Show Placeholder Text in DataGridView Cells

Question

I need to show a placeholder which contains a string in first two columns of the first row of datagrid view in Winforms. The placeholder is to be displayed when the datagrid is empty.

Do you really mean a Label Control? Or do you simply want to set the text value of the two Cells?? — TaW, Nov 03 '16 at 08:55
Actually i'm trying to place the label as a placeholder in those cells.so that if the datagridview is empty i can display it on those cells. — biff, Nov 03 '16 at 09:01
Please change the question title and descriptions based on your new comment. You want to draw place holder text for first 2 columns. Also it seems you don't need a click on button, you just want to show them on cells when the cell is empty. — Reza Aghaei, Nov 03 '16 at 09:10
if there is no data in DGV then the placeholder text(eg: HH:MM:SS) must be displayed in the 2 cells of first row,when the user enters value there placeholder text must be gone. — biff, Nov 03 '16 at 09:23

Reza Aghaei · Accepted Answer · 2016-11-03T09:47:56.457

You need to handle CellPainting event and draw place holder yourself:

void dataGridView1_CellPainting(object sender, DataGridViewCellPaintingEventArgs e)
{
    if (e.RowIndex < 0 || e.ColumnIndex < 0)        /*If a header cell*/
        return;
    if (!(e.ColumnIndex == 0 || e.ColumnIndex == 1) /*If not our desired columns*/
        return;

    if(e.Value == null || e.Value == DBNull.Value)  /*If value is null*/
    {
        e.Paint(e.CellBounds, DataGridViewPaintParts.All
            & ~(DataGridViewPaintParts.ContentForeground));

        TextRenderer.DrawText(e.Graphics, "Enter a value", e.CellStyle.Font,
            e.CellBounds, SystemColors.GrayText, TextFormatFlags.Left);

        e.Handled = true;
    }
}

score 0 · Answer 2 · edited Nov 03 '16 at 09:33

0

So, you can improve this (work for Textbox) and change for dataGrid.Text:

Textbox myTxtbx = new Textbox();
myTxtbx.Text = "Enter text here...";

myTxtbx.GotFocus += GotFocus.EventHandle(RemoveText);
myTxtbx.LostFocus += LostFocus.EventHandle(AddText);

public void RemoveText(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
     if (myTxtbx.Text == "Enter text here...") {
        myTxtbx.Text = "";
     }
}

public void AddText(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
     if(String.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(myTxtbx.Text))
        myTxtbx.Text = "Enter text here...";
}

Note: in myTxtbx.Text = "Enter text here..."; and if (myTxtbx.Text == "Enter text here...") the string "Enter text here..." must be equal.

edited Nov 03 '16 at 09:33

answered Nov 03 '16 at 09:30

Marco Bagiacchi

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2
20

**1)** There is not a `TextBox` before going to edit mode. **2)** You should not assign text to `TextBox`. You should paint place holder – Reza Aghaei Nov 03 '16 at 09:53
My answer is not the best, but I wrote an idea of usage. – Marco Bagiacchi Nov 03 '16 at 09:57

Sal · Answer 3 · 2021-03-29T14:00:34.650

Just wanted to share my flavor of @Reza Aghaei's amazing answer. It will replace all nulls with the word "NULL" in italics, similar to how SQL Server Management Studio does it.

private void MainGridView_CellPainting(object sender, DataGridViewCellPaintingEventArgs e)
{
    if (e.RowIndex < 0 || e.ColumnIndex < 0)
        return;

    if (e.Value == null || e.Value == DBNull.Value)
    {
        e.Paint(e.CellBounds, DataGridViewPaintParts.All
                & ~(DataGridViewPaintParts.ContentForeground));

        var font = new Font(e.CellStyle.Font, FontStyle.Italic);
        var color = SystemColors.ActiveCaptionText;
        if (((DataGridView)sender).SelectedCells.Contains(((DataGridView)sender)[e.ColumnIndex, e.RowIndex]))
                color = Color.White;

        TextRenderer.DrawText(e.Graphics, "NULL", font, e.CellBounds, color, TextFormatFlags.Left | TextFormatFlags.VerticalCenter);

        e.Handled = true;
    }
}

Show Placeholder Text in DataGridView Cells

3 Answers3