Programmatically Creating an ASP.NET GridView Control

The biggest project I’ve worked on in the past year involved building almost all of the ASP.NET controls for a page programmatically in the code-behind and putting them into a Placeholder, rather than declaring them in the markup file.

Many ASP.NET controls are relatively easy to build this way.  Buttons, TextBoxes, Labels, DropDownLists, even SqlDataSources can be created using a few simple lines of code.

Adding a print Button can be this simple:

Dim btnPrint As New Button
btnPrint.Attributes.Add("onclick", "javascript:window.print();")
btnPrint.Visible = False
Placeholder1.Controls.Add(btnPrint)

The instructions for adding simple controls such as these can be easily found on MSDN and many other sites.  Unfortunately,  instructions for building a complex GridView were nowhere to be found.  Take heart: It can be done!

Adding a GridView control is generally much more complicated than this, and also requires many more attributes.  Each column must be declared and added to the GridView prior to the GridView itself being added to the Form / Panel / Placeholder, etc.  Also, attributes like sorting, paging, Edit / Cancel Buttons must be taken into consideration.

Here is an example of the VB code for a full-featured GridView:

Dim gvExample As New GridView
With gvExample
.ID = "gvExample"
.CssClass = "gridview"
.DataSource = dvExample
.AutoGenerateColumns = False
.CellPadding = 4
.DataKeyNames = New String() {"ExampleID"}
.ForeColor = Drawing.ColorTranslator.FromHtml("#2a2723")
.GridLines = GridLines.None
.Width = Unit.Percentage(100)
.AllowSorting = True
.AllowPaging = False

Dim strHeadBack As String = "#ffcb00"
Dim strPagerBack As String = "#009ddb"
Dim strForeColor As String = "#000000"

.HeaderStyle.BackColor = Drawing.ColorTranslator.FromHtml(strHeadBack)
.HeaderStyle.Font.Bold = True
.HeaderStyle.ForeColor = Drawing.ColorTranslator.FromHtml(strForeColor)

.RowStyle.BackColor = Drawing.ColorTranslator.FromHtml("#FFFBD6")
.RowStyle.ForeColor = Drawing.ColorTranslator.FromHtml("#2a2723")
.RowStyle.HorizontalAlign = HorizontalAlign.Center

.AlternatingRowStyle.BackColor = Drawing.Color.White

.BorderColor = Drawing.ColorTranslator.FromHtml("#d80073")
.BorderStyle = BorderStyle.Groove

.Columns.Clear()

Dim ViewButton As New ButtonField
ViewButton.HeaderText = "View"
ViewButton.ButtonType = ButtonType.Button
ViewButton.Text = "View"
ViewButton.CommandName = "ViewExample"
.Columns.Add(ViewButton)

Dim EditButton As New TemplateField
EditButton.HeaderText = "Edit"
EditButton.ItemTemplate = New MyButtonTemplate ' This is a user-defined class that creates this Button
EditButton.Visible = bEditVisible
.Columns.Add(EditButton)

Dim Voided As New CheckBoxField
Voided.HeaderText = "Voided"
Voided.DataField = "Voided"
Voided.ReadOnly = True
Voided.Visible = bVoidVisible
.Columns.Add(Voided)

Dim ExampleDate As New TemplateField
ExampleDate.HeaderText = "Date/Time"
ExampleDate.SortExpression = "Date_and_Time"
ExampleDate.ItemTemplate = New MyLabelTemplate ' This is a user-defined class that creates this Label
ExampleDate.ItemStyle.Wrap = False
.Columns.Add(ExampleDate)

Dim ShortColumn As New BoundField
ShortColumn.ItemStyle.CssClass = "left"
ShortColumn.HeaderText = "Short Column"
ShortColumn.SortExpression = "Short_Column"
ShortColumn.DataField = "Short_Column"
ShortColumn.ItemStyle.Wrap = True
ShortColumn.ItemStyle.Width = 150
.Columns.Add(ShortColumn)

Dim LongColumn As New BoundField
LongColumn.ItemStyle.CssClass = "left"
LongColumn.HeaderText = "Long Column"
LongColumn.SortExpression = "Long_Column"
LongColumn.DataField = "Long_Column"
LongColumn.ItemStyle.HorizontalAlign = HorizontalAlign.Left
LongColumn.ItemStyle.Wrap = True
LongColumn.ItemStyle.Width = 200
.Columns.Add(LongColumn)

Dim CreatedBy As New BoundField
CreatedBy.HeaderText = "Created By"
CreatedBy.SortExpression = "CreatedBy"
CreatedBy.DataField = "CreatedBy"
.Columns.Add(CreatedBy)

.Visible = True
.PageIndex = GridViewPageIndex ' I used a Session variable to store the page number
Placeholder1.Controls.Add(gvExample)
.DataBind()
End With

Separate routines that handle the Sorting and PageIndexChanging events must be manually created if you want these functions to be included with your GridView.  In these modules, you can use Session variables to store the page numbers and sort direction.  It might be possible to use ViewState variables instead, though I did not try that here.  Also, a module that handles RowCommand events must be created if any buttons that are added to the GridView do something that is row-specific.

It is certain that creating a GridView programmatically is much more difficult than dragging and dropping from the Toolbar onto the Design page.  However, that may not always be the best way if you are creating a highly dynamic application, such as one where even the fundamental design of a page is database-driven.

Add Normal Column and Template Column Dynamically in Asp.net GridView

in most of case we build GridView statically or let asp.net do it it self but what if we want to add Columns to GridView Dynamically.like you may want to add TemplateField  with Several controls within it with code too.

Fist we will see how to add Normal column to GridView at runtime.

BoundField FirstName = new BoundField();
FirstName.DataField = "Some Database Field";
FirstName.HeaderText = "First Name";

GridView1.Columns.Add(FirstName);

Next , How to add Field With Custom template.to add Column with custom template you need to First Define Template using code for that you need to implement ITemplate interface. here is sample code about doing it .

/* Create Template Field by Implementing ITemplate */
public class MyCustomTemplate:ITemplate
{
    public void InstantiateIn(System.Web.UI.Control container)
    {
        CheckBox cb = new CheckBox();
        cb.ID = "testCheckBox";
        cb.Text = "Test";
        container.Controls.Add(cb);
    }
}
/* Adding Field With Template */
TemplateField tf = new TemplateField();
tf.HeaderText = "Custom Template Field Column";
tf.ItemTemplate = new MyCustomTemplate();

GridView1.Columns.Add(tf);

above example We Created Template of Item within the column with one check box by Implementing ITemplate Interface which we can set as Item Template while we Add TemplateField in GridView.

How to create template columns dynamically in a grid view

Sample Program:

Imports System.Data
Imports System.Web.UI.WebControls
Public Class MyCustomTemplate
    Implements ITemplate
    Public Sub InstantiateIn(ByVal container As System.Web.UI.Control) Implements System.Web.UI.ITemplate.InstantiateIn
        Dim cb As New CheckBox()
        cb.ID = "PageID"
        AddHandler cb.DataBinding, AddressOf CheckBox_DataBining
        container.Controls.Add(cb)
    End Sub
    Public Sub CheckBox_DataBining(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As EventArgs)
        Dim button As CheckBox = TryCast(sender, CheckBox)
        Dim container As GridViewRow = CType(button.NamingContainer, GridViewRow)
        Dim dataValue As Object = DataBinder.Eval(container.DataItem, "id")
        If Not IsDBNull(dataValue) Then
            button.Text = dataValue.ToString()
        End If
    End Sub
End Class
Partial Class _Default
    Inherits System.Web.UI.Page

    Protected Sub _Default_Init(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Me.Init
        Dim tf As New TemplateField()
        tf.HeaderText = "Custom Template Field Column"
        tf.ItemTemplate = New MyCustomTemplate()
        gvoutput.Columns.Add(tf)
    End Sub

    Protected Sub Page_Load(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Me.Load
        If Not Page.IsPostBack Then
            Dim dt As New DataTable

            dt.Columns.Add("id", GetType(Long))
            dt.Rows.Add(1)
            dt.Rows.Add(2)
            dt.Rows.Add(3)
            dt.Rows.Add(4)

            gvoutput.DataSource = dt
            gvoutput.DataBind()

        End If
    End Sub
  
    Protected Sub btnsubmit_Click(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles btnsubmit.Click
        Try
            Dim a As Long = 0

            For i As Integer = 0 To gvoutput.Rows.Count - 1
                Dim row As GridViewRow = gvoutput.Rows(i)
                Dim isChecked As Boolean = CType(row.FindControl("PageID"), CheckBox).Checked
                If isChecked Then
                    a = a + 1
                End If
            Next

            Response.Write(a)
        Catch ex As Exception

        End Try
        
    End Sub
End Class

Display a certain number of rows to columns on crystal report

For example

SQL Rows

Name

Fred

Jack

Dan

Bryan

Chris

Paul

William

This is what i need on the Crystal report

___Fred ___Jack ___Dan ___Bryan

___Chris ___Paul ___ William

Solution:

Here's what you need to do:

1) Place the fields on the details section

2) Go the Section Expert > select Details section > check "Format with multiple columns"

3) Then go to the Layout tab in the same window, set the width to 2.00 inches (you would need to play with this depending on the size of field)

4) Then check the option "Across then Down"

5) To draw the line, simply use the Line Object before the field