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How to: Bind data to the Windows Forms DataGridView control

  • Article
  • 11/06/2020

The DataGridView control supports the standard Windows Forms data binding model, so it can bind to a variety of data sources. Usually, you bind to a BindingSource that manages the interaction with the data source. The BindingSource can be any Windows Forms data source, which gives you great flexibility when choosing or modifying your data's location. For more information about data sources the DataGridView control supports, see the DataGridView control overview.

Visual Studio has extensive support for data binding to the DataGridView control. For more information, see How to: Bind data to the Windows Forms DataGridView control using the Designer.

To connect a DataGridView control to data:

  1. Implement a method to handle the details of retrieving the data. The following code example implements a GetData method that initializes a SqlDataAdapter, and uses it to populate a DataTable. It then binds the DataTable to the BindingSource.

  2. In the form's Load event handler, bind the DataGridView control to the BindingSource, and call the GetData method to retrieve the data.

Example

This complete code example retrieves data from a database to populate a DataGridView control in a Windows form. The form also has buttons to reload data and submit changes to the database.

This example requires:

  • Access to a Northwind SQL Server sample database. For more information about installing the Northwind sample database, see Get the sample databases for ADO.NET code samples.

  • References to the System, System.Windows.Forms, System.Data, and System.Xml assemblies.

To build and run this example, paste the code into the Form1 code file in a new Windows Forms project. For information about building from the C# or Visual Basic command line, see Command-line building with csc.exe or Build from the command line.

Populate the connectionString variable in the example with the values for your Northwind SQL Server sample database connection. Windows Authentication, also called integrated security, is a more secure way to connect to the database than storing a password in the connection string. For more information about connection security, see Protect connection information.

using System;
using System.Data;
using System.Data.SqlClient;
using System.Globalization;
using System.Windows.Forms;

namespace WindowsFormsApp
{
    public partial class Form1 : Form
    {
        public Form1()
        {
            InitializeComponent();
        }
    }
}
public class Form1 : Form
{
    private DataGridView dataGridView1 = new DataGridView();
    private BindingSource bindingSource1 = new BindingSource();
    private SqlDataAdapter dataAdapter = new SqlDataAdapter();
    private Button reloadButton = new Button();
    private Button submitButton = new Button();

    [STAThread()]
    public static void Main()
    {
        Application.Run(new Form1());
    }

    // Initialize the form.
    public Form1()
    {
        dataGridView1.Dock = DockStyle.Fill;

        reloadButton.Text = "Reload";
        submitButton.Text = "Submit";
        reloadButton.Click += new EventHandler(ReloadButton_Click);
        submitButton.Click += new EventHandler(SubmitButton_Click);

        FlowLayoutPanel panel = new FlowLayoutPanel
        {
            Dock = DockStyle.Top,
            AutoSize = true
        };
        panel.Controls.AddRange(new Control[] { reloadButton, submitButton });

        Controls.AddRange(new Control[] { dataGridView1, panel });
        Load += new EventHandler(Form1_Load);
        Text = "DataGridView data binding and updating demo";
    }

    private void GetData(string selectCommand)
    {
        try
        {
            // Specify a connection string.
            // Replace <SQL Server> with the SQL Server for your Northwind sample database.
            // Replace "Integrated Security=True" with user login information if necessary.
            String connectionString =
                "Data Source=<SQL Server>;Initial Catalog=Northwind;" +
                "Integrated Security=True";

            // Create a new data adapter based on the specified query.
            dataAdapter = new SqlDataAdapter(selectCommand, connectionString);

            // Create a command builder to generate SQL update, insert, and
            // delete commands based on selectCommand.
            SqlCommandBuilder commandBuilder = new SqlCommandBuilder(dataAdapter);

            // Populate a new data table and bind it to the BindingSource.
            DataTable table = new DataTable
            {
                Locale = CultureInfo.InvariantCulture
            };
            dataAdapter.Fill(table);
            bindingSource1.DataSource = table;

            // Resize the DataGridView columns to fit the newly loaded content.
            dataGridView1.AutoResizeColumns(
                DataGridViewAutoSizeColumnsMode.AllCellsExceptHeader);
        }
        catch (SqlException)
        {
            MessageBox.Show("To run this example, replace the value of the " +
                "connectionString variable with a connection string that is " +
                "valid for your system.");
        }
    }

    private void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        // Bind the DataGridView to the BindingSource
        // and load the data from the database.
        dataGridView1.DataSource = bindingSource1;
        GetData("select * from Customers");
    }

    private void ReloadButton_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        // Reload the data from the database.
        GetData(dataAdapter.SelectCommand.CommandText);
    }

    private void SubmitButton_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        // Update the database with changes.
        dataAdapter.Update((DataTable)bindingSource1.DataSource);
    }
}

See also

Additional resources