How to: Format Data in the Windows Forms DataGridView Control

Article
11/06/2020

The following procedures demonstrate basic formatting of cell values using the DefaultCellStyle property of a DataGridView control and of specific columns in a control. For information about advanced data formatting, see How to: Customize Data Formatting in the Windows Forms DataGridView Control.

To format currency and date values

Set the Format property of a DataGridViewCellStyle. The following code example sets the format for specific columns using the DefaultCellStyle property of the columns. Values in the UnitPrice column appear in the current culture-specific currency format, with negative values surrounded by parentheses. Values in the ShipDate column appear in the current culture-specific short date format. For more information about Format values, see Formatting Types.
```
this.dataGridView1.Columns["UnitPrice"].DefaultCellStyle.Format = "c";
this.dataGridView1.Columns["ShipDate"].DefaultCellStyle.Format = "d";
```
```
Me.dataGridView1.Columns("UnitPrice").DefaultCellStyle.Format = "c"
Me.dataGridView1.Columns("ShipDate").DefaultCellStyle.Format = "d"
```

To customize the display of null database values

Set the NullValue property of a DataGridViewCellStyle. The following code example uses the DataGridView.DefaultCellStyle property to display "no entry" in all cells containing values equal to DBNull.Value.
```
this.dataGridView1.DefaultCellStyle.NullValue = "no entry";
```
```
Me.dataGridView1.DefaultCellStyle.NullValue = "no entry"
```

To enable wordwrap in text-based cells

Set the WrapMode property of a DataGridViewCellStyle to one of the DataGridViewTriState enumeration values. The following code example uses the DataGridView.DefaultCellStyle property to set the wrap mode for the entire control.
```
this.dataGridView1.DefaultCellStyle.WrapMode =
    DataGridViewTriState.True;
```
```
Me.dataGridView1.DefaultCellStyle.WrapMode = DataGridViewTriState.True
```

To specify the text alignment of DataGridView cells

Set the Alignment property of a DataGridViewCellStyle to one of the DataGridViewContentAlignment enumeration values. The following code example sets the alignment for a specific column using the DefaultCellStyle property of the column.

this.dataGridView1.Columns["CustomerName"].DefaultCellStyle
    .Alignment = DataGridViewContentAlignment.MiddleRight;

Me.dataGridView1.Columns("CustomerName").DefaultCellStyle _
    .Alignment = DataGridViewContentAlignment.MiddleRight

Example

private void SetFormatting()
{
    this.dataGridView1.Columns["UnitPrice"].DefaultCellStyle.Format = "c";
    this.dataGridView1.Columns["ShipDate"].DefaultCellStyle.Format = "d";
    this.dataGridView1.Columns["CustomerName"].DefaultCellStyle
        .Alignment = DataGridViewContentAlignment.MiddleRight;
    this.dataGridView1.DefaultCellStyle.NullValue = "no entry";
    this.dataGridView1.DefaultCellStyle.WrapMode =
        DataGridViewTriState.True;
}

Private Sub SetFormatting()
    With Me.dataGridView1
        .Columns("UnitPrice").DefaultCellStyle.Format = "c"
        .Columns("ShipDate").DefaultCellStyle.Format = "d"
        .Columns("CustomerName").DefaultCellStyle.Alignment = _
            DataGridViewContentAlignment.MiddleRight
        .DefaultCellStyle.NullValue = "no entry"
        .DefaultCellStyle.WrapMode = DataGridViewTriState.True
    End With
End Sub

Compiling the Code

These examples require:

A DataGridView control named dataGridView1 that contains a column named UnitPrice, a column named ShipDate, and a column named CustomerName.
References to the System, System.Drawing, and System.Windows.Forms assemblies.

Robust Programming

For maximum scalability, you should share DataGridViewCellStyle objects across multiple rows, columns, or cells that use the same styles rather than setting the style properties for each element separately. For more information, see Best Practices for Scaling the Windows Forms DataGridView Control.