Get text from DataGridView selected cells

Question

I have a DataGridView with cells from a database file that contains data. Basically, I want to get the text from the selected cells in the DataGridView and display it in a textbox at the click of the button. The code for the button click event is:

Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
    Dim SelectedThings As String = DataGridView1.SelectedCells.ToString
    TextBox1.Text = SelectedThings
End Sub

However in TextBox1 I get:

System.Windows.Forms.DataGridViewSelectedCellCollection

I'm thinking it isn't as simple as it seems. I'm a C developer just learning VB.NET.

Answer 1

DataGridView.SelectedCells is a collection of cells, so it's not as simple as calling ToString() on it. You have to loop through each cell in the collection and get each cell's value instead.

The following will create a comma-delimited list of all selected cells' values.

C#

TextBox1.Text = "";
bool FirstValue = true;
foreach(DataGridViewCell cell in DataGridView1.SelectedCells)
{
    if(!FirstValue)
    {
        TextBox1.Text += ", ";
    }
    TextBox1.Text += cell.Value.ToString();
    FirstValue = false;
}

VB.NET (Translated from the code above)

TextBox1.Text = ""
Dim FirstValue As Boolean =  True 
Dim cell As DataGridViewCell
For Each cell In DataGridView1.SelectedCells
    If Not FirstValue Then
        TextBox1.Text += ", "
    End If
    TextBox1.Text += cell.Value.ToString()
    FirstValue = False
Next

Answer 2

Try this:

Dim i = Datagridview1.currentrow.index
textbox1.text = datagridview1.item(columnindex, i).value

It should work :)

Answer 3

Simply

MsgBox(GridView1.CurrentCell.Value.ToString)

Answer 4

Private Sub DataGridView1_CellClick(ByVal sender As System.Object, _
                                    ByVal e As DataGridViewCellEventArgs) _
                                    Handles DataGridView1.CellClick
    MsgBox(DataGridView1.Rows(e.RowIndex).Cells(e.ColumnIndex).Value)
End Sub

Answer 5

A lot of the answers on this page only apply to a single cell, and OP asked for all the selected cells.

If all you want is the cell contents, and you don't care about references to the actual cells that are selected, you can just do this:

Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
    Dim SelectedThings As String = DataGridView1.GetClipboardContent().GetText().Replace(ChrW(9), ",")
    TextBox1.Text = SelectedThings
End Sub

When Button1 is clicked, this will fill TextBox1 with the comma-separated values of the selected cells.

Answer 6

In this specific case, the ToString() will return the name of the object retruned by the SelectedCell Property.( a collection of the currently selected cells).

This behavior occurs when an object has no specific implenetation for the ToString() methods.

in our case, all you have to do is to iterate the collection of the cells and to accumulate its values to a string. then push this string to the TextBox.

have a look here how to implement the iteration:

msdn

Answer 7

Or in case you just need the value of the first seleted sell (or just one selected cell if one is selected)

TextBox1.Text = SelectedCells[0].Value.ToString();

Answer 8

the Best of both worlds.....

Private Sub tsbSendNewsLetter_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles tsbSendNewsLetter.Click
        Dim tmpstr As String = ""
        Dim cnt As Integer = 0
        Dim virgin As Boolean = True
        For cnt = 0 To (dgvDetails.Rows.Count - 1)
            If Not dgvContacts.Rows(cnt).Cells(9).Value.ToString() Is Nothing Then
                If Not dgvContacts.Rows(cnt).Cells(9).Value.ToString().Length = 0 Then
                    If Not virgin Then
                        tmpstr += ", "
                    End If
                    tmpstr += dgvContacts.Rows(cnt).Cells(9).Value.ToString()
                    virgin = False
                    'MsgBox(tmpstr)
                End If
            End If
        Next
        Dim email As New qkuantusMailer()
        email.txtMailTo.Text = tmpstr
        email.Show()
    End Sub

Answer 9

or, we can use something like this

dim i = dgv1.CurrentCellAddress.X
dim j = dgv1.CurrentCellAddress.Y
MsgBox(dgv1.Item(i,j).Value.ToString())