Ensuring text wraps in a dataGridView column

Question

I have dataGridView with a particular column. When I write long text in dataGridView it shows me a shortened version, with ellipses, because the column isn't wide enough to display the entire string.

| textdsadasda...  |

What do I must to do if I want to dataGridView show this text in next line, or wrap the text?

| textdsadasda     |
| dasdasa          |  (continuation of line above)

How can this be done?

Possible duplicate of [How to set DataGridView textbox column to multi-line?](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1559867/how-to-set-datagridview-textbox-column-to-multi-line) — KyleMit, Nov 04 '15 at 21:03

score 21 · Answer 1 · answered Jun 28 '12 at 12:43

21

There is no need to reinvent the wheel by repainting the cell.

Instead simply:

Set AutoSizeRowsMode property to AllCells. This allows row height to grow with any wrapped text.
Set DataGridView.DefaultCellStyle.WrapMode to DataGridViewTriState.True to wrap text in the cells.
Most importantly set DataGridView.AutoSizeColumnsMode to DataGridViewAutoSizeColumnsMode.None so that the columns don't resize themselves (so they remain at the user specified width).

After that the text should wrap to the next line if there is not enough space in the column.

answered Jun 28 '12 at 12:43

Adam

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This saved my day. This can also be configured through few clicks via designer. – Allen Linatoc May 05 '15 at 04:26
1

This should be the answer. – Mmm Jan 08 '20 at 16:30

score 18 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 13 '11 at 01:32

18

Try setting

.AutoSizeMode to .DisplayedCells.
Set the AutoSizeRowsMode to AllCells.
DataGridView.DefaultCellStyle.WrapMode to DataGridViewTriState.True

answered Jun 13 '11 at 01:32

Saurabh Gokhale

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It only resize my column. It is so wide so longest text in my dataGrid. But I want to my column has constant weigh. And text wrap up in new line – nirmus Jun 13 '11 at 01:40

score 4 · Answer 3 · answered Jun 13 '11 at 01:12

4

You can try setting the DataGridView.DefaultCellStyle.WrapMode to DataGridViewTriState.True

answered Jun 13 '11 at 01:12

Bala R

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score 3 · Answer 4 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:17

I've found @DeveloperX answer really useful, but with a couple of hiccups:

It causes some rows to flicker, if there is more than one cell that needs wrapping
Some cells have the last line missing or truncated (this happens if there are long words which can't be wrapped inside the text)

And it also caused missing cell borders (but this depends on grid/cell border settings).

I did a rework of @DeveloperX code to solve this issues, and came up with the following code:

private int _rowMaxHeight = 0;
private int _rowDefaultHeight = 0;
private void dataGridView1_CellPainting(object sender, 
    DataGridViewCellPaintingEventArgs e)
{
    if (e.Value == null || e.RowIndex < 0)
    {
        // The WordWrap code is ony executed if requested the cell has a value,
        // and if this is not the heading row.
        return;
    }
    if (e.ColumnIndex == 0)
    {
        // Resetting row max height on each row's first cell
        _rowMaxHeight = 0;
        if (_rowDefaultHeight == 0)
        {
            /* The default DataGridView row height is saved when the first cell
             * inside the first row is populated the first time. This is later
             * used as the minimum row height, to avoid 
             * smaller-than-default rows. */
            _rowDefaultHeight = dataGridView1.Rows[e.RowIndex].Height;
        }
    }
    // Word wrap code
    var sOriginal = e.Graphics.MeasureString(e.Value.ToString(), 
        dataGridView1.Font);
    var sWrapped = e.Graphics.MeasureString(e.Value.ToString(), 
        dataGridView1.Font,
        // Is is MeasureString that determines the height given the width, so
        // that it properly takes the actual wrapping into account
        dataGridView1.Columns[e.ColumnIndex].Width);    
    if (sOriginal.Width != dataGridView1.Columns[e.ColumnIndex].Width)
    {
        using (Brush gridBrush = new SolidBrush(this.dataGridView1.GridColor), 
            backColorBrush = new SolidBrush(e.CellStyle.BackColor), 
            fontBrush = new SolidBrush(e.CellStyle.ForeColor))
        {
            e.Graphics.FillRectangle(backColorBrush, e.CellBounds);
            // The DrawLine calls restore the missing borders: which borders
            // miss and how to paint them depends on border style settings
            e.Graphics.DrawLine(new Pen(gridBrush, 1),
                new Point(e.CellBounds.X - 1, 
                    e.CellBounds.Y + e.CellBounds.Height - 1),
                new Point(e.CellBounds.X + e.CellBounds.Width - 1, 
                    e.CellBounds.Y + e.CellBounds.Height - 1));
            e.Graphics.DrawLine(new Pen(gridBrush, 1),
                new Point(e.CellBounds.X + e.CellBounds.Width - 1, 
                    e.CellBounds.Y - 1),
                new Point(e.CellBounds.X + e.CellBounds.Width - 1, 
                    e.CellBounds.Y + e.CellBounds.Height - 1));
            //Updating the maximum cell height for wrapped text inside the row:
            // it will later be set to the row height to avoid the flickering
            // that would occur by setting the height multiple times.
            _rowMaxHeight = (Math.Ceiling(sWrapped.Height) > _rowMaxHeight)
                ? (int)Math.Ceiling(sWrapped.Height) : _rowMaxHeight;
            // The text is generated inside the row.
            e.Graphics.DrawString(e.Value.ToString(), dataGridView1.Font, 
                fontBrush, e.CellBounds, StringFormat.GenericDefault);
            e.Handled = true;
        }
    }
    if (e.ColumnIndex == dataGridView1.ColumnCount -1 
        && _rowMaxHeight > 0 
        && _rowMaxHeight != dataGridView1.Rows[e.RowIndex].Height)
    {
        // Setting the height only in the last cell, when the full row has been
        // painted, helps to avoid flickering when more than one row 
        // needs the wrap.
        dataGridView1.Rows[e.RowIndex].Height = 
            (_rowMaxHeight > _rowDefaultHeight) 
            ? _rowMaxHeight : _rowDefaultHeight;
    }
}

Note that there is one problem still unresolved with this code: the text is not vertically centered anymore inside the cells!

this is working fine, however when you add other types of columns, this solution is ignoring those column type and draws text, instead of i.e. button column. Setting the 'AutoSizeRowMode' to 'AllCells' and setting the column you want wrapped and autohight 'dataGridViewColumn.DefaultCellStyle.WrapMode = DataGridViewTriState.True;' — talisker, Mar 08 '13 at 09:40

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Jun 13 '11 at 06:38

May be handling cell painting event can help you

private void dataGridView1_CellPainting(object sender, DataGridViewCellPaintingEventArgs e)
{
    if (e.Value == null)
        return;
    var s = e.Graphics.MeasureString(e.Value.ToString(), dataGridView1.Font);
    if (s.Width > dataGridView1.Columns[e.ColumnIndex].Width)
    {
        using (
  Brush gridBrush = new SolidBrush(this.dataGridView1.GridColor),
  backColorBrush = new SolidBrush(e.CellStyle.BackColor))
        {
            e.Graphics.FillRectangle(backColorBrush, e.CellBounds);
            e.Graphics.DrawString(e.Value.ToString(), dataGridView1.Font, Brushes.Black, e.CellBounds,StringFormat.GenericDefault);
            dataGridView1.Rows[e.RowIndex].Height = (int)(s.Height * Math.Ceiling( s.Width / dataGridView1.Columns[e.ColumnIndex].Width)) ;
            e.Handled = true;
        }
    }
}

score 2 · Answer 6 · answered Jun 13 '11 at 05:04

2

Does setting this value help in achieving the display as you want

dataGridView1.AutoSizeRowsMode = DataGridViewAutoSizeRowsMode.DisplayedCells;

in addition to setting the WrapMode = DataGridViewTriState.True;

answered Jun 13 '11 at 05:04

V4Vendetta

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markysdad · Answer 7 · 2020-05-07T13:30:02.890

I found DeveloperX's answer to be very good. But I found I needed to tweak it a little. Firstly, I needed to ensure that the column in question was not in AutoSizeMode:

    if (dgv.Columns[e.ColumnIndex].AutoSizeMode != DataGridViewAutoSizeColumnMode.None)
        throw new InvalidOperationException(String.Format("dgv {0} AutoSizeMode <> 'None'", dgv.Columns[e.ColumnIndex].Name));

I also found that using

var s = e.Graphics.MeasureString(e.Value.ToString(), dataGridView1.Font);

returns a string length, which can't be used for comparison to ColumnWidth, which is given in pixels. So, using How can I convert a string length to a pixel unit?, I modified the above line of code to be

var s = e.Graphics.MeasureString(e.Value.ToString(), new Font("Segoe UI", 11, FontStyle.Regular, GraphicsUnit.Pixel));

I also found that doing a direct comparison of widths was insufficient to determine when to prevent clipping - there were some edge cases that weren't being caught. So, I replaced

if (s.Width > dataGridView1.Columns[e.ColumnIndex].Width)

with a ratio comparison (cutoff value determined by experiment) :

if (e.Value.ToString().Length / (double)dataGridView1.Columns[e.ColumnIndex].Width >= .189)

Finally, the cell in the selected row was not hightlighted, so I added the following:

       SolidBrush backColorBrush;
        if (dataGridView1.SelectedRows[0].Index == e.RowIndex)
            backColorBrush = new SolidBrush(e.CellStyle.SelectionBackColor);
        else
            backColorBrush = new SolidBrush(e.CellStyle.BackColor);

Final code:

private void dataGridView1_CellPainting(object sender, DataGridViewCellPaintingEventArgs e)
{
    if (e.Value == null || e.RowIndex == -1)
        return;

    if (dataGridView1.Columns[e.ColumnIndex].AutoSizeMode != DataGridViewAutoSizeColumnMode.None)
        throw new InvalidOperationException(Format("dataGridView1 {0} AutoSizeMode <> 'None'", dataGridView1.Columns[e.ColumnIndex].Name));

    var s = e.Graphics.MeasureString(e.Value.ToString(), new Font("Segoe UI", 11, FontStyle.Regular, GraphicsUnit.Pixel));
    if (e.Value.ToString().Length / (double)dataGridView1.Columns[e.ColumnIndex].Width >= .189)
    {
        SolidBrush backColorBrush;
        if (dataGridView1.SelectedRows[0].Index == e.RowIndex)
            backColorBrush = new SolidBrush(e.CellStyle.SelectionBackColor);
        else
            backColorBrush = new SolidBrush(e.CellStyle.BackColor);

        using (backColorBrush)
        {
            e.Graphics.FillRectangle(backColorBrush, e.CellBounds);
            e.Graphics.DrawString(e.Value.ToString(), dataGridView1.Font, Brushes.Black, e.CellBounds, StringFormat.GenericDefault);
            dataGridView1.Rows[e.RowIndex].Height = System.Convert.ToInt32((s.Height * Math.Ceiling(s.Width / (double)dataGridView1.Columns[e.ColumnIndex].Width)));
            e.Handled = true;
        }
    }
}

score 0 · Answer 8 · edited Aug 29 '20 at 06:33

0

To do wrapping add this after binding

DataGrid1.ItemStyle.Wrap = true;

edited Aug 29 '20 at 06:33

Arghya Sadhu

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answered Aug 28 '20 at 20:33

Ali Musa

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score -1 · Answer 9 · edited Oct 25 '12 at 17:15

I agree with the answer that discussed simply setting the WordWrap on the cell and would add to it this scenario.

I was needing to change the colors and font styles on the fly based on the data in each cell. Initially I thought that I was stuck figuring out how to make the DrawString work with wrapping inside CellPainting event due to needing different text colors.

However, in the end I just set the Cell.Style properties inside the CellPainting event and then exited the event without setting the e.Handled = true. This way the grid's paint event used the styles I set for each cell and the text wrapped properly.

For example:

datagrid1[e.ColumnIndex, e.RowIndex].Style.BackColor = Color.Green;

Ensuring text wraps in a dataGridView column

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