Floating in Windows Forms Grid Control

16 Aug 20235 minutes to read

Floating cells are those cells whose content floats over empty, adjacent cells. The floating cells can be enabled by setting GridControl.FloatCellsMode property. The FloatCellsMode property has the following enumerations,

• GridFloatCellsMode.BeforeDisplayCalculation – This is used to force the floating cells to always be calculated just prior to being displayed.
  
• GridFloatCellsMode.OnDemandCalculation - This is used to calculate the floating cells only if the cell contents or size changes.

C#

// Enable Float Cells for GridControl
this.gridControl1.TableStyle.FloatCell = true;

// Set mode for calculating the float cells
this.gridControl1.FloatCellsMode = GridFloatCellsMode.OnDemandCalculation;

VB.NET

' Enable Float Cells for GridControl
Me.gridControl1.TableStyle.FloatCell = True

' Set mode for calculating the float cells
Me.gridControl1.FloatCellsMode = GridFloatCellsMode.OnDemandCalculation

Preventing Cells from Being Flooded

To prevent the specific cell from being flooded by another cell, FloodCell can be disabled for that cell.

C#

// Set mode for calculating the float cells
this.gridControl1.FloatCellsMode = GridFloatCellsMode.OnDemandCalculation;

//Specifies Cell Text.
this.gridControl1[2, 3].Text = "This is a text that floats over several cells.";
this.gridControl1[4, 3].Text = "This is a text that floats over several cells.";
this.gridControl1[6, 3].Text = "This is a text that floats over several cells.";
this.gridControl1[4, 5].Text = "3.14159";

//Code to prevent cell(5,2) from being flooded.
this.gridControl1[6, 4].FloodCell = false;

VB.NET

' Set mode for calculating the float cells
Me.gridControl1.FloatCellsMode = GridFloatCellsMode.OnDemandCalculation

'Specifies Cell Text.
Me.gridControl1(2, 3).Text = "This is a text that floats over several cells."
Me.gridControl1(4, 3).Text = "This is a text that floats over several cells."
Me.gridControl1(6, 3).Text = "This is a text that floats over several cells."
Me.gridControl1(4, 5).Text = "3.14159"

'Code to prevent cell(5,2) from being flooded.
Me.gridControl1(6, 4).FloodCell = False

Finding a Floating Range of a Cell

The FloatingCells collection maintains the all the floating ranges of a GridControl. To find a floating range of a cell, FindRange method can be used. If the specified cell with row index and column index is inside a floating range, a range will be returned. Otherwise it will return the empty range.

C#

// Finding a FloatRange for cell(4,4)
GridRangeInfo floatRange = this.gridControl1.Model.FloatingCells.FindRange(4, 4);

// Finding a FloatRange for cell(7,9)
GridRangeInfo floatRange2 = this.gridControl1.Model.FloatingCells.FindRange(7, 9);
MessageBox.Show("Float range for cell(4,4) is " + floatRange.Info.ToString()
+ "\n" + "Float range for cell(7,9) is " + floatRange2.RangeType.ToString());

VB.NET

' Finding a FloatRange for cell(4,4)
Dim floatRange As GridRangeInfo = Me.gridControl1.Model.FloatingCells.FindRange(4, 4)

' Finding a FloatRange for cell(7,9)
Dim floatRange2 As GridRangeInfo = Me.gridControl1.Model.FloatingCells.FindRange(7, 9)
MessageBox.Show("Float range for cell(4,4) is " & floatRange.Info.ToString() & Constants.vbLf & "Float range for cell(7,9) is " & floatRange2.RangeType.ToString())

NOTE

The merged range of a cell can also be determined by using GetSpannedRangeInfo method instead of using FindRange method.

Delaying and Evaluating the Floating cells

The floating of cells can be delayed for specified range of cells to be re-evaluated later using DelayFloatCells and those delayed floating cells can be re-evaluated later by using EvaluateFloatingCells methods. So floating cells which are delayed will not be re-evaluated until EvaluateFloatingCells method is called for that specified range.

C#

// Delaying the floating of cells for specified range
this.gridControl1.FloatingCells.DelayFloatCells(GridRangeInfo.Rows(1, 3));

// Re-evaluating of floating cells
this.gridControl1.FloatingCells.EvaluateFloatingCells(GridRangeInfo.Rows(1, 3));

VB.NET

' Delaying the floating of cells for specified range
Me.gridControl1.FloatingCells.DelayFloatCells(GridRangeInfo.Rows(1, 3))

' Re-evaluating of floating cells
Me.gridControl1.FloatingCells.EvaluateFloatingCells(GridRangeInfo.Rows(1, 3))

Locking and Unlocking of Evaluating

The Evaluating of cells can be temporarily stopped and restarted for evaluating using LockEvaluate and UnlockEvaluate methods.

C#

//Temporarily locking the cells to be floated
this.gridControl1.FloatingCells.LockEvaluate();

//Unlocking the cells which are all locked for floating
this.gridControl1.FloatingCells.UnlockEvaluate();

VB.NET

'Temporarily locking the cells to be floated
Me.gridControl1.FloatingCells.LockEvaluate()

'Unlocking the cells which are all locked for floating
Me.gridControl1.FloatingCells.UnlockEvaluate()