Ways to Bind DataGridView in C# Windows Forms

Introduction

I would like to share multiple ways to bind a DataGridView to a Window Forms form using C#.

We will learn the following ways to bind a DataGridView.

1. Binding DataGridView using Generic List
2. Binding DataGridView using DataTable
3. Binding DataGridView using LINQ query result
4. Binding DataGridView using Array
5. Binding DataGridView using a two-dimension array
6. Binding DataGridView manually

1. Binding DataGridView with Generic List

Add the following class to the project: 

public class Emp  
{  
    public int ID { get; set; }  
    public string Name { get; set; }  
    public string City { get; set; }   
    public Emp(int id, string name, string city)  
    {  
        this.ID = id;  
        this.Name = name;  
        this.City = city;  
    }  
}

Create List of Emp

protected List<Emp> GetEmpList()  
{  
    List<Emp> lEmp = new List<Emp>();  
    Emp oemp = new Emp(1234, "Devesh Omar", "GZB");  
    lEmp.Add(oemp);  
    oemp = new Emp(1234, "ROLI", "GZB");  
    lEmp.Add(oemp);  
    oemp = new Emp(1235, "ROLI", "MainPuri");  
    lEmp.Add(oemp);  
    oemp = new Emp(1236, "ROLI", "Kanpur");  
    lEmp.Add(oemp);  
    oemp = new Emp(1237, "Manish Omar", "GZB");  
    lEmp.Add(oemp);  
    oemp = new Emp(1238, "ROLI1", "MainPuri");  
    lEmp.Add(oemp);  
    oemp = new Emp(1239, "ROLI2", "MainPuri");  
    lEmp.Add(oemp);  
    oemp = new Emp(1230, "ROLI3", "CNB");  
   lEmp.Add(oemp);  
   oemp = new Emp(1231, "ROLI4", "CNB-UP");  
   lEmp.Add(oemp);  
   oemp = new Emp(1232, "ROLI5", "GHAZIABAD");  
   lEmp.Add(oemp);  
   oemp = new Emp(1233, "ROLI6", "UP");  
   lEmp.Add(oemp);  
   return lEmp;  
}

Binding Grid

dataGridView1.DataSource = GetEmpList();

The following will be the screen.

2. Binding DataGridView using DataTable

Create a DataTable and define the columns as in the following:

DataTable table = new DataTable();  
table.Columns.Add("ID", typeof(int));  
table.Columns.Add("NAME", typeof(string));  
table.Columns.Add("CITY", typeof(string)); 

Add Rows

table.Rows.Add(111, "Devesh", "Ghaziabad");  
table.Rows.Add(222, "ROLI", "KANPUR");  
table.Rows.Add(102, "ROLI", "MAINPURI");  
table.Rows.Add(212, "DEVESH", "KANPUR"); 

Binding DataGridView

dataGridView1.DataSource=table; 

Running the code, the following will be the screen.

3. Binding DataGridView using LINQ query result

First we need to create a Generic list, the following is the sample code:

protected List<Emp> GetEmpList()  
{  
    List<Emp> lEmp = new List<Emp>();  
    Emp oemp = new Emp(1234, "Devesh Omar", "GZB");  
    lEmp.Add(oemp);  
    oemp = new Emp(1234, "ROLI", "GZB");  
    lEmp.Add(oemp);  
    oemp = new Emp(1235, "ROLI", "MainPuri");  
    lEmp.Add(oemp);  
    oemp = new Emp(1236, "ROLI", "Kanpur");  
    lEmp.Add(oemp);  
    oemp = new Emp(1237, "Manish Omar", "GZB");  
    lEmp.Add(oemp);  
    oemp = new Emp(1238, "ROLI1", "MainPuri");  
    lEmp.Add(oemp);  
    oemp = new Emp(1239, "ROLI2", "MainPuri");  
    lEmp.Add(oemp);  
    oemp = new Emp(1230, "ROLI3", "CNB");  
    lEmp.Add(oemp);  
    oemp = new Emp(1231, "ROLI4", "CNB-UP");  
    lEmp.Add(oemp);  
    oemp = new Emp(1232, "ROLI5", "GHAZIABAD");  
    lEmp.Add(oemp);  
    oemp = new Emp(1233, "ROLI6", "UP");  
    lEmp.Add(oemp);  
    return lEmp;  
}

Writing a LINQ query for the list above:

List<Emp> Lstemp = GetEmpList();  
var columns = from t in Lstemp  
orderby t.Name  
select new  
{  
    EmpID = t.ID,  
    Name = t.Name,  
    City = t.City  
};

Binding Grid

dataGridView1.DataSource = columns.ToList();

Running the code.

Adding Row_number to the LINQ query:

List<Emp> Lstemp = GetEmpList();  
int Srno = 0;  
var columns = from t in Lstemp  
orderby t.Name  
select new  
{  
    Row_number=++Srno,  
    EmpID = t.ID,  
    Name = t.Name,  
    City = t.City  
};

In this query, we have Row_number=++Srno that would result in an auto-increment row and act as a row number.

4. Binding DataGridView using Array

Add the following class to the project:

public class Emp  
{  
    public int ID { get; set; }  
    public string Name { get; set; }  
    public string City { get; set; }  
  
    public Emp(int id, string name, string city)  
    {  
       this.ID = id;  
       this.Name = name;  
       this.City = city;  
    }  
}

Defining Array

var arrEmp = new[] {  
    new Emp( 1, "Devesh Omar", "Noida"),  
    new Emp( 2, "Roli", "Kanpur"),  
    new Emp( 3, "Roli Gupta", "Mainpuri"),  
    new Emp( 3, "Roli Gupta", "Kanpur"),  
    new Emp( 3, "Devesh Roli ", "Noida"),  
};

Binding Grid

dataGridView1.DataSource = arrEmp; 

5. Binding DataGridView using Two dimension Array

Declaring Array

string[][] Array = new string[100][]; 

Adding values to the array:

for(int i = 0; i < 100; i++)  
Array[i] = new string[2] { "ROLI:"+i, "DEVESH:"+i }; 

Defining LINQ for array:

var data = (from arr in Array select new { Column_1 = arr[0], Column_2 = arr[1] }); 

Binding data

dataGridView1.DataSource = data.ToList(); 

6. Binding DataGridView Manually

Defining columns

dataGridView1.ColumnCount = 3;  
dataGridView1.Columns[0].Name = "ID";  
dataGridView1.Columns[1].Name = "Name";  
dataGridView1.Columns[2].Name = "City"; 

Adding Rows

string[] row = new string[] { "1", "DEvesh omar", "NOIDA" };  
dataGridView1.Rows.Add(row);  
row = new string[] { "2", "ROLI", "KANPUR" };  
dataGridView1.Rows.Add(row);  
row = new string[] { "3", "DEVESH", "NOIDA!22" };  
dataGridView1.Rows.Add(row);  
row = new string[] { "4", "ROLI", "MAINPURI" };  
dataGridView1.Rows.Add(row); 

Running the code:

Conclusion

We have learned various ways to bind a DataGridView to a C# Windows Forms form.