeadersBorderStyle = DataGridViewHeaderBorderStyle::Raised;
   dataGridView1->CellBorderStyle = DataGridViewCellBorderStyle::Single;
   dataGridView1->GridColor = SystemColors::ActiveBorder;
   dataGridView1->RowHeadersVisible = false;
   dataGridView1->Columns[ 0 ]->Name = "Release Date";
   dataGridView1->Columns[ 1 ]->Name = "Track";
   dataGridView1->Columns[ 1 ]->DefaultCellStyle->Alignment = DataGridViewContentAlignment::MiddleCenter;
   dataGridView1->Columns[ 2 ]->Name = "Title";
   dataGridView1->Columns[ 3 ]->Name = "Artist";
   dataGridView1->Columns[ 4 ]->Name = "Album";

   // Make the font italic for row four.
   dataGridView1->Columns[ 4 ]->DefaultCellStyle->Font = gcnew System::Drawing::Font( DataGridView::DefaultFont,FontStyle::Italic );
   dataGridView1->SelectionMode = DataGridViewSelectionMode::FullRowSelect;
   dataGridView1->MultiSelect = false;
   dataGridView1->BackgroundColor = Color::Honeydew;
   dataGridView1->Dock = DockStyle::Fill;
   dataGridView1->CellFormatting += gcnew DataGridViewCellFormattingEventHandler( this, &Form1::dataGridView1_CellFormatting );
   dataGridView1->CellParsing += gcnew DataGridViewCellParsingEventHandler( this, &Form1::dataGridView1_CellParsing );
   addNewRowButton->Click += gcnew EventHandler( this, &Form1::addNewRowButton_Click );
   deleteRowButton->Click += gcnew EventHandler( this, &Form1::deleteRowButton_Click );
   ledgerStyleButton->Click += gcnew EventHandler( this, &Form1::ledgerStyleButton_Click );
   dataGridView1->CellValidating += gcnew DataGridViewCellValidatingEventHandler( this, &Form1::dataGridView1_CellValidating );
}

private void SetUpDataGridView()
{
    this.Controls.Add(dataGridView1);
    dataGridView1.ColumnCount = 5;
    DataGridViewCellStyle style = 
        dataGridView1.ColumnHeadersDefaultCellStyle;
    style.BackColor = Color.Navy;
    style.ForeColor = Color.White;
    style.Font = new Font(dataGridView1.Font, FontStyle.Bold);

    dataGridView1.EditMode = DataGridViewEditMode.EditOnEnter;
    dataGridView1.Name = "dataGridView1";
    dataGridView1.Location = new Point(8, 8);
    dataGridView1.Size = new Size(500, 300);
    dataGridView1.AutoSizeRowsMode = 
        DataGridViewAutoSizeRowsMode.DisplayedCellsExceptHeaders;
    dataGridView1.ColumnHeadersBorderStyle = 
        DataGridViewHeaderBorderStyle.Raised;
    dataGridView1.CellBorderStyle = DataGridViewCellBorderStyle.Single;
    dataGridView1.GridColor = SystemColors.ActiveBorder;
    dataGridView1.RowHeadersVisible = false;

    dataGridView1.Columns[0].Name = "Release Date";
    dataGridView1.Columns[1].Name = "Track";
    dataGridView1.Columns[1].DefaultCellStyle.Alignment = 
        DataGridViewContentAlignment.MiddleCenter;
    dataGridView1.Columns[2].Name = "Title";
    dataGridView1.Columns[3].Name = "Artist";
    dataGridView1.Columns[4].Name = "Album";

    // Make the font italic for row four.
    dataGridView1.Columns[4].DefaultCellStyle.Font = new Font(DataGridView.DefaultFont, FontStyle.Italic);

    dataGridView1.SelectionMode = DataGridViewSelectionMode.FullRowSelect;
    dataGridView1.MultiSelect = false;

    dataGridView1.BackgroundColor = Color.Honeydew;

    dataGridView1.Dock = DockStyle.Fill;

    dataGridView1.CellFormatting += new DataGridViewCellFormattingEventHandler(dataGridView1_CellFormatting);
    dataGridView1.CellParsing += new DataGridViewCellParsingEventHandler(dataGridView1_CellParsing);
    addNewRowButton.Click += new EventHandler(addNewRowButton_Click);
    deleteRowButton.Click += new EventHandler(deleteRowButton_Click);
    ledgerStyleButton.Click += new EventHandler(ledgerStyleButton_Click);
    dataGridView1.CellValidating += new DataGridViewCellValidatingEventHandler(dataGridView1_CellValidating);
}

Private Sub SetUpDataGridView()

    Me.Controls.Add(dataGridView1)
    dataGridView1.ColumnCount = 5

    With dataGridView1.ColumnHeadersDefaultCellStyle
        .BackColor = Color.Navy
        .ForeColor = Color.White
        .Font = New Font(dataGridView1.Font, FontStyle.Bold)
    End With

    With dataGridView1
        .EditMode = DataGridViewEditMode.EditOnEnter
        .Name = "dataGridView1"
        .Location = New Point(8, 8)
        .Size = New Size(500, 300)
        .AutoSizeRowsMode = _
            DataGridViewAutoSizeRowsMode.DisplayedCellsExceptHeaders
        .ColumnHeadersBorderStyle = _
            DataGridViewHeaderBorderStyle.Raised
        .CellBorderStyle = _
            DataGridViewCellBorderStyle.Single
        .GridColor = SystemColors.ActiveBorder
        .RowHeadersVisible = False

        .Columns(0).Name = "Release Date"
        .Columns(1).Name = "Track"
        .Columns(1).DefaultCellStyle.Alignment = DataGridViewContentAlignment.MiddleCenter
        .Columns(2).Name = "Title"
        .Columns(3).Name = "Artist"
        .Columns(4).Name = "Album"

        ' Make the font italic for row four.
        .Columns(4).DefaultCellStyle.Font = _
            New Font(Control.DefaultFont, _
                FontStyle.Italic)

        .SelectionMode = _
            DataGridViewSelectionMode.FullRowSelect
        .MultiSelect = False

        .BackgroundColor = Color.Honeydew

        .Dock = DockStyle.Fill
    End With

End Sub

Remarks

When the MultiSelect property is set to true, multiple elements (cells, rows, or columns) can be selected in the DataGridView control. To select multiple elements, the user can hold down the CTRL key while clicking the elements to select. Consecutive elements can be selected by clicking the first element to select and then, while holding down the SHIFT key, clicking the last element to select. The selection scope is based on the SelectionMode property. For example, if SelectionMode is set to DataGridViewSelectionMode.FullColumnSelect, the user can select multiple columns.

You can use the MultiSelect property to allow a user to select multiple elements in the DataGridView control and perform an operation on all the selected elements. For example, the user could select multiple cells and then right-click a selected cell to display a shortcut menu that displays a set of tasks to perform on the selected cells.

To determine which cells, rows, or columns are selected in the DataGridView control, you can access the SelectedCells, SelectedRows, or SelectedColumns property. To determine the number of selected cells, call the GetCellCount method with an argument value of DataGridViewElementStates.Selected. Use the GetRowCount method to retrieve the number of selected rows and the GetColumnCount method to retrieve the number of columns. These methods are more efficient than accessing the collections directly when working with large amounts of data. For more information, see Best Practices for Scaling the Windows Forms DataGridView Control.

See also

• DataGridView Control (Windows Forms)