How to add a button to a column in the DataGridView

Question

DataTable dt = new DataTable();
dt.Columns.Add(new DataColumn("Software Title", typeof(string)));
dt.Columns.Add(new DataColumn("Version", typeof(string)));
dt.Columns.Add(new DataColumn("Uninstall", typeof(System.Windows.Forms.Button)));

DataRow dr = dt.NewRow();
dr[0] = "App";
dr[1] = "1.0";
Button uninstall = new Button();
uninstall.Text = "Uninstall";

dr[2] = uninstall;

dt.Rows.Add(dr);

dataGridViewSoftware.DataSource = dt;

The text appears but button never shows up.

Answer 1

Assuming you are in Windows Forms, you need to add a DataGridViewButtonColumn to your DataGridView - Not directly to the DataTable.

This should occur somewhere after you bind the DataTable to the DataGridView.

Something like this should work:

DataGridViewButtonColumn uninstallButtonColumn = new DataGridViewButtonColumn();
uninstallButtonColumn.Name = "uninstall_column";
uninstallButtonColumn.Text = "Uninstall";
int columnIndex = 2;
if (dataGridViewSoftware.Columns["uninstall_column"] == null)
{
    dataGridViewSoftware.Columns.Insert(columnIndex, uninstallButtonColumn);
}

Of course you will have to handle the CellClick event of the grid to do anything with the button.

Add this somewhere in your DataGridView Initialization code

dataGridViewSoftware.CellClick += dataGridViewSoftware_CellClick;

Then create the handler:

private void dataGridViewSoftware_CellClick(object sender, DataGridViewCellEventArgs e)
{
    if (e.ColumnIndex == dataGridViewSoftware.Columns["uninstall_column"].Index)
    {
        //Do something with your button.
    }
}