Pivot Columns in Windows Forms Pivot Grid

21 Jan 20254 minutes to read

Pivot columns are defined by using the PivotItem object which holds the information needed for columns that appear in the pivot grid control.

Defining pivot columns using pivot items

To define a pivot column item, the following properties of PivotItem object are used.

Property Name	Description	Type
Comparer	Gets or sets the IComparer object used for sorting. If this value is null, then sorting will be performed under the assumption that this field is IComparable.	IComparer
FieldHeader	Gets or sets the title you want to see in the header for this pivot item.	string
FieldMappingName	Gets or sets the property's mapping name.	string
Format	Gets or sets the format item for the specified field.	string
TotalHeader	Gets or sets the string you want to append to the pivot item's summary cells.	string

Refer to the below code sample for adding pivot column item in the pivot grid control.

C#

// Defining pivot item
PivotItem pivotItem = new PivotItem() { FieldHeader = "Country", FieldMappingName = "Country", TotalHeader = "Total" };

// Adding pivot column item to pivot grid
this.pivotGridControl1.PivotColumns.Add(pivotItem);

VB.NET

' Defining pivot item
Dim pivotItem As New PivotItem() With {.FieldHeader = "Country", .FieldMappingName = "Country", .TotalHeader = "Total"}

' Adding pivot column item to pivot grid
Me.pivotGridControl1.PivotColumns.Add(pivotItem)

Synchronizing pivot columns

To synchronize the newly added or modified pivot column items with the pivot grid control, the SynchronizePivotItems method will be used. This method will be invoked whenever the collection of pivot column items gets changed.

Sorting pivot columns

By default, the pivot grid control sorts the column data in ascending order. The sorting order can be changed by defining custom comparer and it needs to be assigned using the Comparer property of corresponding pivot item.

Refer to the below code sample to define comparer for sorting the column data in descending order.

C#

public partial class Form1 : Form
{
    public Form1()
    {
        ......
        this.pivotGridControl1.PivotColumns.Add(new PivotItem { FieldMappingName = "Country", Comparer = new ReverseOrderComparer() });
        ......
    }
}

// Reverse order comparer for sorting the data in descending order
public class ReverseOrderComparer : IComparer
{
   public int Compare(object x, object y)
   {
      if (x == null && y == null)
         return 0;
      else if (y == null)
         return 1;
      else if (x == null)
         return -1;
      else
         return -x.ToString().CompareTo(y.ToString());
   }
}

VB.NET

Partial Public Class Form1
    Inherits Form
    Public Sub New()
        .....
        Me.pivotGridControl1.PivotColumns.Add(New PivotItem With {.FieldMappingName = "Country", .Comparer = New ReverseOrderComparer()})
        .....
    End Sub
End Class

' Reverse order comparer for sorting the data in descending order
Public Class ReverseOrderComparer
    Inherits IComparer

    Public Function Compare(ByVal x As Object, ByVal y As Object) As Integer
        If x Is Nothing AndAlso y Is Nothing Then
            Return 0
        ElseIf y Is Nothing Then
            Return 1
        ElseIf x Is Nothing Then
            Return -1
        Else
            Return -x.ToString().CompareTo(y.ToString())
        End If
    End Function
End Class