Hi Reachrishikh,

> 1) Get the datagrid control to show up in my toolbox in Visual Basic 2008 Express.

Right click on Toolbox and select "Choose Items". In the Choose Toolbox Items dialog, switch to the .NET Framework Components tab. In the Filter textbox type "DataGrid" and then select the checkbox before DataGrid in the Global Assembly Cache. Click OK to close this dialog and the DataGrid control is added to Toolbox.

> 2) And if it really isn't much of a hassle, then how do you nest the two datagrids within one another?

I haven't heard that we can nesta DataGrid within another DataGrid. But it's true that DataGrid can show parent/child tables at the same time.

The key points of hosting a custom control in DataGridView cells are as follows:
1. Implemen the IDataGridViewEditingControl interface on the custom control to get it ready to be hosted. Through implementing the IDataGridViewEditingControl, the custom control knows how to get cell value and initialize itself and pass the value back to the cell.
2. Create a new type DataGridView cell to host the custom control.
3. Create a new type DataGridView column to contain the above custom DataGridView cell.

If you want a sample on how to host a DataGridView to DataGridView cell, I can send you. Please send an email to v-lliu@microsoft.com to let me know your email address and then I can send it to you.

Sincerely,
Linda Liu

Hi Reachrishikh,

Actually, the "bug" you mentioned in my sample project is by design : ) I just take it as an example to regard the row count of the hosted DataGridView as the value of the derived DataGridViewColumn. You need to modify it to meet your requirement.

> I want it to return the contents of the nested grid as a grid.

You need to draw the grid in the cell by yourself. To do this, change the base type of the NestedDGVCell to DataGridViewCell and override the Paint method to draw the nested grid.

The following is a sample:

Hi Reachrishikh,

I don't know why you want to nest a DataGridView inside another DataGridView, but it's possible to host any control to DataGridView cells.

See the following sample to get started:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/7tas5c80(VS.80).aspx

Hope this helps.

If you have any question, please feel free to let us know.

Sincerely,
Linda Liu

I'm at a loss! I'm not much good with user-interface design.

I tried my best to mofify the code in the link posted by Linda Liu to reflect the datagridview control instead of datetimepicker, but so far, I have absolutelyno idea what I have done.

Am I on the right track, or should I give up the idea of trying to code it myself, and start looking for third-party controls that do this thing?

Infact, I just realised, I don't even need to have a custom datagridview column in the form of another datagridview. Since any control can be hosted in datagridview cells, I can even solve my problem by using a listbox.

If putting in a datagridview inside a datagridview cell is too much of a hassle, could someone please help me with putting in a listbox instead? Would be really grateful.

Hi Reachrishikh,

You're on the right track to embed a DataGridView to another DataGridView cells. I assume your problem so far is that you don't "see" a nested DataGridView shows in a cell whenthis cellis in edit mode. In fact, the nested DataGridView is shown in the cell, but it has no columns in it so it seems as if it is not shown.

In the override InitializeEditingControl method within the NestedDgvCell class, add some columns in the hosted editing control, i.e. DataGridView. For example:

Public Class NestedDgvCell
Inherits DataGridViewTextBoxCell

Public Overrides Sub InitializeEditingControl(ByVal rowIndex As Integer, _
ByVal initialFormattedValue As Object, _
ByVal dataGridViewCellStyle As DataGridViewCellStyle)

' Set the value of the editing control to the current cell value.
MyBase.InitializeEditingControl(rowIndex, initialFormattedValue, _
dataGridViewCellStyle)

' add some columns to the hosted DataGridView
Dim ctrl As DataGridView = DataGridView.EditingControl
If ctrl.Columns.Count = 0 Then
ctrl.Columns.Add("column1", "column 1")
ctrl.Columns.Add("column2", "column 2")
End If

End Sub

...

End Class

You can use the same way to host a ListBox in DataGridView cells.

Hope this helps.
If you have any question, please feel free to let me know.

Sincerely,
Linda Liu

Hi Reachrishikh,

There're several methods in the IDataGridViewEditingControl interface that you must implement. What you can do is to follow the indication VS gives you to "fix" the problem. You can refer to the sample I provided in my first replyto implement the IDataGridViewEditingControl interface in your application.

If you have any question, please feel free to let me know.

Sincerely,
Linda Liu

Hi,
I told you, I'm totally in the blind here, this isn't familiar territory, I'm blindly copying and pasting code without having a clue as to what I'm doing. I really don't know how to solve those issues I mentioned I'm having, not with the help of the sample either. Otherwise I wouldn't have posted here.

I tried adding the line
Implements RepositionEditingControlOnValueChange
before the line
Implements IDataGridViewEditingControl
in order to solve the first issue, but it still gives me another blue squiggly line.

A little more detailed help will be greatly appreciated.

I've heard that it's easier to nest grids in the datagrid control rather than with the datagridview control. Could you please tell me how to
1) Get the datagrid control to show up in my toolbox in Visual Basic 2008 Express.
2) And if it really isn't much of a hassle, then how do you nest the two datagrids within one another?

Hi Reachrishikh,

> 1) Get the datagrid control to show up in my toolbox in Visual Basic 2008 Express.

Right click on Toolbox and select "Choose Items". In the Choose Toolbox Items dialog, switch to the .NET Framework Components tab. In the Filter textbox type "DataGrid" and then select the checkbox before DataGrid in the Global Assembly Cache. Click OK to close this dialog and the DataGrid control is added to Toolbox.

> 2) And if it really isn't much of a hassle, then how do you nest the two datagrids within one another?

I haven't heard that we can nesta DataGrid within another DataGrid. But it's true that DataGrid can show parent/child tables at the same time.

The key points of hosting a custom control in DataGridView cells are as follows:
1. Implemen the IDataGridViewEditingControl interface on the custom control to get it ready to be hosted. Through implementing the IDataGridViewEditingControl, the custom control knows how to get cell value and initialize itself and pass the value back to the cell.
2. Create a new type DataGridView cell to host the custom control.
3. Create a new type DataGridView column to contain the above custom DataGridView cell.

If you want a sample on how to host a DataGridView to DataGridView cell, I can send you. Please send an email to v-lliu@microsoft.com to let me know your email address and then I can send it to you.

Sincerely,
Linda Liu

Hi Reachrishikh,

Actually, the "bug" you mentioned in my sample project is by design : ) I just take it as an example to regard the row count of the hosted DataGridView as the value of the derived DataGridViewColumn. You need to modify it to meet your requirement.

> I want it to return the contents of the nested grid as a grid.

You need to draw the grid in the cell by yourself. To do this, change the base type of the NestedDGVCell to DataGridViewCell and override the Paint method to draw the nested grid.

The following is a sample:

Hi Reachrishikh,

When Irun my application,I don't get the error you mentioned.
> Now how do I connect this datatable to the subprocedure SetupDGVToDraw?

The DataTable should be created outside of the DataGridView. You just need to assign the DataTable to the Value property of the NestedDGVCell.

I send the modified sample project to your mail box. The sample application runs fine on my side. If you have any question, please feel freeto let me know.

Sincerely,
Linda Liu

Thanks, that makes a lot of sense now. I was setting the datasourcepropertyof the nested datagridview so far, instead of setting the value property.


Okay, it's working. But if I set the value property of the nested datagridview to a datatable, then I can't populate my outside datagridviewby setting its datasource toa second datatable. It gives me the error again on the same line of code:
If TypeOf (Value) Is DataTable Then
"Specified argument was out of the range of valid values. Parameter name: rowIndex"

Hi Reachrishikh,

I have modified the sample project to bind the DataGridView to a data source. It woks well on my side. I send the modified sample project to your mail box.

Thanks,
Linda Liu

I now have a fully functional nested datagridview, thanks solely to your help. Thank you very much.
You don't know how many people, not just me, you have helped by providing this solution.
In searching for a nested datagridview, I came across many people like me who are looking for the same thing.

I am not going to take any credit for this datagridview column, this is all you.

I think you should put it up somewhere like sourceforge, that way it could help a lot more people.

I have another question, although this is largely cosmetic.
We are setting the columns in the nesteddatagridview here:

If TypeOf (Value) Is DataTable Then
dgv.Columns.Clear()
For Each column As DataColumn In CType(Value, DataTable).Columns
dgv.Columns.Add(column.ColumnName, column.ColumnName)
Next
.....
End If

So here we can only set the column name and header text for the column.
How do I set other properties for the columns created here such as the width, and defaultcellstyle.format?