Appearance and Conditional Formatting

Feb 19, 2024
12 minutes to read

Tip

Each Appearance object has its own priority. Please read the following topic for information to learn how to change the default priority of appearance settings: Application Appearance and Skin Colors.

Global Appearance Settings

The GridView.Appearance property provides access to a number of property sections with appearance settings for Grid UI elements (for example, even and odd rows, focused cells, column headers, buttons, grid lines, etc.).

WinForms Data Grid - Appearance Settings

Highlight Cells that Belong to a Specific Column

Every grid column has the GridColumn.AppearanceCell property that allows you to specify appearance and text format settings for cells that belong to this column (these ‘column-specific’ settings override global appearance settings).

WinForms Data Grid - Column Appearance Settings

Run Demo: Appearance of column cells

The following example demonstrates how to center values in cells of the Name column:

C#
VB.NET

using DevExpress.Utils;

gridView1.Columns["Name"].AppearanceCell.TextOptions.HAlignment = HorzAlignment.Center;
gridView1.Columns["Name"].AppearanceCell.Options.UseTextOptions = true;

Imports DevExpress.Utils

Private gridView1.Columns("Name").AppearanceCell.TextOptions.HAlignment = HorzAlignment.Center
Private gridView1.Columns("Name").AppearanceCell.Options.UseTextOptions = True

Highlight an Active Editor

To highlight the currently active editor, handle the ColumnView.ShownEditor event and use the BaseView.ActiveEditor property to access the focused cell’s editor.

Data Grid - Selected Editor

C#
VB.NET

gridView.ShownEditor += (s, e) => {
        GridView view = s as GridView;
        gridView.ActiveEditor.BackColor = Color.DodgerBlue;
    };

AddHandler gridView.ShownEditor, Sub(s, e)
        Dim view As GridView = TryCast(s, GridView)
        gridView.ActiveEditor.BackColor = Color.DodgerBlue
    End Sub

Run Demo: Change the Active Editor’s Background Color

Conditional Formatting

Conditional formatting allows you to customize cell appearance in Grid Views and Banded Grid Views based on cell values.

Conditional Formatting - WinForms Data Grid, DevExpress

Run Demo: Conditional Formatting

Use Conditional Formatting to do the following:

Analyze all column cell values and visualize data distribution.
Highlight specific values and dates.
Highlight cells with the smallest or largest values.
Highlight values below or above an average.
Highlight unique or duplicate values.
Use a custom formula to apply a color to specific cells.
Temporarily highlight cells when their values change, and more.

Enable the view’s OptionsMenu.ShowConditionalFormattingItem option to display the “Conditional Formatting” item in the column menu. The user can right-click a column header and select “Conditional Formatting” in the menu to add, modify, or clear format rules.

Data Grid - Conditional Formatting - Runtime Menu

The “Manage Rules…” menu item allows users to create custom rules. To create a rule, do the following:

Click the “New Rule…” button.
Select “Use a formula to determine which cells to format” and edit the rule.
Click the “Format” button to customize appearance settings that should be applied to cells whose values match the condition. When finished, click OK to close the Format Cells dialog box.
Click OK to create and apply the rule.

Create Conditional Formatting Rule at Design Time

Run the Grid Designer.
Switch to Format Rules.
Click “+”.

Create Conditional Formatting Rule at Design Time - WinForms Data Grid, DevExpress

Create Conditional Formatting Rule in Code

Create a style format condition (GridFormatRule).
Create a rule (FormatConditionRuleBase descendant), customize its settings, and assign it to the GridFormatRule.Rule property of the style format condition.
Predefined Rules
Add the style format condition to the view’s FormatRules collection.

Tip

Use the style format condition’s GridFormatRule.Enabled property to enable or disable the rule.

The following example creates a style format condition that highlights cells in the “CreateDate” column for orders created prior to the current year:

Create Conditional Formatting Rule in Code - WinForms Data Grid, DevExpress

C#
VB.NET

using System;
using System.Data;
using DevExpress.XtraGrid;
using DevExpress.XtraEditors;

namespace DXApplication9 {
    public partial class Form1 : DevExpress.XtraEditors.XtraForm {
        public Form1() {
            InitializeComponent();
            gridControl1.DataSource = InitDataTable();
            Load += Form1_Load;
        }

        private void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e) {
            // Creates and initializes the style format rule.
            FormatConditionRuleDateOccuring dateRule = new FormatConditionRuleDateOccuring();
            dateRule.Appearance.BackColor = System.Drawing.Color.LightGreen;
            dateRule.DateType = FilterDateType.PriorThisYear;
            // Creates and initializes the style format condition.
            GridFormatRule formatRule = new GridFormatRule();
            formatRule.Rule = dateRule;
            formatRule.Column = gridView1.Columns["CreateDate"];
            formatRule.ColumnApplyTo = gridView1.Columns["CreateDate"];
            // Adds the style format condition to the view's FormatRules collections.
            gridView1.FormatRules.Add(formatRule);

            // This can also be done as follows:
            // GridFormatRule formatRule = gridView1.FormatRules.AddDateOccurringRule(gridView1.Columns["CreateDate"], FilterDateType.PriorThisYear, new DevExpress.Utils.AppearanceDefault(){ BackColor = System.Drawing.Color.LightGreen});
        }

        DataTable InitDataTable() {
            DataTable table = new DataTable("DataRecords");
            table.Columns.AddRange(new DataColumn[] {
                new DataColumn("ID", typeof(Guid)),
                new DataColumn("CreateDate", typeof(DateTime)),
                new DataColumn("CustomerName", typeof(string))
            });
            table.Rows.Add(new object[] { Guid.NewGuid(), new DateTime(2024, 1, 1, 9, 44, 12), "Silva" });
            table.Rows.Add(new object[] { Guid.NewGuid(), new DateTime(2023, 12, 31, 11, 15, 18), "Mike" });
            table.Rows.Add(new object[] { Guid.NewGuid(), new DateTime(2023, 12, 31, 10, 20, 10), "Nathan" });
            return table;
        }
    }
}

Imports System
Imports System.Data
Imports DevExpress.XtraGrid
Imports DevExpress.XtraEditors

Namespace DXApplication9
    Partial Public Class Form1
        Inherits DevExpress.XtraEditors.XtraForm

        Public Sub New()
            InitializeComponent()
            gridControl1.DataSource = InitDataTable()
            AddHandler Load, AddressOf Form1_Load
        End Sub

        Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As EventArgs)
            ' Creates and initializes the style format rule.
            Dim dateRule As New FormatConditionRuleDateOccuring()
            dateRule.Appearance.BackColor = System.Drawing.Color.LightGreen
            dateRule.DateType = FilterDateType.PriorThisYear
            ' Creates and initializes the style format condition.
            Dim formatRule As New GridFormatRule()
            formatRule.Rule = dateRule
            formatRule.Column = gridView1.Columns("CreateDate")
            formatRule.ColumnApplyTo = gridView1.Columns("CreateDate")
            ' Adds the style format condition to the view's FormatRules collections.
            gridView1.FormatRules.Add(formatRule)

            ' This can also be done as follows:
            'Dim formatRule As GridFormatRule = gridView1.FormatRules.AddDateOccurringRule(gridView1.Columns("CreateDate"), FilterDateType.PriorThisYear, New DevExpress.Utils.AppearanceDefault() With {.BackColor = System.Drawing.Color.LightGreen})
        End Sub

        Private Function InitDataTable() As DataTable
            Dim table As New DataTable("DataRecords")
            table.Columns.AddRange(New DataColumn() {
                New DataColumn("ID", GetType(Guid)),
                New DataColumn("CreateDate", GetType(Date)),
                New DataColumn("CustomerName", GetType(String))
            })
            table.Rows.Add(New Object() { Guid.NewGuid(), New Date(2024, 1, 1, 9, 44, 12), "Silva" })
            table.Rows.Add(New Object() { Guid.NewGuid(), New Date(2023, 12, 31, 11, 15, 18), "Mike" })
            table.Rows.Add(New Object() { Guid.NewGuid(), New Date(2023, 12, 31, 10, 20, 10), "Nathan" })
            Return table
        End Function
    End Class
End Namespace

Visual Effects and Animation

Color Scales

The Data Grid compares cell values and fills these cells with solid colors chosen from a palette. Based on your selection, the palette gradually shifts through two or three threshold colors.

Data Grid - Conditional Formatting - Color Scales

Data Bars

Cells are partially filled with the selected color. The fill percentage depends on how small or large the cell value is compared to other values in this column. You can also draw a vertical axis at the zero value. In this instance, data bars for positive and negative values are displayed in opposite directions and are painted with different colors.

Data Grid - Conditional Formatting - Data Bars

Icons

Icon sets allow you to label each value range with a corresponding icon.

Data Grid - Conditional Formatting Icons

Static Appearance Settings

Selected font settings, background and foreground colors are applied to cells whose values meet specific criteria (for example, top 10 column values).

Data Grid - Conditional Formatting - Static Appearance

Animation

Some format condition rules support animation effects. The animation effect is played when a cell value changes. Use the FormatConditionRuleBase.AllowAnimation property to enable animation.

formatConditionAnimation

The following animation temporarily highlights a cell with an icon or color when a cell value changes:

Examples: Conditional Formatting

Tip

Read the Change Cell and Row Appearances Dynamically section in this topic for information on how to highlight rows/cells in views if predefined or custom format conditions do not meet your requirements.
To customize row appearances in other Views, handle customization events of these views: CustomCardStyle, ItemCustomize, CustomDrawItem.

Change Cell and Row Appearances Dynamically

Handle the GridView.RowCellStyle event to change cell appearance dynamically. For example, you can highlight specific cells in response to certain events. The code below changes the background color and content alignment for the “Name” column’s cells based on the Boolean value of the “Mark” column.

Data Grid - Row Cell Style

C#
VB.NET

gridView.RowCellStyle += (sender, e) => {
        GridView view = sender as GridView;
        bool _mark = (bool)view.GetRowCellValue(e.RowHandle, "Mark");
        if(e.Column.FieldName == "Name") {
            e.Appearance.BackColor = _mark ? Color.LightGreen : Color.LightSalmon;
            e.Appearance.TextOptions.HAlignment = _mark ? HorzAlignment.Far : HorzAlignment.Near;
        }
    };

AddHandler gridView.RowCellStyle, Sub(sender, e)
        Dim view As GridView = TryCast(sender, GridView)
        Dim _mark As Boolean = CBool(view.GetRowCellValue(e.RowHandle, "Mark"))
        If e.Column.FieldName = "Name" Then
            e.Appearance.BackColor = If(_mark, Color.LightGreen, Color.LightSalmon)
            e.Appearance.TextOptions.HAlignment = If(_mark, HorzAlignment.Far, HorzAlignment.Near)
        End If
    End Sub

You can also handle the GridView.RowStyle event to process and paint rows and group rows individually. For example, the code snippet below highlights focused rows.

Data Grid - RowStyle

C#
VB.NET

Color foreColor = Color.Brown;
    Color backColor = Color.LightGreen;

    // Change the appearance settings of row cells dynamically.
    gridView.RowStyle += (sender, e) => {
        GridView view = sender as GridView;
        //Change the foreground and background colors of selected rows.
        if(view.IsRowSelected(e.RowHandle)) {
            e.Appearance.ForeColor = foreColor;
            e.Appearance.BackColor = backColor;
            /* This property controls whether settings of the RowStyle event have a higher priority
               than the appearances specified by the GridViewAppearances.EvenRow 
               and GridViewAppearances.OddRow properties. */
            e.HighPriority = true;
        }
    };

Dim foreColor As Color = Color.Brown
    Dim backColor As Color = Color.LightGreen

    ' Change the appearance settings of row cells dynamically.
    AddHandler gridView.RowStyle, Sub(sender, e)
        Dim view As GridView = TryCast(sender, GridView)
        ' Change the foreground and background colors of selected rows.
        If view.IsRowSelected(e.RowHandle) Then
            e.Appearance.ForeColor = foreColor
            e.Appearance.BackColor = backColor
             ' This property controls whether settings of the RowStyle event have a higher priority
             ' than the appearances specified by the GridViewAppearances.EvenRow
             ' and GridViewAppearances.OddRow properties.
            e.HighPriority = True
        End If
    End Sub

The GridView.GroupLevelStyle event allows you to paint group rows dynamically and apply unique appearance settings for each group level. In the following example, different group row levels have different appearance settings.

Data Grid - Group Row Appearances

C#
VB.NET

gridView.GroupLevelStyle += (s, e) => {
        if(e.Level == 0) {
            e.LevelAppearance.ForeColor = Color.WhiteSmoke;
            e.LevelAppearance.BackColor = Color.Salmon;
        } else {
            e.LevelAppearance.ForeColor = Color.FromArgb(50, 50, 50);
            e.LevelAppearance.BackColor = Color.LightSalmon;
        }
    };

AddHandler gridView.GroupLevelStyle, Sub(s, e)
        If e.Level = 0 Then
            e.LevelAppearance.ForeColor = Color.WhiteSmoke
            e.LevelAppearance.BackColor = Color.Salmon
        Else
            e.LevelAppearance.ForeColor = Color.FromArgb(50, 50, 50)
            e.LevelAppearance.BackColor = Color.LightSalmon
        End If
    End Sub

Run Demo

Tip

Use the RefreshRow to force the view to redraw the specified row. The RefreshData() method allows you to force the view to redraw all rows.

Tip

You can also handle ~CustomDraw events to customize row and cell appearances dynamically: CustomDrawCell, CustomDrawGroupRow, CustomDrawGroupRowCell, CustomDrawFooterCell, etc. Refer to the following topic to see these events in action: Custom Painting Demos.

Override Custom Appearances for Selected Cells

Appearance settings of individual cells have lower priority than custom Column.AppearanceCell settings. For this reason, if you allow a user to select individual cells (OptionsSelection.MultiSelectMode = CellSelect) with custom appearances, all cells (selected and unselected) look the same. To adjust this behavior and highlight selected cells, handle the GridView.RowCellStyle event.

C#
VB.NET

private void GridView1_RowCellStyle(object sender, RowCellStyleEventArgs e) {
    GridView view = sender as GridView;
    if(view.IsCellSelected(e.RowHandle, e.Column)) {
        e.Appearance.BackColor = view.PaintAppearance.SelectedRow.BackColor;
        e.Appearance.ForeColor = view.PaintAppearance.SelectedRow.ForeColor;
    }
}

Private Sub GridView1_RowCellStyle(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As RowCellStyleEventArgs)
    Dim view As GridView = TryCast(sender, GridView)
    If view.IsCellSelected(e.RowHandle, e.Column) Then
        e.Appearance.BackColor = view.PaintAppearance.SelectedRow.BackColor
        e.Appearance.ForeColor = view.PaintAppearance.SelectedRow.ForeColor
    End If
End Sub

The GridView.PaintAppearance property allows you to obtain appearance settings used for the GridView (for example, the background color of selected rows).

Disable Focused Row/Cell Appearance

To prevent the focused row from being highlighted in the GridView or its descendant, disable the GridOptionsSelection.EnableAppearanceFocusedRow option. The GridOptionsSelection.EnableAppearanceFocusedCell property allows you to disable the coloring of a focused cell.

The following example shows how to disable focused cell appearance settings and keep the focused row appearance when the grid control loses focus:

Disable Focused Cell Appearance - WinForms Data Grid, DevExpress

C#
VB.NET

private void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e) {
    gridView1.OptionsSelection.EnableAppearanceHideSelection = false;
    gridView1.OptionsSelection.EnableAppearanceFocusedCell = false;
}

Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As EventArgs)
    gridView1.OptionsSelection.EnableAppearanceHideSelection = False
    gridView1.OptionsSelection.EnableAppearanceFocusedCell = False
End Sub

Prevent Selected Rows from Graying Out When the Grid is not in Focus

Disable the GridOptionsSelection.EnableAppearanceHideSelection option to prevent selected/focused rows from being highlighted in a specific manner when the grid control is not focused.

Disable Selected Row/Cell Appearance

You can use the following techniques to display selected rows and cells without highlight effects:

WinForms Data Grid - Selected Row Appearance

Assign regular row appearance to the GridViewAppearances.SelectedRow property:

C#
VB.NET

private void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e) {
    gridControl1.ForceInitialize();
    gridView1.Appearance.SelectedRow.Assign(gridView1.PaintAppearance.Row);
}

Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As EventArgs)
    gridControl1.ForceInitialize()
    gridView1.Appearance.SelectedRow.Assign(gridView1.PaintAppearance.Row)
End Sub

Handle the GridView.RowStyle, GridView.RowCellStyle, or GridView.CustomDrawCell event and modify selected row appearance:

C#
VB.NET

private void gridView1_RowStyle(object sender, DevExpress.XtraGrid.Views.Grid.RowStyleEventArgs e) {
    GridView view = sender as GridView;
    if (e.Appearance == view.PaintAppearance.SelectedRow)
        e.Appearance.Assign(view.PaintAppearance.Row);
    e.HighPriority = true;
}

Private Sub gridView1_RowStyle(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As DevExpress.XtraGrid.Views.Grid.RowStyleEventArgs)
    Dim view As GridView = TryCast(sender, GridView)
    If e.Appearance = view.PaintAppearance.SelectedRow Then e.Appearance.Assign(view.PaintAppearance.Row)
    e.HighPriority = True
End Sub

Disable Cells Based on a Condition

You can disable cells in rows that meet a certain condition. Disabled cells are grayed-out according to the skin settings. Users cannot edit disabled cells.

Disable Cells Based on a Condition - WinForms Data Grid

Read the following topic for detailed information and examples: Disabled Cell Behavior.

Word-Wrap Column Captions

Use the HeaderPanel property to access global settings that specify the appearance and text formatting of all column captions. To wrap column caption text, do the following:

Set the HeaderPanel.TextOptions.WordWrap property to WordWrap.Wrap.
Set the HeaderPanel.Options.UseTextOptions property to true.
Enable the ColumnHeaderAutoHeight option to auto-fit column captions or use the ColumnPanelRowHeight property to specify the height of column headers manually.

To override global appearance settings for an individual column, use the column’s AppearanceHeader property.

The following example demonstrates how to wrap the Name column’s caption text. Play the animation below to see the result.

Word-Wrap Column Captions - WinForms Data Grid | DevExpress

C#
VB.NET

using DevExpress.Utils;

gridView1.Columns["Name"].AppearanceCell.TextOptions.WordWrap = WordWrap.Wrap;
gridView1.Columns["Name"].AppearanceCell.Options.UseTextOptions = true;
gridView1.OptionsView.ColumnHeaderAutoHeight = DefaultBoolean.True;

Imports DevExpress.Utils

Private gridView1.Columns("Name").AppearanceCell.TextOptions.WordWrap = WordWrap.Wrap
Private gridView1.Columns("Name").AppearanceCell.Options.UseTextOptions = True
gridView1.OptionsView.ColumnHeaderAutoHeight = DefaultBoolean.True

Controls

Tools

Controls and Extensions

Tools

Maintenance Mode

Controls

Tools

Controls and Extensions

Tools

Maintenance Mode

Global Appearance Settings

Highlight Cells that Belong to a Specific Column

Highlight an Active Editor

Conditional Formatting

Show Conditional Formatting in Grid Menu

Create Conditional Formatting Rule at Design Time

Create Conditional Formatting Rule in Code

Visual Effects and Animation

Color Scales

Data Bars

Icons

Static Appearance Settings

Animation

Examples: Conditional Formatting

Change Cell and Row Appearances Dynamically

Override Custom Appearances for Selected Cells

Disable Focused Row/Cell Appearance

Prevent Selected Rows from Graying Out When the Grid is not in Focus

Disable Selected Row/Cell Appearance

Disable Cells Based on a Condition

Word-Wrap Column Captions

Cheats Sheets & Troubleshooting