In this article we will be able to merge GridView cells ,columns in GridView rows.

Here in DataBound Event of the GridView control we count total number of rows and then checking each cells value against value of same cell in previous row and then setting the RowSpan of cells.

Table structure

Table-in-SQL-Server.gif

Default.aspx code

<%@ Page Language="VB" AutoEventWireup="false" CodeFile="Default.aspx.vb" Inherits="_Default"%>
 <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN""http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
 <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
 <head runat="server">
 <title>Untitled Page</title>
 </head>
<body>
 <form id="form1" runat="server">
 <div>
 <asp:GridView ID="GridView1" runat="server"
 AutoGenerateColumns="False"
BorderStyle="None" BorderWidth="1px" CellPadding="4" ForeColor="Black"
 Height="119px"
 OnDataBound="GridView1_DataBound1" BackColor="White">
 <Columns>

<asp:BoundField DataField="Country"
 HeaderText="Country"
 SortExpression="Country" />

<asp:BoundField DataField="State"
 HeaderText="State"

SortExpression="State" />

<asp:BoundField DataField="City"
 HeaderText="City"
 SortExpression="City" />
 </Columns>
 <HeaderStyle BackColor="#FF8040" />
 <EditRowStyle BackColor="#FFCC00" />
 <AlternatingRowStyle BackColor="White" ForeColor="Black" />
 </asp:GridView>
 </div>
 </form>
 </body>
</html>

Default.aspx.vb code

Imports System.Data
 Imports System.Data.SqlClient
 Partial Class _Default
Inherits System.Web.UI.Page
Dim strConnString As String = System.Configuration.ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings.Item("ConnectionString").ToString()
Dim con As New SqlConnection(strConnString)
Dim str As String
 Dim com As SqlCommand
Dim sqlda As SqlDataAdapter

Dim ds As DataSet
 Protected Sub Page_Load(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Me.Load
con.Open()
str = "select country,state,city from location order by state"
 com = New SqlCommand(str, con)
Dim reader As SqlDataReader
reader = com.ExecuteReader()
GridView1.DataSource = reader
GridView1.DataBind()

con.Close()
End Sub
 End Class
 Protected Sub GridView1_DataBound1(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs)Handles GridView1.DataBound
For rowIndex As Integer = GridView1.Rows.Count - 2 To 0 Step -1
Dim gviewRow As GridViewRow = GridView1.Rows(rowIndex)
Dim gviewPreviousRow As GridViewRow = GridView1.Rows(rowIndex + 1)
For cellCount As Integer = 0 To gviewRow.Cells.Count - 1
If gviewRow.Cells(cellCount).Text = gviewPreviousRow.Cells(cellCount).Text Then
 If gviewPreviousRow.Cells(cellCount).RowSpan < 2 Then
 gviewRow.Cells(cellCount).RowSpan = 2
Else
 gviewRow.Cells(cellCount).RowSpan = gviewPreviousRow.Cells(cellCount).RowSpan + 1
End If
 gviewPreviousRow.Cells(cellCount).Visible = False
 End If
 Next
 Next
 End Sub

Output

merge-column-in-GridView.gif