Refresh DataGridView when updating data source

Question

What is the best way to refresh a DataGridView when you update an underlying data source?

I'm updating the datasource frequently and wanted to display the outcome to the user as it happens.

I've got something like this (and it works), but setting the DataGridView.DataSource to null doesn't seem like the right way.

List<ItemState> itemStates = new List<ItemState>(); dataGridView1.DataSource = itemStates;  for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++) {      itemStates.Add(new ItemState { Id = i.ToString() });     dataGridView1.DataSource = null;     dataGridView1.DataSource = itemStates;     System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(500); } 

Answer 1

I ran into this myself. My recommendation: If you have ownership of the datasource, don't use a List. Use a BindingList. The BindingList has events that fire when items are added or changed, and the DataGridView will automatically update itself when these events are fired.

Answer 2

Well, it doesn't get much better than that. Officially, you should use

dataGridView1.DataSource = typeof(List);  dataGridView1.DataSource = itemStates; 

It's still a "clear/reset source" kind of solution, but I have yet to find anything else that would reliably refresh the DGV data source.