Grid data bound grid control in Windows Forms

10 Oct 20227 minutes to read

This page explains How to Support Tri-State Sorting in a GridDataBoundGridControl and more details.

How to Support Tri-State Sorting in a GridDataBoundGridControl

The standard sorting never removes sorting from a column; so once a column is sorted it will either be in ascending or descending order. By using GridDataBoundGridControl’sCellClick event, it is possible to alter this behavior so that when a column is clicked once, it will be sorted in an ascending order; when it is clicked a second time, the column will be sorted in a descending order; and when the column is clicked a third time, its sorting will be removed.

The tri-state sort behavior is accomplished by storing sort indicator, which is in the Tag property of the column and by handling the CellClick event. When a column is sorted in descending order, then the sorting is removed the next time the column is clicked.

  1. There are a couple of problems that you will have to work around. One is that the standard column header cell uses Tag for its sort header and it explicitly sets the non-sorted header’s Tag to ascending/descending only. It does not support none option for unsort GridDataBoundGridControl. So, you need to hide HeaderCell and add the New Header.

    //Sets Datasource.
this.gridDataBoundGrid1.DataSource = dataTable;
this.gridDataBoundGrid1.Model.BaseStylesMap["Column Header"].StyleInfo.CellType = "Header"; 
this.gridDataBoundGrid1.Model.Data.RowCount = 1;
this.gridDataBoundGrid1.Model.Rows.HeaderCount = 1;
this.gridDataBoundGrid1.Model.Rows.FrozenCount = 1;
   
//Hides Column Header Cells.
this.gridDataBoundGrid1.Model.HideRows[0] = true;
   
//Adds New Header Cells.
for(int col = 1; col <= 3; ++col)
{
	this.gridDataBoundGrid1[1, col] = this.gridDataBoundGrid1[0,1] ;
	this.gridDataBoundGrid1[1, col].CellType = "ColumnHeaderCell";
}
    'Sets Datasource.
Me.gridDataBoundGrid1.DataSource = dataTable
Me.gridDataBoundGrid1.Model.BaseStylesMap("Column Header").StyleInfo.CellType = "Header" 
Me.gridDataBoundGrid1.Model.Data.RowCount = 1
Me.gridDataBoundGrid1.Model.Rows.HeaderCount = 1
Me.gridDataBoundGrid1.Model.Rows.FrozenCount = 1
   
'Hides the Column Header Cells.
Me.gridDataBoundGrid1.Model.HideRows(0) = True
   
'Adds New Header Cells.
Dim col As Integer
For col = 1 To 3 Step + 1
Me.gridDataBoundGrid1(1, col) = Me.gridDataBoundGrid1(0,1) 
Me.gridDataBoundGrid1(1, col).CellType = "ColumnHeaderCell"
Next

  2. In the CellClick Event perform the sorting.

    private void gridDataBoundGrid1_CellClick(object sender, Syncfusion.Windows.Forms.Grid.GridCellClickEventArgs e)
{
   
//Checks for Column Header Cell.
	 if(this.gridDataBoundGrid1[e.RowIndex,e.ColIndex].CellType == "ColumnHeaderCell")
	 { 
		   if(this.gridDataBoundGrid1[e.RowIndex,e.ColIndex].HasTag )
		   { 
   
//If Column values are not in sorted order, then Sorts them in ascending order.
				if(this.gridDataBoundGrid1[e.RowIndex,e.ColIndex].Tag.ToString() == "None") 
				{
					  this.gridDataBoundGrid1[e.RowIndex,e.ColIndex].Tag = ListSortDirection.Ascending;
					  SortColumn(e.RowIndex,e.ColIndex);
				 }
   
//If Column values are sorted in ascending order, then Sorts them in descending order.
				 else if((ListSortDirection )this.gridDataBoundGrid1[e.RowIndex, e.ColIndex].Tag == ListSortDirection.Ascending)
				 { 
					 this.gridDataBoundGrid1[e.RowIndex,e.ColIndex].Tag = ListSortDirection.Descending ;
					 SortColumn(e.RowIndex,e.ColIndex);
				 }
   
//If Column values are sorted in descending order, then removes Sorting.
				 else if((ListSortDirection)this.gridDataBoundGrid1[e.RowIndex, e.ColIndex].Tag == ListSortDirection.Descending)
				 {
					  this.gridDataBoundGrid1[e.RowIndex,e.ColIndex].Tag = "None"; 
					  SortColumn(e.RowIndex,e.ColIndex);
				 }
   
			  }
			  else
			  {
    				this.gridDataBoundGrid1[e.RowIndex,e.ColIndex].Tag = ListSortDirection.Ascending ;
					SortColumn(e.RowIndex,e.ColIndex);
			  }
		 }
	}
    Private Sub gridDataBoundGrid1_CellClick(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As Syncfusion.Windows.Forms.Grid.GridCellClickEventArgs)
   
'Checks for Column Header Cell.
If Me.gridDataBoundGrid1(e.RowIndex,e.ColIndex).CellType = "ColumnHeaderCell" Then
If Me.gridDataBoundGrid1(e.RowIndex,e.ColIndex).HasTag Then
   
'If Column values are not in sorted order, then Sorts them in ascending order.
If Me.gridDataBoundGrid1(e.RowIndex,e.ColIndex).Tag.ToString() = "None" Then
Me.gridDataBoundGrid1(e.RowIndex,e.ColIndex).Tag = ListSortDirection.Ascending
SortColumn(e.RowIndex,e.ColIndex)
   
'If Column values are sorted in ascending order, then Sorts them in descending order.
Else If CType(Me.gridDataBoundGrid1(e.RowIndex,e.ColIndex).Tag = ListSortDirection.Ascending,ListSortDirection) Then 
Me.gridDataBoundGrid1(e.RowIndex,e.ColIndex).Tag = ListSortDirection.Descending 
SortColumn(e.RowIndex,e.ColIndex)
   
'If Column values are sorted in descending order, then removes Sorting.
Else If CType(Me.gridDataBoundGrid1(e.RowIndex,e.ColIndex).Tag = ListSortDirection.Descending,ListSortDirection) Then 
Me.gridDataBoundGrid1(e.RowIndex,e.ColIndex).Tag = "None" 
SortColumn(e.RowIndex,e.ColIndex)
End If
Else 
Me.gridDataBoundGrid1(e.RowIndex,e.ColIndex).Tag = ListSortDirection.Ascending 
SortColumn(e.RowIndex,e.ColIndex)
End If
End If
End Sub