DataColumn set a default value

user406151 picture user406151 · Jan 15, 2015 · Viewed 37.4k times · Source

I am trying to set a default value for a DataColumn. How do you set a default value for DataColumn (column3) for the below code

DataTable dt = new DataTable();
dt.Columns.AddRange(new DataColumn[] { 
                                        new DataColumn("Column1", typeof(String)),
                                        new DataColumn("Column2", typeof(String)), 
                                        new DataColumn("Column3", typeof(String)),
                                     });

string csvData = File.ReadAllText(csvPath);

foreach (string row in csvData.Split('\n'))
{
    if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(row))
    {
        dt.Rows.Add();
        int i = 0;
        foreach (string cell in row.Split(','))
        {
            dt.Rows[dt.Rows.Count - 1][i] = cell;
            i++;
        }
    }
}

Answer

DRapp picture DRapp · Jan 15, 2015

The Columns has a "DefaultValue" property, so you could do

dt.Columns["Column1"].DefaultValue = "testing";
dt.Columns["Column2"].DefaultValue = "blah";
dt.Columns["Column3"].DefaultValue = "";

Then, when you do

DataRow dr = dt.NewRow();

dr.columns 1, 2 and 3 will have respective default values