Copying and Pasting in a DGV

[Shaggy Hiker]

I decided to break another thread I just created by doing a copy and paste action on a DGV. As it turns out, that's a bit fiddly, too. If I just click in a cell and press Ctrl+C, I get an internal exception about a method not being implemented. If I highlight JUST the text in the cell, the Ctrl+C works fine.

This appears to be more or less understood. Copying the whole cell is problematic, but copying the value in the cell is not. However, this is not intuitive to the user, and it means that pasting into multiple cells is not even possible without doing a bit more work.

I believe that I can handle the KeyDown event to check for Ctrl+C, then also check for Ctrl+V, and get the behavior people would expect, but people are weird, so this won't always work. People expect that a cell in a DGV is it's contents, so they expect to be able to select a cell and copy and paste it. Lots of people know Ctrl+C/Ctrl+V, but I'm always surprised at the number that right click and select Copy, then select Paste, which would certainly break the KeyDown approach. People also aren't going to understand the idea of selecting the contents of a cell rather than the whole cell, so that's kind of a non-starter to begin with.

For these reasons, the official MS means for copying and pasting in a DGV seem to be out of consideration. Before I go build my own grid to get around this (I've done it before, I'll do it again if I have to), I was wondering whether anybody has a way to do copying and pasting in a DGV that works the way people would expect it to?

[Delaney]

same application than for the other thread :

for the copy :

copy_data_from_datagrid(DataGrid_Courbe.GetClipboardContent) ' I put this in a right click option (ContextMenuStrip)
'copu sub
   Sub copy_data_from_datagrid(ByVal Data As Object)
      If Not IsNothing(Data) Then
         My.Computer.Clipboard.Clear()
         Clipboard.SetDataObject(Data)
      End If

   End Sub

for the paste

 'paste sub
   Sub paste_clipboard_to_datagrid()
      On Error Resume Next
      Dim lignes() As String
      Dim Cell() As String
      Dim row As Integer
      Dim nb_lignes As Integer
      Dim nb_lignes_restante As Integer
      Dim nom_courbe As String

      row = DataGrid_Courbe.SelectedCells(0).RowIndex 'get the index of the selected line

      lignes = Clipboard.GetData(DataFormats.Text).ToString.Split({ControlChars.Cr, ControlChars.Lf}, StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries) 'get from clipboard an array of data to paste, one line of array for each line copied

      nb_lignes = lignes.Length
      nb_lignes_restante = DataGrid_Courbe.Rows.Count - row

      If nb_lignes > nb_lignes_restante Then 'check if you need to create new line to paste the data

         'create new lines if needed
         For i = 1 To nb_lignes - nb_lignes_restante + 1
            DataGrid_Courbe.Rows.Add()
         Next

      End If
      'fill the lines
      For i = 1 To nb_lignes
         Dim j As Integer
         Cell = lignes(i - 1).Split(vbTab)
         For j = 0 To 1
            DataGrid_Courbe.Rows(row + i - 1).Cells(j).Value = Cell(j)
         Next
      Next


      ' update the curve
  ....
   End Sub

if you want I can send to you this part of the application but it will be in french.

[Shaggy Hiker]

Not yet. It's interesting to see. After thinking it over a bit, I'm not quite sure what I want to do here. I already did something that flood filled the columns, and there will always be an issue with copy/paste in this case, since each column has different constraints on it. What works in one cell won't work in another. One whole column can't be copy/pasted at all (every value had better be unique, and not just to the grid, or somebody has messed up), some columns are entwined with others, and so forth. For that reason, I'm not quite certain what I want to do with copying and pasting.

Still, that's an interesting approach. It looks like it could be either right click or Ctrl+C without much difficulty, so it would work. I might also be able to add my peculiar paste constraints into copy/paste. For example, in the column that has to be unique, I could just disable the copying. I might fiddle around with that a bit.

[wes4dbt]

The DGV has an EditMode option of "EditOnEnter" that would probably solve the error.

[Signalman]

This is one That is virtually but not quite finished yet (and some bits have been copied form various sources and altered), Copy paste works ok, the only issue is in deleting rows, can only delete one row at a time, even if more are selected, I am currently working to fix this. However the rest of it works well and the cut / copy paste has the same rules as excel. You can also cut / copy paste from an external source to the DGV.

There is a known bug, that if you actually select the cell and are editing the actual contents and then right click, two pop up windows appear, the one I defined and another one which looks to be a pre defined one from somewhere.

If it is defined as read only then you can only copy

Any suggested improvements or bug fixes welcome

Public Class DataGridViewCutPaste
    Inherits DataGridView

    Private WithEvents contextMenuDataGrid As New ContextMenuStrip

    Public Sub New()

    End Sub

    Public Property BindingSource() As BindingSource     ' this now acts as get & set to the same name prefixed with underscore _
    Public Property CutPasteReadWrite() As Boolean = False    ' allows alteration to the datagridview

    Private Function CheckBindingsource(ByRef aBindingsource As BindingSource)
        If aBindingsource Is Nothing Then
            MsgBox("bindingsource not defined")
            CheckBindingsource = False
            Exit Function
        End If
        CheckBindingsource = True

    End Function


    Private Sub ValidateData_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.Windows.Forms.KeyEventArgs) Handles Me.KeyDown
        If _CutPasteReadWrite = True Then
            Select Case e.KeyCode         'read write options

                Case 86   'ctrl V
                    PasteClipboardValue()
                Case 88   'ctrl X
                    cut()
            End Select
        End If
        Select Case e.KeyCode         ' read  options
            Case 67 '  ctrl c
                CopyToClipboard()
        End Select


        'MsgBox(e.KeyCode)
    End Sub
    Private Sub me_CellMouseDown(sender As Object, e As System.Windows.Forms.DataGridViewCellMouseEventArgs) Handles Me.CellMouseDown
        If e.Button = MouseButtons.Right And e.RowIndex > -1 Then
            Me.CurrentCell = Me(e.ColumnIndex, e.RowIndex)
            If contextMenuDataGrid.Items.Count = 0 Then
                If _CutPasteReadWrite = True Then

                    contextMenuDataGrid.Items.Add("Add Row")
                    contextMenuDataGrid.Items.Add("Add 10 Rows")
                    contextMenuDataGrid.Items.Add("Insert Row at Cursor")
                    contextMenuDataGrid.Items.Add("Delete Row")
                    contextMenuDataGrid.Items.Add("Paste")
                    contextMenuDataGrid.Items.Add("Cut")
                End If
                contextMenuDataGrid.Items.Add("Copy")


            End If
            contextMenuDataGrid.Show(Me, e.Location)
        End If
    End Sub

    Private Sub contextMenuDataGrid_Click(sender As Object, ByVal e As System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripItemClickedEventArgs) Handles contextMenuDataGrid.ItemClicked
        contextMenuDataGrid.Hide()
        If CheckBindingsource(_BindingSource) = False Then Exit Sub

        Select Case e.ClickedItem.Text
            Case "Copy"
                CopyToClipboard()
            Case "Cut"
                cut()
            Case "Paste"
                PasteClipboardValue()
            Case "Insert Row at Cursor"
                insertRowAtCursor()
            Case "Add Row"
                _BindingSource.AddNew()
            Case "Add 10 Rows"
                Add10Rows()

            Case "Delete Row"
                DeleteRow()
        End Select
    End Sub

    Public Sub CopyToClipboard()            ' public so it can be called off the toolstrip on the master form
        Dim dataObj As DataObject = Me.GetClipboardContent
        If Not IsNothing(dataObj) Then
            Clipboard.SetDataObject(dataObj)
        End If
    End Sub
    Public Sub cut()                           ' public so it can be called off the toolstrip on the master form
        CopyToClipboard()
        For counter As Integer = 0 To Me.SelectedCells.Count - 1
            Me.SelectedCells(counter).Value = String.Empty
        Next
    End Sub
    Sub DeleteRow()
        Dim SelectedRowCount As Integer = Me.SelectedCells.OfType(Of DataGridViewCell)().Select(Function(x) x.RowIndex).Distinct().Count()
        If CheckBindingsource(_BindingSource) = False Then Exit Sub
        _BindingSource.RemoveCurrent()
    End Sub

    Sub Add10Rows()
        Dim startingCell As Integer = Me.CurrentCell.ColumnIndex
        If CheckBindingsource(_BindingSource) = False Then Exit Sub
        For i = 1 To 10
            _BindingSource.AddNew()
        Next
        Me.CurrentCell = Me.Rows(0).Cells(startingCell)
    End Sub
    Sub insertRowAtCursor()
        If CheckBindingsource(_BindingSource) = False Then Exit Sub
        Dim DataGridViewCursorCurrentRow As Integer = Me.CurrentRow.Index
        Dim startingCell As Integer = Me.CurrentCell.ColumnIndex
        _BindingSource.AddNew()
        Dim dataGridROwCount As Integer = Me.RowCount
        Dim j As Integer
        For j = 0 To Me.Columns.Count - 1
            For i = dataGridROwCount - 1 To DataGridViewCursorCurrentRow + 1 Step -1
                Me.Rows(i).Cells(j).Value = Me.Rows(i - 1).Cells(j).Value
                Me.Rows(i - 1).Cells(j).Value = ""
            Next
        Next
        Me.CurrentCell = Me.Rows(0).Cells(startingCell)

    End Sub

    Private Sub PasteClipboardValue()
        If Me.SelectedCells.Count = 0 Then
            MessageBox.Show("No Cell selected", "Paste")
            Exit Sub
        End If

        Dim StartingCell As DataGridViewCell = GetStartingCell(Me)
        Dim SelectedrowCount = Me.SelectedCells.OfType(Of DataGridViewCell)().Select(Function(x) x.RowIndex).Distinct().Count()
        Dim SelectedColumnCount = Me.SelectedCells.OfType(Of DataGridViewCell)().Select(Function(x) x.ColumnIndex).Distinct().Count()

        Dim startingCellRow = StartingCell.RowIndex
        Dim StartingCellColumn = StartingCell.ColumnIndex

        Dim clipBoardValue As Dictionary(Of Integer, Dictionary(Of Integer, String)) = ClipboardValues(Clipboard.GetText.TrimEnd(vbCr, vbLf))  'trim end needed due to excel 
        Dim clipboardRowCount As Integer = clipBoardValue.Keys.Count

        Dim clipboardArray(1000, 30) As String
        Dim i As Integer = 0
        Dim j As Integer = 0
        Dim maxArrayCol As Integer = 0
        Dim maxarrayrow As Integer = 0

        For Each rowkey As Integer In clipBoardValue.Keys
            Dim startingCellColumnIndex As Integer = StartingCell.ColumnIndex
            For Each cellkey As Integer In clipBoardValue(rowkey).Keys
                Dim cell As DataGridViewCell = Me(startingCellColumnIndex, startingCellRow)
                cell.Value = clipBoardValue(rowkey)(cellkey)
                'If cell.Value Is Nothing Then
                clipboardArray(i, j) = vbNull
                '  Else
                clipboardArray(i, j) = cell.Value.trim(vbCr, vbLf)
                ' End If

                j += 1     'j = j + 1
            Next
            If j > maxArrayCol Then maxArrayCol = j
            j = 0
            i += 1       'i = i + 1
        Next
        maxarrayrow = i
        Dim maxClipboardCol As Integer = maxArrayCol
        'clipboadarray Contains the clipboard with maxcolrow & col giving the number of rows & colums  subtract 1 to get array
        Dim cj As Integer = 0
        Dim cc As Integer = 0

        If SelectedrowCount = 1 And SelectedColumnCount = 1 Then   ' this is if only a starting postion has been specified
            Dim rowsLefttotheBottom = Me.RowCount - startingCellRow
            Dim columnsLefttotheRight = Me.ColumnCount - StartingCellColumn
            If rowsLefttotheBottom >= maxarrayrow Then SelectedrowCount = maxarrayrow Else SelectedrowCount = SelectedrowCount + rowsLefttotheBottom - 1
            If columnsLefttotheRight >= maxArrayCol Then SelectedColumnCount = maxArrayCol Else SelectedColumnCount = SelectedColumnCount + columnsLefttotheRight - 1
        End If
        Dim rowsFilled As Integer
        Dim rowsFilledMultiple = False
        Dim columnsFilledMultiple = False
        If SelectedrowCount Mod maxarrayrow = 0 Then rowsFilledMultiple = True Else rowsFilledMultiple = False
        If SelectedColumnCount Mod maxArrayCol = 0 Then columnsFilledMultiple = True Else columnsFilledMultiple = False
        For i = startingCellRow To startingCellRow + SelectedrowCount - 1
            For j = StartingCellColumn To StartingCellColumn + SelectedColumnCount - 1
                Dim cell As DataGridViewCell = Me(j, i)
                cell.Value = clipboardArray(cj, cc)
                Application.DoEvents()
                cc += 1     'cc = cc + 1
                Dim numberOfColsLeft = StartingCellColumn + SelectedColumnCount - 1
                If cc >= maxClipboardCol Then
                    If cc >= maxClipboardCol Then
                        cc = 0
                        If columnsFilledMultiple = False Then Exit For
                    End If
                End If
            Next
            rowsFilled += 1
            cc = 0
            cj += 1      'cj = cj + 1
            If cj >= clipboardRowCount Then
                cj = 0
                If rowsFilledMultiple = False Then Exit For
            End If
        Next

    End Sub

    Private Function GetStartingCell(dgView As DataGridView) As DataGridViewCell
        If dgView.SelectedCells.Count = 0 Then Return Nothing
        Dim rowIndex As Integer = dgView.Rows.Count - 1
        Dim ColIndex As Integer = dgView.Columns.Count - 1
        For Each dgvcell As DataGridViewCell In dgView.SelectedCells

            If dgvcell.RowIndex < rowIndex Then rowIndex = dgvcell.RowIndex
            If dgvcell.ColumnIndex < ColIndex Then ColIndex = dgvcell.ColumnIndex
        Next
        Return dgView(ColIndex, rowIndex)
    End Function
    Private Function ClipboardValues(clipboardvalue As String) As Dictionary(Of Integer, Dictionary(Of Integer, String))
        Dim lines() As String = clipboardvalue.Split(CChar(Environment.NewLine))
        Dim copyValues As Dictionary(Of Integer, Dictionary(Of Integer, String)) = New Dictionary(Of Integer, Dictionary(Of Integer, String))
        For i As Integer = 0 To lines.Length - 1
            copyValues.Item(i) = New Dictionary(Of Integer, String)
            Dim linecontent() As String = lines(i).Split(ChrW(Keys.Tab))
            If linecontent.Length = 0 Then
                copyValues(i)(0) = String.Empty
            Else
                For j As Integer = 0 To linecontent.Length - 1
                    copyValues(i)(j) = linecontent(j)
                Next
            End If
        Next
        Return copyValues
    End Function

End Class