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Multi Column Combo Cell for the .NET 2.0 DataGridView Control

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25 Dec 2008CPOL2 min read 194.4K   9.7K   70   66
This article will demonstrate an approach to solve the issue of a multi-column cell for DataGridView.

Illustration.gif

Introduction

This article will demonstrate an approach to solve the issue of multi-column combobox cells in a DataGridView in VS8.

*New in this version

*After multiple comments that I got about the old implementation, I decided to make this solution nicer. I am following the solution using designed DataSet tables and dropping some workarounds and fixing some bugs I had in my first version!

Background

Several months ago, I invested several days in order to find how to implement the multiline combobox issue. I found several solutions but they didn't fit my needs. I wanted something very simple. And I found it using the owner draw approach - just drawing a multicolumn control by myself. Here are the results.

Using the code

The code implementation and usage is extremely simple.

You do all the steps as you do if you want to embed a regular combobox into your DataGridView, but in place of the DataGridViewComboColumn, you use my class DataGridViewMultiColumnComboColumn. This class is derived from DataGridViewComboColumn. Additionally, you need to set the column CellTemplate with the DataGridViewMultiColumnComboCell class that is derived from DataGridViewMultiColumnComboCell. After creating the DataGridViewMultiColumnComboCell class, you will need to set two data members in order to allow the multiline combobox to display the relevant values.

C#
//create the multicolumncombo column
DataGridViewMultiColumnComboColumn newColumn = 
            new DataGridViewMultiColumnComboColumn();

newColumn.CellTemplate = new DataGridViewMultiColumnComboCell();
//Set the source table settings from the database for combobox values
newColumn.DataSource = ds.LogMessageTypes;
newColumn.DisplayMember = ds.LogMessageTypes.TypeNameColumn.ColumnName;
newColumn.ValueMember = ds.LogMessageTypes.TypeIdColumn.ColumnName;

//this property point on main table of this grid to bind to this column
newColumn.DataPropertyName = ds.LogTable.TypeColumn.ColumnName;
newColumn.HeaderText = ds.LogTable.TypeColumn.ColumnName;

newColumn.DisplayStyle = DataGridViewComboBoxDisplayStyle.Nothing;

dataGridView1.Columns.Remove(ds.LogTable.TypeColumn.ColumnName);
dataGridView1.Columns.Insert(position, newColumn);
dataGridView1.Columns[position].Width = 300;

Points of interest

First, I am very happy that after 12 years of programming experience I found a way to contribute something small to this great professional discussion.

I am originally a C++/MFC programmer and I still work mostly using these programming languages. So I am strictly used to things that implement non-standard UIs. I think Microsoft did a great job developing the .NET platform. Anyway.

BTW: I still love developing ActiveX in C++ but there is no client that wants it anymore and I can understand why :).

Disclaimer of warranty

All of the code, information, instructions, and recommendations in this article are offered on a strictly "as is" basis. This material is offered as a free public resource, without any warranty, expressed or implied.

This code is completely free. I will be happy to know if it was helpful for somebody.

License

This article, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The Code Project Open License (CPOL)


Written By
Software Developer (Senior)
Israel Israel
Software Development freelancer.

Comments and Discussions

 
GeneralRe: Verry good work Pin
IssaharNoam11-Mar-10 10:10
IssaharNoam11-Mar-10 10:10 
GeneralHello Pin
liviucatrina8-Mar-10 3:40
liviucatrina8-Mar-10 3:40 
GeneralRe: Hello Pin
IssaharNoam8-Mar-10 8:18
IssaharNoam8-Mar-10 8:18 
GeneralAuto complete feature.. Pin
withsnaveen25-Oct-09 19:56
withsnaveen25-Oct-09 19:56 
GeneralRe: Auto complete feature.. [modified] Pin
IssaharNoam28-Oct-09 11:57
IssaharNoam28-Oct-09 11:57 
GeneralSetting the selectedvalue for the dropdown.... Pin
Simon O'Farrell21-Oct-09 13:12
Simon O'Farrell21-Oct-09 13:12 
GeneralRe: Setting the selectedvalue for the dropdown.... Pin
IssaharNoam28-Oct-09 12:04
IssaharNoam28-Oct-09 12:04 
GeneralRe: Setting the selectedvalue for the dropdown.... Pin
Simon O'Farrell28-Oct-09 13:28
Simon O'Farrell28-Oct-09 13:28 
Hi IssaharNoam

Hey thanks for replying!

I had a DGV which has as one of the columns a slightly modified version of your very good code. When a user selects from the drop down the displayed value shows and attached to that is a valuemember which the user never sees. However, if you, upon loading the form actually load the display member into a cell there is no associated value member. When you use
dataGridView1.Rows[e.RowIndex].Cells[2].Value.ToString());
and the value was added programmatically you only get the displaymember. I needed the associated the valuemember which is not existent for those rows that were added by the program. In the end I added a hidden column and forced the value member to be added there. This ensured I always had the associated value member of that column even if the column didnt have it.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your article. I am a beginner at this and I was quite surprised to find they never added the option for multi columns in comboboxes.

Kind Regards

Simon
GeneralRe: Setting the selectedvalue for the dropdown.... Pin
IssaharNoam29-Oct-09 10:44
IssaharNoam29-Oct-09 10:44 
Questionhow to get value of Combobox columns in which event of datagridview. and display in netx cell Pin
PankajRai.Net14-Oct-09 2:56
PankajRai.Net14-Oct-09 2:56 
AnswerRe: how to get value of Combobox columns in which event of datagridview. and display in netx cell Pin
IssaharNoam14-Oct-09 11:16
IssaharNoam14-Oct-09 11:16 
Questionhow to get value of Combobox columns in which event of datagridview...??? [modified] Pin
Narendra Reddy Vajrala20-Aug-09 3:01
Narendra Reddy Vajrala20-Aug-09 3:01 
NewsImportant: My owner draw code contains GDI leaks, Please be aware to dispose all the allocate brushes and pens Pin
IssaharNoam9-Apr-09 12:56
IssaharNoam9-Apr-09 12:56 
GeneralSupporting IList as DataSource Pin
Kashif Iqbal Khan8-Apr-09 4:58
Kashif Iqbal Khan8-Apr-09 4:58 
GeneralDropdown comobox cell in datagridview v2005 Pin
Samik_ Ray2-Apr-09 20:51
Samik_ Ray2-Apr-09 20:51 
GeneralRe: Dropdown comobox cell in datagridview v2005 Pin
IssaharNoam4-Apr-09 19:58
IssaharNoam4-Apr-09 19:58 
QuestionHow to add headers to combobox columns? Pin
mjbasecamp5-Mar-09 9:13
mjbasecamp5-Mar-09 9:13 
AnswerRe: How to add headers to combobox columns? Pin
IssaharNoam5-Mar-09 10:12
IssaharNoam5-Mar-09 10:12 
GeneralDear Issahar: Pin
arevans24-Nov-08 9:10
arevans24-Nov-08 9:10 
GeneralRe: Dear Issahar: Pin
IssaharNoam25-Dec-08 5:56
IssaharNoam25-Dec-08 5:56 
QuestionHow to display in the comboxbox all the items Pin
dsapo8-Aug-08 4:35
dsapo8-Aug-08 4:35 
AnswerRe: How to display in the comboxbox all the items Pin
IssaharNoam25-Dec-08 5:58
IssaharNoam25-Dec-08 5:58 
QuestionAnyone have some more solid code? Pin
Member 359872110-Jun-08 8:12
Member 359872110-Jun-08 8:12 
AnswerRe: Anyone have some more solid code? Pin
IssaharNoam10-Jun-08 10:20
IssaharNoam10-Jun-08 10:20 
AnswerRe: Anyone have some more solid code? Pin
IssaharNoam25-Dec-08 6:00
IssaharNoam25-Dec-08 6:00 

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