Search in WPF DataGrid (SfDataGrid)

2 Aug 202315 minutes to read

WPF DataGrid control allows you to search the data displayed in the SfDataGrid. You can search the data by using SearchHelper.Search method.

C#
this.dataGrid.SearchHelper.Search(TextBox.Text);

Filtering

You can enable filter based on search by setting SearchHelper.AllowFiltering property to true.

C#
this.dataGrid.SearchHelper.AllowFiltering = true;
this.dataGrid.SearchHelper.Search(TextBox.Text);

You can search the data with the case-sensitivity by setting SearchHelper.AllowCaseSensitiveSearch property.

C#
this.dataGrid.SearchHelper.AllowCaseSensitiveSearch = true;

Changing Search Highlight Background

In WPF DataGrid (SfDatagrid), you can change the search text highlighting color by setting SearchHelper.SearchBrush property.

C#
this.dataGrid.SearchHelper.SearchBrush = Brushes.Green;
this.dataGrid.SearchHelper.Search(TextBox.Text);

Changing foreground for search highlight

In WPF DataGrid (SfDatagrid), you can change the foreground color for search text by setting the SearchHelper.SearchForegroundBrush property.

C#
this.dataGrid.SearchHelper.SearchForegroundBrush = Brushes.Red;

Navigating cells based on search text

You can navigate to the cells contains the SearchText using SearchHelper.FindNext and SearchHelper.FindPrevious methods.

C#
this.dataGrid.SearchHelper.FindNext("SearchText");
this.dataGrid.SearchHelper.FindPrevious("SearchText");

You can highlight the currently navigated search text using SearchHelper.SearchHighlightBrush property.

C#
this.dataGrid.SearchHelper.SearchHighlightBrush = Brushes.Red;
this.dataGrid.SearchHelper.FindNext("TextBox.Text ");

You can highlight the foreground color of current navigated search text by using the SearchHelper.SearchForegroundHighlightBrush property.

C#
this.dataGrid.SearchHelper.SearchForegroundHighlightBrush = Brushes.Red;

Move CurrentCell when FindNext and FindPrevious

You can move the current cell along with FindNext and FindPrevious operation using MoveCurrentCell method in selection controller.

C#
this.dataGrid.SearchHelper.FindNext("BLONP");            
this.dataGrid.SelectionController.MoveCurrentCell(this.dataGrid.SearchHelper.CurrentRowColumnIndex);

Clear Search

You can clear the search by calling the SearchHelper.ClearSearch method.

C#
this.dataGrid.SearchHelper.ClearSearch();

Search operation on Master-Details View

Master-details view allows you to search the data by using SearchHelper.Search method in the ViewDefinition.DataGrid.

C#
(this.datagrid.DetailsViewDefinition[0] as GridViewDefinition).DataGrid.SearchHelper.Search(TextBox.Text);

Navigating cells based on search text in DetailsViewDataGrid

You can navigate to the cells contains the SearchText using SearchHelper.FindNext and SearchHelper.FindPrevious methods in ViewDefinition.DataGrid.

C#
(this.datagrid.DetailsViewDefinition[0] as GridViewDefinition).DataGrid.SearchHelper.FindNext(SearchBox.Text);
(this.datagrid.DetailsViewDefinition[0] as GridViewDefinition).DataGrid.SearchHelper.FindPrevious(SearchBox.Text);

You can get the sample from here.

NOTE

It is not possible to Navigate with the two DataGrid at a time.

Search customization

WPF DataGrid (SfDataGrid) process the search operations in SearchHelper class. You can change the default search behaviors by overriding SearchHelper class and set to SfDataGrid.SearchHelper.

C#
this.dataGrid.SearchHelper = new SearchHelperExt(this.dataGrid);
public class SearchHelperExt : SearchHelper
{

    public SearchHelperExt(SfDataGrid datagrid)
        : base(datagrid)
    {
    }
}

Search only selected columns

You can search only selected columns by overriding SearchCell method of SearchHelper. In the SearchCell method, based on MappingName you can skip the columns that you don’t want to search.

In the below code, except Quantity column other columns are gets excluded from search.

C#
this.sfgrid.SearchHelper = new SearchHelperExt(this.sfgrid);
this.sfgrid.SearchHelper.Search("5");

public class SearchHelperExt : SearchHelper
{

    public SearchHelperExt(SfDataGrid datagrid)
        : base(datagrid)
    {
    }

    protected override bool SearchCell(DataColumnBase column, object record, bool ApplySearchHighlightBrush)
    {

        if (column.GridColumn.MappingName == "Quantity")
            return base.SearchCell(column, record, ApplySearchHighlightBrush);
        return false;
    }
}

Select the record based on the SearchText

You can select the records which contains the search text by using GetSearchedRecord method.

C#
this.dataGrid.SelectedItems.Clear();
this.dataGrid.SearchHelper.Search("SearchText"); 
var list = this.dataGrid.SearchHelper.GetSearchRecords();
int recordIndex = this.dataGrid.ResolveToRecordIndex(this.dataGrid.ResolveToRowIndex(list[0].Record));
this.dataGrid.SelectedIndex = recordIndex;

Search with the GridComboBoxColumn

You can search the data in SfDataGrid with all the GridColumns which loads TextBlock as display element. To perform the search operation in the GridComboBoxColumn you need to customize the GridComboBoxColumn. As it loads the ContentControl in display mode.

C#
public class ComboBoxColumnExt : GridComboBoxColumn
{

    public ComboBoxColumnExt()
    {
        SetCellType("ComboBoxExt");
    }
    
    protected override Freezable CreateInstanceCore()
    {
        return new ComboBoxColumnExt();
    }
}

You can change the display element of each column by creating new renderer for the particular column and assign to corresponding cell type in SfDataGrid.CellRenderers.

C#
public class ComboBoxRendererExt : GridVirtualizingCellRenderer<TextBlock, ComboBox>
{
 
    public ComboBoxRendererExt()
    {
    }
    
    public override object GetControlValue()
    {
 
        if (!HasCurrentCellState)
            return null;
        return CurrentCellRendererElement.GetValue(IsInEditing ? Selector.SelectedValueProperty : TextBlock.TextProperty);
    }

    // Creates the binding to the Edit-element
 
    private void InitializeEditBinding(ComboBox uiElement, GridColumn column)
    {
        var comboBoxColumn = (GridComboBoxColumn)column;
        var source = comboBoxColumn.ValueBinding as Binding;
 
        // Creates the bind element to the edit-element.
        var bind = new Binding
        {
            Mode = BindingMode.TwoWay,
            Path = source.Path,
            StringFormat = source.StringFormat,
            TargetNullValue = source.TargetNullValue,
            UpdateSourceTrigger = UpdateSourceTrigger.PropertyChanged,
            ValidatesOnExceptions = source.ValidatesOnExceptions,
            AsyncState = source.AsyncState,
            BindingGroupName = source.BindingGroupName,
            IsAsync = source.IsAsync,
            NotifyOnSourceUpdated = source.NotifyOnSourceUpdated,
            NotifyOnTargetUpdated = source.NotifyOnTargetUpdated,
            UpdateSourceExceptionFilter = source.UpdateSourceExceptionFilter,
            XPath = source.XPath
        };
        
        uiElement.SetBinding(ComboBox.SelectedValueProperty, bind);
 
        // Binding the ItemSource to the GridComboBox.
        var itemsSourceBinding = new Binding { Path = new PropertyPath("ItemsSource"), Mode = BindingMode.TwoWay, Source = comboBoxColumn };
        uiElement.SetBinding(ComboBox.ItemsSourceProperty, itemsSourceBinding);
        var displayMemberBinding = new Binding { Path = new PropertyPath("DisplayMemberPath"), Mode = BindingMode.TwoWay, Source = comboBoxColumn };
        uiElement.SetBinding(ComboBox.DisplayMemberPathProperty, displayMemberBinding);
        var selectedValuePathBinding = new Binding { Path = new PropertyPath("SelectedValuePath"), Mode = BindingMode.TwoWay, Source = comboBoxColumn };
        uiElement.SetBinding(ComboBox.SelectedValuePathProperty, selectedValuePathBinding);
        var staysOpenOnEditBinding = new Binding { Path = new PropertyPath("StaysOpenOnEdit"), Mode = BindingMode.TwoWay, Source = comboBoxColumn };
        uiElement.SetBinding(ComboBox.StaysOpenOnEditProperty, staysOpenOnEditBinding);
        var isEditableBinding = new Binding { Path = new PropertyPath("IsEditable"), Mode = BindingMode.TwoWay, Source = comboBoxColumn };
        uiElement.SetBinding(ComboBox.IsEditableProperty, isEditableBinding);                       
        var itemTemplateBinding = new Binding { Path = new PropertyPath("ItemTemplate"), Mode = BindingMode.TwoWay, Source = comboBoxColumn };
        uiElement.SetBinding(ComboBox.ItemTemplateProperty, itemTemplateBinding);
    }

    // This will be invoke when the editing is triggered.
 
    public override void OnInitializeEditElement(DataColumnBase dataColumn, ComboBox uiElement, object dataContext)
    {
        GridColumn column = dataColumn.GridColumn;
        InitializeEditBinding(uiElement, column);
        var textAlignment = new Binding { Path = new PropertyPath("TextAlignment"), Mode = BindingMode.OneWay, Source = column, Converter = new TextAlignmentToHorizontalAlignmentConverter() };
        uiElement.SetBinding(Control.HorizontalContentAlignmentProperty, textAlignment);
        var verticalAlignment = new Binding { Path = new PropertyPath("VerticalAlignment"), Mode = BindingMode.TwoWay, Source = column };
        uiElement.SetBinding(Control.VerticalContentAlignmentProperty, verticalAlignment);           
    }

    // Display Element initialized for required properties

    public override void OnInitializeDisplayElement(Syncfusion.UI.Xaml.Grid.DataColumnBase dataColumn, TextBlock uiElement, object dataContext)
    {
        var column = dataColumn.GridColumn;
        var gridColumn = column as GridComboBoxColumn;
        uiElement.SetBinding(TextBlock.TextProperty, column.DisplayBinding);
        var textAlignment = new Binding { Path = new PropertyPath("TextAlignment"), Mode = BindingMode.OneWay, Source = column, Converter = new TextAlignmentToHorizontalAlignmentConverter() };
        uiElement.SetBinding(Control.HorizontalAlignmentProperty, textAlignment);
        var verticalAlignment = new Binding { Path = new PropertyPath("VerticalAlignment"), Mode = BindingMode.TwoWay, Source = column };
        uiElement.SetBinding(Control.VerticalAlignmentProperty, verticalAlignment);
        uiElement.Margin = new Thickness(3,0,1,0);
    }

    // This Display Binding has to be set with the TextBlock.TextProperty.
 
    private static void SetDisplayBinding(TextBlock element, GridColumn column, object dataContext)
    {
        var customColumn = (ComboBoxColumnExt)column;
        var binding = new Binding
        {
            Path = new PropertyPath(customColumn.MappingName),
            Mode = BindingMode.TwoWay,
            UpdateSourceTrigger = UpdateSourceTrigger.PropertyChanged,
        };
        element.SetBinding(TextBlock.TextProperty, binding);
    }
}