How to suspend a DataGridView while updating its columns

Question

How can I suspend a .NET DataGridView from displaying anything while I update its Columns?

Here's my current code. It works ok, but it is very slow on the foreach loop; you can see the horiz scroll bar grow slowly as each column is added. I'm building the UI columns myself as I do not want to use dataGridView1.AutoGenerateColumns for various reasons.

// Disconnect and reset DataGridView
dataGridView1.DataSource = null;
dataGridView1.SuspendLayout();
dataGridView1.Columns.Clear();

// Get data from SQL
DataTable dt = new DataTable();
SqlDataAdapter adapter = new SqlDataAdapter("select * from employeehist", conn);
adapter.Fill(dt);

// Build DataGridView columns
foreach (DataColumn c in dt.Columns)
{
    DataGridViewTextBoxColumn col = new DataGridViewTextBoxColumn();
    col.SortMode = DataGridViewColumnSortMode.NotSortable;
    col.DataPropertyName = c.ColumnName;
    col.HeaderText = c.Caption;
    dataGridView1.Columns.Add(col);
}

// Reconnect DataGridView
dataGridView1.DataSource = dt;
dataGridView1.ResumeLayout(true);

Hmm. That should do it... Try placing `dataGridView1.DataSource = null` after the SuspendLayout call? Do you expect the columns to change between two requests? If not, you might want to remove column creation from this method entirely. — Adam Lear, Jan 10 '11 at 18:27
Yes, the column count can change. The queried result set can vary depending on a date range the user selects. Also, tried moving the ' = null' and it didn't help. Thanks though, — Lane, Jan 10 '11 at 20:43
@Lane, I have the same problem, but not the datagridview. I am using GridView to bind data, and during the loop, it's extremely slow, and GridView doesn't have Columns.AddRange function...wondering why and how did you fix for your case? Thanks. — Princa, Nov 22 '13 at 20:15

score 4 · Answer 1 · answered Jan 22 '16 at 10:31

4

In my case suspend and resume layout did not work. I resolved disabling the dataGridView (dgv.Enabled = false) before update and re-enabling it (dgv.Enabled = true) at the end of the update process.

answered Jan 22 '16 at 10:31

Zac

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Another useful approach can be found here: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1550293/stopping-textbox-flicker-during-update Look for LockWindowUpdate... – mike Oct 31 '16 at 23:57

score 4 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 10 '11 at 18:30

4

You can use VirtualMode with DataGridView in order to very efficiently update the grid. See this article: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms171622.aspx

From what I remember, it seems to update the entire collection before updating anything on the UI, as opposed to adding to the UI for each new row added/etc.

answered Jan 10 '11 at 18:30

ferr

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Here is a walkthrough: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/15a31akc.aspx It takes a little more work to set it up, but it should be much faster once implemented. – ferr Jan 10 '11 at 18:34

score 4 · Answer 3 · edited Nov 24 '15 at 08:27

4

You may want to consider using the AddRange method instead of Add. The Data Grid behaves a little better when you add them all at once.

DataGridViewColumn[] columns = new DataGridViewColumn[dt.Columns.Count];

for (int i = 0; i < dt.Columns.Count; i++ )
{
    DataColumn c = dt.Columns[i];
    DataGridViewTextBoxColumn col = new DataGridViewTextBoxColumn();
    col.SortMode = DataGridViewColumnSortMode.NotSortable;
    col.DataPropertyName = c.ColumnName;
    col.HeaderText = c.Caption;

    columns[i] = col;
}


dataGridView1.Columns.AddRange(columns);

edited Nov 24 '15 at 08:27

Botea Bogdan

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answered Jan 10 '11 at 18:39

Conrad Frix

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1

Good idea, but I still have the same exact lag. It lags on one line: dataGridView1.Columns.AddRange(columns); – Lane Jan 10 '11 at 20:12
1

Also make sure you use insert at the beginning: `dataGridView1.ColumnHeadersHeightSizeMode = DataGridViewColumnHeadersHeightSizeMode.DisableResizing;` since otherwise, this really slows things down. – Dan W Sep 10 '12 at 03:07

score 1 · Answer 4 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:00

1

You could try and prevent it from completely redrawing by using the code in this post. The parent would be the parent of the dataGridView1.

edited May 23 '17 at 12:00

Community

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answered Jan 10 '11 at 19:24

SwDevMan81

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I tried this but it didn't help oddly. Drawing was clearly suspended, but I clocked the exact same time. It feels like the DataGridView still draws in the background whether drawing has been suspended or not. – Lane Jan 11 '11 at 20:53

score 1 · Answer 5 · answered Jan 09 '18 at 11:36

1

Significant performance increase:

var dgv = new DataGridView();
dgv.SuspendLayout();
// Do update, change values
dgv.ResumeLayout();

May not be ultimate high performance.

answered Jan 09 '18 at 11:36

coarist

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score 1 · Answer 6 · edited Jan 19 '21 at 08:19

1

This will speed it up 10 times.

dataGridView1.Visible = false;
//Build/populate datagridview
dataGridView1.Visible = true;

It's not the most professional approach but it performs.

edited Jan 19 '21 at 08:19

navigator

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answered Jan 19 '21 at 04:27

Neil

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This is fastest approach I verify – Gray Programmerz Feb 26 '23 at 13:58

score 0 · Answer 7 · answered Dec 01 '17 at 14:21

If you are using timer then use SynchronizingObject. This removes the flickering completly for me.

var dgv = new DataGridView();
System.Timers.Timer timer = new System.Timers.Timer();
timer.Interval = 1000;
timer.SynchronizingObject = dgv;  // syncronise
timer.Start();
timer.Elapsed += Timer_Elapsed;
void Timer_Elapsed(object sender, System.Timers.ElapsedEventArgs e)
{
    refreshDGV();  // in here I refresh the DataGridView
}

How to suspend a DataGridView while updating its columns

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