In this video you’ll learn how to get started
with the DevExpress Winforms Grid Control. Locate the GridControl component in the DX:
Data & Analytics tab on the Visual Studio toolbox and drop it onto the form. Let’s now use the grid to show data from
an SQL Server database. First, choose a Data Source type. Select the “Database” and click Next to
proceed. In “Choose a Database Model” select “Dataset”
and click Next. Click the “New Connection” button to create
a new Database connection. By default, the Data Source type is set to
Microsoft Access Database File. Let’s click the “Change” button and
choose a Microsoft SQL Server. In the dialog that appears, choose a server
name and a Database to connect to. In this example we use the sample Adventure
Works database file. You can click “Test Connection” to check
the connection. And Finally, click the “Ok” button. Now all you have to do is to choose a data
table for the Grid to display. Let’s select the “Employees” table. Let’s uncheck the columns we won’t need
and click the “Ok” button. And that's it, lets run the application to
see the result. Now you can see that the Grid is ready to
go with automatically generated columns and populated data. You get a fully functional Grid Control without
writing a single line of code. End users can arrange and resize columns as
they desire. To sort data against a column, click this
column's header Click again to revert sorting order (ascending to descending). To apply a filter, click the filter button
within the required column header. Note that the filter panel at the bottom allows
you to customize the filter criteria even further. Not only can you modify Grid Columns, but
you can group Grid Data by specific columns. To do so, drag the required column to the
GridView's header. Now all your data is grouped by this column,
"Title" in our case. End-users can also search for records containing
required entries via the Find Panel. To invoke this panel, press the Ctrl+F shortcut. These are just a few of the data shaping capabilities
provided by the DevExpress WinForms Grid. Note that if you select the grid control,
you can only access the settings that specify the control’s positioning on the form and
other generic control settings. The grid displays data and enables end-user
interaction via View objects – so you need to select the View to customize how the grid
looks and behaves. Click the View to display its properties within
the Properties window. The GridView's main settings are grouped into
several categories for your convenience. For example, the OptionsFind section contains
properties related to the Search Panel that we can enable by default by toggling the corresponding
option. The OptionsBehavior section allows you to
fine-tune various functionality aspects of the grid. To customize element visibility and layout,
use the OptionsView section For example, set the ColumnAutoWidth property to false to disable
automatic column width adjustment to the View width. To customize specific column settings, select
a column and modify the required properties in the Properties window. For example, you can anchor a column to the
left or right edge, so it never moves while scrolling through the Grid. Yet another way to customize grid settings
is via the Property Editor dialog. To invoke the dialog click the corresponding
link within the Grid Controls smart tag. Let’s group our data by the Title column. To add a summary item, invoke the Grid designer
switch to the "Group Summary Items" tab and click the "+" button. Let's set the "Field Name" property to "Title". Our data is grouped by this column, so leave
the "ShowInGroupColumnFooter" property unchanged. Finally, set the "Summary Type" property to
"Count". And lets run the application to see the result. Each group now contains a summary item that
displays the record count for each group. You can use Smart Tags to access key properties
of various grid elements – such as columns. Let’s use this feature to specify in-place
data editors for column cells. Select a column, click the smart tag and locate
the "Column Edit" property. Here you can choose a previously used editor
type or create a new one. Let's click the "New" node and select the
required item from the list.. Set a “TextEdit” editor for the HireDate
column and then use the Properties window to access editor settings. You’ll see editor settings under the ColumnEdit
property, where you can specify the edit mask and display format for the recently assigned
Text Editor. Now lets use the Level Designer in the bottom-right
corner of the grid to change the grid’s data display format. Convert the GridView to LayoutView This View
type will display separate cards for each record. You can change the cards layout via corresponding
buttons at the View's top - one card, multiple cards, carousel etc. Some GridControl's features are not View-specific
and can be used in multiple or all Views. For example, the Find Panel invoked via the
Ctrl+F hotkey allows you to search for records containing specific strings. Now you’ve learned all the basic ways to
customize the Grid Control. Explore the level navigator, view and column
settings and the Property Editor dialog to find more settings. Learn even more at the DevExpress Documentation
Center at help.devexpress.com. Thanks for watching and thank you for choosing
DevExpress.
