DataGridView - how to set column width?

Question

I have a WinForms application with DataGridView control. My control has five columns (say "Name", "Address", "Phone" etc)

I am not happy with default column width. I want to have more control over column appearance. What I want is to be able to do one of the following:

Set width of each column in percent
Set width of each column in pixels
Use some other best-practive method (make width to fit text etc)

Please suggest - which property to use and how.

score 72 · Accepted Answer · edited Feb 09 '22 at 16:42

72

You can use the DataGridViewColumn.Width property to do it:

DataGridViewColumn column = dataGridView.Columns[0];
column.Width = 60;

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.windows.forms.datagridviewcolumn.width.aspx

edited Feb 09 '22 at 16:42

phoenix

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answered Jan 28 '10 at 11:45

Bhaskar

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Thanks! I just realized why it was not working for me. MSDN says If the specified value when setting this property is less than the value of the MinimumWidth property, the MinimumWidth property value is used instead. – Captain Comic Jan 28 '10 at 11:47
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Yes, width is not available directly to the Grid control, so you use ItemStyle.With to set its property. – Bhaskar Jan 28 '10 at 11:49
To add to this, if working in visual studio, right-click, click edit columns and then scroll down. This property (i.e. column.width) will be there. – James Ashwood Oct 31 '21 at 15:06
How would you do this if you're using a datasource? I set `AutoSizeMode` to None and then changed the width but I get the error `Property not available for that object.`. – Icoryx Oct 14 '22 at 08:53

score 44 · Answer 2 · edited Oct 31 '19 at 07:55

44

The following also can be tried:

DataGridView1.AutoSizeColumnsMode = DataGridViewAutoSizeColumnsMode.DisplayedCells

or use the other setting options in the DataGridViewAutoSizeColumnsMode Enum

edited Oct 31 '19 at 07:55

Cleptus

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answered Oct 20 '11 at 12:21

Mark

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When using the option "Fill" the columns are spread out to fill the full width of the grid. – Fedor Alexander Steeman Dec 22 '14 at 08:18
For those wondering where it can be found on the designer's properties (GUI), it's under **Layout**, not **Appearance**. – General Grievance Apr 19 '23 at 20:57

Mark Lakata · Answer 3 · 2014-09-23T22:16:53.943

Most of the above solutions assume that the parent DateGridView has .AutoSizeMode not equal to Fill. If you set the .AutoSizeMode for the grid to be Fill, you need to set the AutoSizeMode for each column to be None if you want to fix a particular column width (and let the other columns Fill). I found a weird MS exception regarding a null object if you change a Column Width and the .AutoSizeMode is not None first.

This works

chart.AutoSizeMode  = DataGridViewAutoSizeColumnMode.Fill;
... add some columns here
chart.Column[i].AutoSizeMode = DataGridViewAutoSizeColumnMode.None;
chart.Column[i].Width = 60;

This throws a null exception regarding some internal object regarding setting border thickness.

chart.AutoSizeMode  = DataGridViewAutoSizeColumnMode.Fill;
... add some columns here
 // chart.Column[i].AutoSizeMode = DataGridViewAutoSizeColumnMode.None;
chart.Column[i].Width = 60;

score 21 · Answer 4 · answered May 23 '16 at 14:24

I know this is an old question but no one ever answered the first part, to set width in percent. That can easily be done with FillWeight (MSDN). In case anyone else searching comes across this answer.

You can set DataGridAutoSizeColumnMode to Fill in the designer. By default that gives each column FillWeight of 100. Then in code behind, on FormLoad event or after binding data to grid, you can simply:

gridName.Columns[0].FillWeight = 200;
gridName.Columns[1].FillWeight = 50;

And so on, for whatever proportional weight you want. If you want to do every single column with numbers that add up to 100, for a literal percent width, you can do that too.

It gives a nice full DataGrid where the headers use the whole space, even if the user resizes the window. Looks good on widescreen, 4:3, whatever.

score 10 · Answer 5 · answered Jan 28 '10 at 11:47

Regarding your final bullet

make width fit the text

You can experiment with the .AutoSizeMode of your DataGridViewColumn, setting it to one of these values:

None
AllCells
AllCellsExceptHeader
DisplayedCells
DisplayedCellsExceptHeader
ColumnHeader
Fill

More info on the MSDN page

kindaska · Answer 6 · 2012-04-05T10:52:30.077

i suggest to give a width to all the grid's columns like this :

DataGridViewTextBoxColumn col = new DataGridViewTextBoxColumn();
col.HeaderText = "phone"            
col.Width = 120;
col.DataPropertyName = (if you use a datasource)
thegrid.Columns.Add(col);

and for the main(or the longest) column(let's say address) do this :

col = new DataGridViewTextBoxColumn();
col.HeaderText = "address";
col.Width = 120;

tricky part

col.MinimumWidth = 120;
col.AutoSizeMode = DataGridViewAutoSizeColumnMode.Fill;

tricky part

col.DataPropertyName = (same as above)
thegrid.Columns.Add(col);

In this way, if you stretch the form (and the grid is "dock filled" in his container) the main column, in this case the address column, takes all the space available, but it never goes less than col.MinimumWidth, so it's the only one that is resized.

I use it, when i have a grid and its last column is used for display an image (like icon detail or icon delete..) and it doesn't have the header and it has to be always the smallest one.

score 3 · Answer 7 · edited Oct 29 '12 at 06:41

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public static void ArrangeGrid(DataGridView Grid)
{ 
    int twidth=0;
    if (Grid.Rows.Count > 0)
    {
        twidth = (Grid.Width * Grid.Columns.Count) / 100;
        for (int i = 0; i < Grid.Columns.Count; i++)
            {
            Grid.Columns[i].Width = twidth;
            }

    }
}

edited Oct 29 '12 at 06:41

Himanshu

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answered Feb 13 '12 at 12:57

santosh

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score 2 · Answer 8 · answered Apr 01 '14 at 07:28

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DataGridView1.Columns.Item("Adress").Width = 60
    DataGridView1.Columns.Item("Phone").Width = 30
    DataGridView1.Columns.Item("Name").Width = 40
    DataGridView1.Columns.Item("Etc.").Width = 30

answered Apr 01 '14 at 07:28

Schpenn

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This works just great in VB.net WinForms. It helped me after 5 years. Thanks. – Danniel Little Mar 13 '19 at 21:26

score 2 · Answer 9 · edited Feb 23 '12 at 19:28

2

Use:

yourdataView.AutoResizeColumns(DataGridViewAutoSizeColumnsMode.AllCells);

edited Feb 23 '12 at 19:28

jackJoe

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answered Feb 23 '12 at 18:22

Mahesh

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Nate S. · Answer 10 · 2013-09-12T14:13:14.663

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I you dont want to do it programmatically, you can manipulate to the Column width property, which is located inside the Columns property.Once you open the column edit property you can choose which column you want to edit, scroll down to layout section of the bound column properties and change the width.

edited Sep 12 '13 at 14:13

answered Sep 10 '13 at 17:23

Nate S.

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score 1 · Answer 11 · answered Sep 12 '17 at 06:27

You can set default width and height for all Columns and Rows as below only with one loop.

    // DataGridView Name= dgvMachineStatus

   foreach (DataGridViewColumn column in dgvMachineStatus.Columns)
        {
            column.Width = 155;
        }

   foreach (DataGridViewRow row in dgvMachineStatus.Rows)
        {
            row.Height = 45;
        }

score 0 · Answer 12 · answered Nov 05 '20 at 20:09

0

Use the Columns Property and set the Auto Size Mode to All Cells, Resizable to True, Frozen to False and visible to True.

The column will automatically resize based on the data inserted.

answered Nov 05 '20 at 20:09

Tee Shot

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score 0 · Answer 13 · answered Sep 11 '21 at 09:44

0

simply

dataGridView1.Columns[0].FillWeight = 20;

answered Sep 11 '21 at 09:44

Mahdhiali

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score -3 · Answer 14 · answered Aug 17 '16 at 19:36

or Simply you can go to the form and when you call the data to be displayed you set the property like datagridview1.columns(0).width = 150 datagridview1.columns(1).width = 150 datagridview1.columns(2).width = 150enter code here

So simple worked so fine with me Bro

DataGridView - how to set column width?

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