Microsoft Visual Basic 2010 Step by Step eBook

Chapter 19 Data Presentation Using the DataGridView Control 489

To Do This

Sort the records in a data

grid view object at run time

Click the column header that you want to sort by. Visual Studio sorts

the data grid view object alphabetically based on that column.

Reverse the direction

of a data grid view sort at

run time

Click the column header a second time to reverse the direction of the

sort (from A–Z to Z–A).

Change the default column

width for a column in a data

grid view object

In the Properties window, click the Columns property, and then the

ellipsis button. In the Edit Columns dialog box, adjust the Width

property.

Hide column headers in

a data grid view object

Set the ColumnHeadersVisible property to False.

Create an alternating color

scheme for rows within

a data grid view object

Pick a color scheme for alternating rows by using the

AlternatingRowsDefaultCellStyle property. In the CellStyle Builder

dialog box, adjust the BackColor property. The color that you select

will alternate with white.

Change the color of

gridlines in a data grid

view object

Adjust the GridColor property.

Add a second data grid

view object to a form

Drag a second table from the Data Sources window to the form.

(It can be the same table that you used in the first data grid view

object, or a second table within the database .) Resize and customize

the table, taking care to make the form large enough to display all the

database columns and records that your user will want to see. If you

want to add a second navigation bar to the form to provide access

to the table, create a second BindingNavigator control on the form,

and set its BindingSource property to the binding source representing

the new table you created.

Prevent the user from

editing or changing the data

in a data grid view object

Set the data grid view object’s ReadOnly property to True.

Write changes made in the

data grid view object back

to the underlying database

Verify that the data grid view object’s ReadOnly property has

been set to False. Then at run time, use the Save Data button on

the navigation bar to save your changes and update the database.

Alternatively, you can use the table adapter’s Update method or the

Me.TableAdapterManager.UpdateAll method within program code.