DataGridViewColumn

The DataGridView control can have several different types of columns depending on what exactly you want to show.

You can access the columns in a DataGridView by using the Columns collection

dgvDataGridView.Columns 

You can access the selected columns by using the SelectedColumns collection

dgvDataGridView.SelectedColumns 

When data is not bound you should create an instance of a column type and then add it to the Columns collection.
When you define a column, you have to specify a cell template on which the column is based.

DataGridViewTextBoxColumn

This column type has a cell template defined for a textbox.
By default this column type has its cell template initialised to a new DataGridViewTextBoxCell.

Setting a Default Value

Inherit a class from DataGridViewColumn and override the DefaultNewRowValue property

Properties

DataGridViewComboBoxColumn

Used to display a drop-down list inside a column of cells.
You can populate the drop-down list either manually or by binding it to a data source through the DataSource, DisplayMember and ValueMember properties.

When you add rows to the datagridview make sure this column is assigned a value from the drop-down list.

Single Click on Drop-Down

It is possible to have the drop-down displayed on a single click rather than 2 clicks.

objDataGridView.EditMode = Windows.Forms.DataGridViewEditMode.EditOnEnter 

Display Drop-Down when you click on cell

objDataGridView_CellEnter() 
   If e.ColumnIndex = 2 Then 
      If Me.objDataGridView(e.ColumnIndex, e.RowIndex).EditType.ToString = _ 
         "System.Windows.Forms.DataGridViewComboBoxEditingControl" Then 
          System.Windows.Forms.SendKeys.Send("{F4}") 
      End If 
   End If 

Properties

Events

DataGridViewComboBoxColumn - Multiple Selection

CellFormatting

SelectionChanged

EditingControlShowing

m_objEditingComboBox = CType(e.Control, Forms.ComboBox) 

AddHandler m_objEditingComboBox.SelectedIndexChanged 
AddHandler m_objEditingComboBox.DropDown 
AddHandler m_objEditingComboBox.DropDownClosed 
AddHandler m_objEditingComboBox.KeyDown 
AddHandler m_objEditingComboBox.KeyUp 

Adding Columns

objdatagridviewcolumn = New System.Windows.Forms.DataGridViewColumn 
objdatagridviewcolumn.Name = "Title" 
objdatagridviewcolumn.Width = 100 
objdatagridviewcolumn.CellTemplate = New System.Windows.Forms.DataGridViewTextBoxCell 
dgvSearchResults.Columns.Add(objdatagridviewcolumn) 

Hiding Columns

The minimum width for a column is 5 and if you need to hide the column completely you can change the visible property in the Columns dialog box.

Sorting with a Particular Column

By default, users can sort the data in a DataGridView control by clicking the header of a text box column.
You can modify the SortMode property of specific columns to allow users to sort by other column types when it makes sense to do so.
You can also sort the data programmatically by any column, or by multiple columns.
The sort mode for each column is specified through the SortMode property of the column, which can be set to one of the following DataGridViewColumnSortMode enumeration values.

You might want to change the sort mode for a column that defaults to NotSortable if it contains values that can be meaningfully ordered.
For example, if you have a database column containing numbers that represent item states, you can display these numbers as corresponding icons by binding an image column to the database column. You can then change the numerical cell values into image display values in a handler for the System.Windows.Forms.DataGridView.CellFormatting event. In this case, setting the SortMode property to Automatic will enable your users to sort the column. Automatic sorting will enable your users to group items that have the same state even if the states corresponding to the numbers do not have a natural sequence. Check box columns are another example where automatic sorting is useful for grouping items in the same state.
You can sort a DataGridView programmatically by the values in any column or in multiple columns, regardless of the SortMode settings. Programmatic sorting is useful when you want to provide your own user interface (UI) for sorting or when you want to implement custom sorting. Providing your own sorting UI is useful, for example, when you set the DataGridView selection mode to enable column header selection. In this case, although the column headers cannot be used for sorting, you still want the headers to display the appropriate sorting glyph, so you would set the SortMode property to Programmatic.

Columns set to programmatic sort mode do not automatically display a sorting glyph. For these columns, you must display the glyph yourself by setting the System.Windows.Forms.DataGridViewColumnHeaderCell.SortGlyphDirection property. This is necessary if you want flexibility in custom sorting. For example, if you sort the DataGridView by multiple columns, you might want to display multiple sorting glyphs or no sorting glyph.

Although you can programmatically sort a DataGridView by any column, some columns, such as button columns, might not contain values that can be meaningfully ordered. For these columns, a SortMode property setting of NotSortable indicates that it will never be used for sorting, so there is no need to reserve space in the header for the sorting glyph.
When a DataGridView is sorted, you can determine both the sort column and the sort order by checking the values of the SortedColumn and SortOrder properties. These values are not meaningful after a custom sorting operation. For more information about custom sorting, see the Custom Sorting section later in this topic.
When a DataGridView control containing both bound and unbound columns is sorted, the values in the unbound columns cannot be maintained automatically. To maintain these values, you must implement virtual mode by setting the VirtualMode property to true and handling the CellValueNeeded and CellValuePushed events. For more information, see How to: Implement Virtual Mode in the Windows Forms DataGridView Control. Sorting by unbound columns in bound mode is not supported.

Programmatic Sorting

You can sort a DataGridView programmatically by calling its Sort method.
The Sort(DataGridViewColumn,ListSortDirection) overload of the Sort method takes a DataGridViewColumn and a ListSortDirection enumeration value as parameters. This overload is useful when sorting by columns with values that can be meaningfully ordered, but which you do not want to configure for automatic sorting. When you call this overload and pass in a column with a SortMode property value of System.Windows.Forms.DataGridViewColumnSortMode.Automatic, the SortedColumn and SortOrder properties are set automatically and the appropriate sorting glyph appears in the column header.

When the DataGridView control is bound to an external data source by setting the DataSource property, the Sort(DataGridViewColumn,ListSortDirection) method overload does not work for unbound columns. Additionally, when the VirtualMode property is true, you can call this overload only for bound columns. To determine whether a column is data-bound, check the IsDataBound property value. Sorting unbound columns in bound mode is not supported.

Custom Sorting

You can customize DataGridView by using the Sort(IComparer) overload of the Sort method or by handling the SortCompare event.

The Sort(IComparer) method overload takes an instance of a class that implements the IComparer interface as a parameter. This overload is useful when you want to provide custom sorting; for example, when the values in a column do not have a natural sort order or when the natural sort order is inappropriate. In this case, you cannot use automatic sorting, but you might still want your users to sort by clicking the column headers. You can call this overload in a handler for the ColumnHeaderMouseClick event if you do not use column headers for selection.
The Sort(IComparer) method overload works only when the DataGridView control is not bound to an external data source and the VirtualMode property value is false. To customize sorting for columns bound to an external data source, you must use the sorting operations provided by the data source. In virtual mode, you must provide your own sorting operations for unbound columns.

As an alternative to the Sort(IComparer) method overload, you can provide custom sorting by implementing a handler for the SortCompare event. This event occurs when users click the headers of columns configured for automatic sorting or when you call the Sort(DataGridViewColumn,ListSortDirection) overload of the Sort method. The event occurs for each pair of rows in the control, enabling you to calculate their correct order.

The SortCompare event does not occur when the DataSource property is set or when the VirtualMode property value is true.

Me.dataGridView1.Columns("Priority").SortMode = DataGridViewColumnSortMode.Automatic   

Sorting by a column - leave the current row highlighted but do not alter the scroll bar
maybe always leave the totoal frozen at the top ?

AllowSorting

This is a property of the DataGridTableStyle and indicates whether sorting is allowed on the grid table.
It has a default value of TRUE.

objDataGridTableStyle.AllowSorting = True 

When the AllowSorting property is True, a triangle appears in each column header indicating the direction of the sort.
The user can click on any column header to sort the grid by that column.
Clicking the column header a second time will automatically sort in the opposite direction.
This property overrides the AllowSorting property of the DataGrid object.

Custom Sorting

You can customise the sorting of your data by using the MouseDown and MouseUp events.

Private mbSortColumn As Boolean 

Private Sub dgrDataGrid_MouseDown(ByVal sender As Object, _ 
                                  ByVal e As System.Windows.Forms.MouseEventArgs) _ 
                                  Handles dgrDataGrid.MouseDown 

   Dim objDataGridHitTestInfo As DataGrid.HitTestInfo 

   'Only use left mouse button clicks as right might have shortcut menu
   If e.Button = MouseButtons.Left Then 
            
      'Perform a hit test to determine where the mousedown event occured.
      objDataGridHitTestInfo = dgrDataGrid.HitTest(e.X, e.Y) 
        
      If objDataGridHitTestInfo.Type = dgrDataGrid.HitTestType.ColumnHeader Then 
          mbSortColumn = True 
      End If 
   End If 
End Sub 

Private Sub dgrDataGrid_MouseUp(ByVal sender As Object, _ 
                                ByVal e As System.Windows.Forms.MouseEventArgs) _ 
                                Handles dgrDataGrid.MouseUp 

   Dim objDataGridHitTestInfo As DataGrid.HitTestInfo 
   Dim objDataTable As DataTable 
   Dim objDataView As DataView 
   Dim scolumnname As String 

        ' Use only left mouse button clicks.
   If e.Button = MouseButtons.Left And 
       mbSortColumn = True Then 

       mbSortColumn = False 'Reset mouse button state  
        
      ' Perform a hit test to determine where the mousedown event occured.
       objDataGridHitTestInfo = dataGrid.HitTest(e.X, e.Y) 
        
       ' If the mousedown event occured on a column header,
       ' then perform the sorting operation.
       If objDataGridHitTestInfo.Type = dgrDataGrid.HitTestType.ColumnHeader Then 

          objDataTable = dgrDataGrid.DataSource 
          objDataView = dgrDataTable.DefaultView 
          scolumnname = dataTable.Columns(hitTest.Column).ColumnName 
        
         ' If the sort property of the DataView is already the current column name, sort that in column descending order.
          ' Otherwise, sort on the column name.
          If dataView.Sort = scolumnname Then 
              dataView.Sort = scolumnname + " DESC" 
          Else 
              dataView.Sort = scolumnname 
          End If 
      End If 
   End If 
End Sub