How to: Get the Selected Cells, Rows, and Columns in the Windows Forms DataGridView Control

You can get the selected cells, rows, or columns from a DataGridView control by using the corresponding properties: SelectedCells, SelectedRows, and SelectedColumns. In the following procedures, you will get the selected cells and display their row and column indexes in a MessageBox.

To get the selected cells in a DataGridView control

• Use the SelectedCells property.

  Note

  Use the AreAllCellsSelected method to avoid showing a potentially large number of cells.

  private void selectedCellsButton_Click(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
  {
      Int32 selectedCellCount =
          dataGridView1.GetCellCount(DataGridViewElementStates.Selected);
      if (selectedCellCount > 0)
      {
          if (dataGridView1.AreAllCellsSelected(true))
          {
              MessageBox.Show("All cells are selected", "Selected Cells");
          }
          else
          {
              System.Text.StringBuilder sb =
                  new System.Text.StringBuilder();
  
              for (int i = 0;
                  i < selectedCellCount; i++)
              {
                  sb.Append("Row: ");
                  sb.Append(dataGridView1.SelectedCells[i].RowIndex
                      .ToString());
                  sb.Append(", Column: ");
                  sb.Append(dataGridView1.SelectedCells[i].ColumnIndex
                      .ToString());
                  sb.Append(Environment.NewLine);
              }
  
              sb.Append("Total: " + selectedCellCount.ToString());
              MessageBox.Show(sb.ToString(), "Selected Cells");
          }
      }
  }
  

To get the selected rows in a DataGridView control

• Use the SelectedRows property. To enable users to select rows, you must set the SelectionMode property to FullRowSelect or RowHeaderSelect.

  private void selectedRowsButton_Click(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
  {
      Int32 selectedRowCount =
          dataGridView1.Rows.GetRowCount(DataGridViewElementStates.Selected);
      if (selectedRowCount > 0)
      {
          System.Text.StringBuilder sb = new System.Text.StringBuilder();
  
          for (int i = 0; i < selectedRowCount; i++)
          {
              sb.Append("Row: ");
              sb.Append(dataGridView1.SelectedRows[i].Index.ToString());
              sb.Append(Environment.NewLine);
          }
  
          sb.Append("Total: " + selectedRowCount.ToString());
          MessageBox.Show(sb.ToString(), "Selected Rows");
      }
  }
  

To get the selected columns in a DataGridView control

• Use the SelectedColumns property. To enable users to select columns, you must set the SelectionMode property to FullColumnSelect or ColumnHeaderSelect.

  private void selectedColumnsButton_Click(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
  {
      Int32 selectedColumnCount = dataGridView1.Columns
          .GetColumnCount(DataGridViewElementStates.Selected);
      if (selectedColumnCount > 0)
      {
          System.Text.StringBuilder sb = new System.Text.StringBuilder();
  
          for (int i = 0; i < selectedColumnCount; i++)
          {
              sb.Append("Column: ");
              sb.Append(dataGridView1.SelectedColumns[i].Index
                  .ToString());
              sb.Append(Environment.NewLine);
          }
  
          sb.Append("Total: " + selectedColumnCount.ToString());
          MessageBox.Show(sb.ToString(), "Selected Columns");
      }
  }
  

Compiling the Code

This example requires:

• Button controls named selectedCellsButton, selectedRowsButton, and selectedColumnsButton, each with handlers for the Click event attached.

• A DataGridView control named dataGridView1.

• References to the System, System.Windows.Forms, and System.Text assemblies.

Robust Programming

The collections described in this topic do not perform efficiently when large numbers of cells, rows, or columns are selected. For more information about using these collections with large amounts of data, see Best Practices for Scaling the Windows Forms DataGridView Control.

See also

• DataGridView
• SelectionMode
• AreAllCellsSelected
• SelectedCells
• SelectedRows
• SelectedColumns
• Selection and Clipboard Use with the Windows Forms DataGridView Control