How to get colored datagridview headers with the 3D looking style

Question

I'm using the Winform datagridview and try to customize my headers by changing the backcolor. In order to be able to modify the color, I must set the EnableHeadersVisualStyles property to false.

But when I set this property, I'm loosing the default 3D theme. Do you know if there is any workaround to save the 3D style and have the colored header?

My code:

dataGridTaxes.EnableHeadersVisualStyles = false;
dataGridTaxes.ColumnHeadersDefaultCellStyle = BlueDataGridHeaderStyle.GetInstance();

where BlueDataGridHeaderStyle is just a basic style with the new BackColor

Answer 1

You have to customize your DataGridView, here is a sample code I made for you. It looks really good compared with the default 3D style of ColumnHeader but supports BackColor and Hover backcolor:

    //CellPainting event handler for your dataGridView1
    private void dataGridView1_CellPainting(object sender, DataGridViewCellPaintingEventArgs e){
        if (e.RowIndex == -1 && e.ColumnIndex > -1){
            e.PaintBackground(e.CellBounds, true);
            RenderColumnHeader(e.Graphics, e.CellBounds, e.CellBounds.Contains(hotSpot) ? hotSpotColor : backColor);
            RenderColumnHeaderBorder(e.Graphics, e.CellBounds, e.ColumnIndex);
            using (Brush brush = new SolidBrush(e.CellStyle.ForeColor)){
                using (StringFormat sf = new StringFormat() {LineAlignment = StringAlignment.Center, Alignment = StringAlignment.Center}) {
                    e.Graphics.DrawString(e.Value.ToString(), e.CellStyle.Font, brush, e.CellBounds, sf);                        
                }
            }
            e.Handled = true;
        }
    }
    Color hotSpotColor = Color.LightGreen;//For hover backcolor
    Color backColor = Color.LimeGreen;    //For backColor    
    Point hotSpot;
    private void RenderColumnHeader(Graphics g, Rectangle headerBounds, Color c) {
        int topHeight = 10;
        Rectangle topRect = new Rectangle(headerBounds.Left, headerBounds.Top+1, headerBounds.Width, topHeight);
        RectangleF bottomRect = new RectangleF(headerBounds.Left, headerBounds.Top+1 + topHeight, headerBounds.Width, headerBounds.Height- topHeight-4);            
        Color c1 = Color.FromArgb(180, c);            
        using (SolidBrush brush = new SolidBrush(c1)) {
            g.FillRectangle(brush, topRect);
            brush.Color = c;
            g.FillRectangle(brush, bottomRect);
        }
    }
    private void RenderColumnHeaderBorder(Graphics g, Rectangle headerBounds, int colIndex) {            
        g.DrawRectangle(new Pen(Color.White, 0.1f), headerBounds.Left + 0.5f, headerBounds.Top + 0.5f,headerBounds.Width-1f,headerBounds.Height-1f);
        ControlPaint.DrawBorder(g, headerBounds, Color.Gray, 0, ButtonBorderStyle.Inset,
                                               Color.Gray, 0, ButtonBorderStyle.Inset,
                                             Color.Gray, colIndex != dataGridView1.ColumnCount - 1 ? 1 : 0, ButtonBorderStyle.Inset,
                                           Color.Gray, 1, ButtonBorderStyle.Inset);
    }
    //MouseMove event handler for your dataGridView1
    private void dataGridView1_MouseMove(object sender, MouseEventArgs e){
        hotSpot = e.Location;
    }
    //MouseLeave event handler for your dataGridView1
    private void dataGridView1_MouseLeave(object sender, EventArgs e){
        hotSpot = Point.Empty;
    }

You can implement the RenderColumnHeaderBorder as the followings using ControlPaint.DrawBorder3D instead, it's much simpler:

private void RenderColumnHeaderBorder(Graphics g, Rectangle headerBounds, int colIndex)
{
    ControlPaint.DrawBorder3D(g, headerBounds, Border3DStyle.Raised, Border3DSide.All & ~Border3DSide.Middle);
}

private void RenderColumnHeaderBorder(Graphics g, Rectangle headerBounds, int colIndex)
{
    ControlPaint.DrawBorder3D(g, headerBounds, Border3DStyle.RaiseInner, Border3DSide.All & ~Border3DSide.Middle);
}

private void RenderColumnHeaderBorder(Graphics g, Rectangle headerBounds, int colIndex)
{
    ControlPaint.DrawBorder3D(g, headerBounds, Border3DStyle.RaiseOuter, Border3DSide.All & ~Border3DSide.Middle);
}