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

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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");
        }
    }
}

    Private Sub selectedCellsButton_Click( _
    ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) _
    Handles selectedCellsButton.Click

    Dim selectedCellCount As Integer = _
        dataGridView1.GetCellCount(DataGridViewElementStates.Selected)

    If selectedCellCount > 0 Then

        If dataGridView1.AreAllCellsSelected(True) Then

            MessageBox.Show("All cells are selected", "Selected Cells")

        Else

            Dim sb As New System.Text.StringBuilder()

            Dim i As Integer
            For i = 0 To selectedCellCount - 1

                sb.Append("Row: ")
                sb.Append(dataGridView1.SelectedCells(i).RowIndex _
                    .ToString())
                sb.Append(", Column: ")
                sb.Append(dataGridView1.SelectedCells(i).ColumnIndex _
                    .ToString())
                sb.Append(Environment.NewLine)

            Next i

            sb.Append("Total: " + selectedCellCount.ToString())
            MessageBox.Show(sb.ToString(), "Selected Cells")

        End If

    End If

End Sub

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");
    }
}

    Private Sub selectedRowsButton_Click( _
    ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) _
    Handles selectedRowsButton.Click

    Dim selectedRowCount As Integer = _
        dataGridView1.Rows.GetRowCount(DataGridViewElementStates.Selected)

    If selectedRowCount > 0 Then

        Dim sb As New System.Text.StringBuilder()

        Dim i As Integer
        For i = 0 To selectedRowCount - 1

            sb.Append("Row: ")
            sb.Append(dataGridView1.SelectedRows(i).Index.ToString())
            sb.Append(Environment.NewLine)

        Next i

        sb.Append("Total: " + selectedRowCount.ToString())
        MessageBox.Show(sb.ToString(), "Selected Rows")

    End If

End Sub

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");
    }
}

    Private Sub selectedColumnsButton_Click( _
    ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) _
    Handles selectedColumnsButton.Click

    Dim selectedColumnCount As Integer = dataGridView1.Columns _
        .GetColumnCount(DataGridViewElementStates.Selected)

    If selectedColumnCount > 0 Then

        Dim sb As New System.Text.StringBuilder()

        Dim i As Integer
        For i = 0 To selectedColumnCount - 1

            sb.Append("Column: ")
            sb.Append(dataGridView1.SelectedColumns(i).Index.ToString())
            sb.Append(Environment.NewLine)

        Next i

        sb.Append("Total: " + selectedColumnCount.ToString())
        MessageBox.Show(sb.ToString(), "Selected Columns")

    End If

End Sub

Compiling the Code

This example requires:

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