In WPF, how can I bind a datagrid column to a specific column of a datatable?

Question

I have a Datatable with many columns, and a datagrid in which I need to display only a few of those columns. I need a codesample of how to do it. I found a whole bunch of examples telling me to turn AutoGenerateColumns to true and set the table as DataContext to display all the columns in my DataTable. And I guess I could then put in a page of code to hide all the columns that I don't need, rearrange the leftover ones to proper order and size, but surely there must be a more elegant way.

In designer I have build the collection of columns I want to display, I got the datable, how do I bind an existing datagrid column to a specific datatable column in my code?

Answer 1

Bind your DataTable to the DataGrid, set the AutoGenerateColumns to False, and then add whatever columns you want to DataGrid.Columns. Here's an example using a DataTable called Collection, with two columns: ID and Value.

<DataGrid
    ItemsSource="{Binding Path=Collection}"
    AutoGenerateColumns=False
    >

    <DataGrid.Columns>
        <DataGridTextColumn Header="Id" Binding="{Binding Path=Id}" />
        <DataGridTextColumn Header="Value" Binding="{Binding Path=Value}" />
    </DataGrid.Columns>
</DataGrid>

Answer 2

XAML binding would not work for me because my DataTable is generated at runtime so there is nothing to bind to at design time. Anyway, I stumbled on how to do what I wanted here.

My problems were because for some reason there was no error thrown when I would set ItemSource to the table itself, instead of the table's DefaultView, even though, as I later read, the table does not implement the required interface. But without any errors to tell me difference I had nothing to go on to find why my grid would display as empty.

DataGridName.DataContext = DataSetName.DataTableName;
DataGridName.ItemsSource = DataSetName.DataTableName.DefaultView;

((DataGridTextColumn)DataGridName.Columns[1]).Binding = new Binding("DataTableColumnName1");
((DataGridTextColumn)DataGridName.Columns[0]).Binding = new Binding("DataTableColumnName2");
((DataGridTextColumn)DataGridName.Columns[2]).Binding = new Binding("DataTableColumnName3");