How to: Format Data in the Windows Forms DataGridView Control
The following procedures demonstrate basic formatting of cell values using the DefaultCellStyle property of a DataGridView control and of specific columns in a control. For information about advanced data formatting, see How to: Customize Data Formatting in the Windows Forms DataGridView Control.
To format currency and date values
Set the Format property of a DataGridViewCellStyle. The following code example sets the format for specific columns using the DefaultCellStyle property of the columns. Values in the
UnitPrice
column appear in the current culture-specific currency format, with negative values surrounded by parentheses. Values in theShipDate
column appear in the current culture-specific short date format. For more information about Format values, see Formatting Types.this.dataGridView1.Columns["UnitPrice"].DefaultCellStyle.Format = "c"; this.dataGridView1.Columns["ShipDate"].DefaultCellStyle.Format = "d";
Me.dataGridView1.Columns("UnitPrice").DefaultCellStyle.Format = "c" Me.dataGridView1.Columns("ShipDate").DefaultCellStyle.Format = "d"
To customize the display of null database values
Set the NullValue property of a DataGridViewCellStyle. The following code example uses the DataGridView.DefaultCellStyle property to display "no entry" in all cells containing values equal to DBNull.Value.
this.dataGridView1.DefaultCellStyle.NullValue = "no entry";
Me.dataGridView1.DefaultCellStyle.NullValue = "no entry"
To enable wordwrap in text-based cells
Set the WrapMode property of a DataGridViewCellStyle to one of the DataGridViewTriState enumeration values. The following code example uses the DataGridView.DefaultCellStyle property to set the wrap mode for the entire control.
this.dataGridView1.DefaultCellStyle.WrapMode = DataGridViewTriState.True;
Me.dataGridView1.DefaultCellStyle.WrapMode = DataGridViewTriState.True
To specify the text alignment of DataGridView cells
Set the Alignment property of a DataGridViewCellStyle to one of the DataGridViewContentAlignment enumeration values. The following code example sets the alignment for a specific column using the DefaultCellStyle property of the column.
this.dataGridView1.Columns["CustomerName"].DefaultCellStyle .Alignment = DataGridViewContentAlignment.MiddleRight;
Me.dataGridView1.Columns("CustomerName").DefaultCellStyle _ .Alignment = DataGridViewContentAlignment.MiddleRight
Example
private void SetFormatting()
{
this.dataGridView1.Columns["UnitPrice"].DefaultCellStyle.Format = "c";
this.dataGridView1.Columns["ShipDate"].DefaultCellStyle.Format = "d";
this.dataGridView1.Columns["CustomerName"].DefaultCellStyle
.Alignment = DataGridViewContentAlignment.MiddleRight;
this.dataGridView1.DefaultCellStyle.NullValue = "no entry";
this.dataGridView1.DefaultCellStyle.WrapMode =
DataGridViewTriState.True;
}
Private Sub SetFormatting()
With Me.dataGridView1
.Columns("UnitPrice").DefaultCellStyle.Format = "c"
.Columns("ShipDate").DefaultCellStyle.Format = "d"
.Columns("CustomerName").DefaultCellStyle.Alignment = _
DataGridViewContentAlignment.MiddleRight
.DefaultCellStyle.NullValue = "no entry"
.DefaultCellStyle.WrapMode = DataGridViewTriState.True
End With
End Sub
Compiling the Code
These examples require:
A DataGridView control named
dataGridView1
that contains a column namedUnitPrice
, a column namedShipDate
, and a column namedCustomerName
.References to the System, System.Drawing, and System.Windows.Forms assemblies.
Robust Programming
For maximum scalability, you should share DataGridViewCellStyle objects across multiple rows, columns, or cells that use the same styles rather than setting the style properties for each element separately. For more information, see Best Practices for Scaling the Windows Forms DataGridView Control.
See also
- DataGridView.DefaultCellStyle
- DataGridViewBand.DefaultCellStyle
- DataGridViewCellStyle
- Basic Formatting and Styling in the Windows Forms DataGridView Control
- Cell Styles in the Windows Forms DataGridView Control
- Data Formatting in the Windows Forms DataGridView Control
- How to: Customize Data Formatting in the Windows Forms DataGridView Control
- Formatting Types
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