UltraGridCell Formatting in vb.net

I am trying to get the cell to format. The requirement is the application needs to be able to handle different types of formats. The formats will come from a database so the cells are going to built dynamically. No matter what formatting I use, it always comes out as an integer. I reviewed Microsoft’s documentation on numeric formatting, but with no luck.

I want options for formatting for currency, decimal with two digits after the period, integer, and percent.

Here is my code that builds a UltraNumericEditor

Case DataType.TextType

Dim une As UltraNumericEditor = New UltraNumericEditor

With une
.Nullable = True
.MaskDisplayMode = UltraWinMaskedEdit.MaskMode.Raw
.MinValue = oParam.MinValue
.MaxValue = oParam.MaxValue
End With

‘Assign it to the Cell.Editor
With uRow
.Cells(oParam.DisplayName).EditorComponent = une
End With
uRow.Cells(oParam.DisplayName).Column.Format =  “###.##” ‘ “#####”  “##%”
uRow.Cells(oParam.DisplayName).Tag = _paramTypeList.Find(Function(en) en.ParameterID = oParam.ID And en.Seq = ugParameters.Rows.Count)

Hi Peter,

I'm not exactly 100% clear on what you are trying to do. If you want to format a column, then all you have to do is set the Format property on the column. The column's DataType has to be numeric, of course – you cannot format a string type.

The code you have here is jumping through a lot of seemingly unnecessary hoops by creating and assigning an editor. Also, you seem to be getting the column via the cell, which is a very strange way to do things. The Column property on the Cell is a backward pointer to the column object – it's not a sub-object of the cell that only affects that cell. So you are not assigning a cell-specific settings here. In other words, these three lines of code are functionally identical.

uRow.Cells(oParam.DisplayName).Column.Format =  "###.##" ' "#####"  "##%" 

uRow.Band.Columns(oParam.DisplayName).Format =  "###.##" ' "#####"  "##%" 

grid.DisplayLayout.Bands(0).Columns(oParam.DisplayName).Format =  "###.##" ' "#####"  "##%"

If you want to set the Format on an individual cell, it's a bit more complicated and you do need to use an editor for that. You would need one editor for each potential format and then apply the appropriate editor with the appropriate format to the cell. Is that what you want?

uRow.Cells(oParam.DisplayName).Column.Format =  "###.##" ' "#####"  "##%" 

I found an old sample I wrote that demonstrates how to have different formats in the same column for different rows. The sample is in C# and not VB, but it should get you started. Let me know fi you have any trouble translating it or have any questions.

I followed the sample code you gave me, but I was still unable to get it to show the format I want. 

The code below is similar to the sample. The segment below runs through when the InitializeLayout Event is created:

Dim settings As New DefaultEditorOwnerSettings()
settings.Format = "$#,##0.00"
settings.MaskInput = "C"
settings.MaskDisplayMode = Infragistics.Win.UltraWinMaskedEdit.MaskMode.IncludeLiterals

Dim editorOwner As New DefaultEditorOwner(settings)

Dim editor As New EditorWithText(editorOwner)
uRow.Cells(oParam.DisplayName).Editor = editor

It still shows the number as an integer not as currency.

Hi Peter, 

Does it work when you run my sample? If so, then there must be something different in your application that is causing it not to work. 

The obvious pitfalls would be that the column is the wrong data type. Or that something else is setting the editor on that column after you set it with the code you have here and thus it's getting removed. Maybe you are loading a layout and that's blowing away the editor. 

The sample application you sent works and works great. I also tried using the UltraNumericEditor object and set the cell's editor component to the new editor. I thought that might change the something, but the formatting does not work. It always comes out as an integer. I tried changing the NumerType to Decimal/Double. The same thing happens, always comes out as an Integer. I thought the editor at some might change, but when I set the property, MASKINPUT, the mask does generate, and the format does change, but there are no literals when I set up the format to have the '$' sign. In the InitializeLayout event function, I am looking at a list of objects and the function determines what type of cell needs to be created (date/text/dropdown/number) for that particular column. When I create an UltraDateEditor, the format that I set comes out correctly, but not the UltraNumeric Editor.

For Each oParam As Parameter In _parameters

Select Case oParam.DataType
Case DataType.DateType

Dim udte As New UltraDateTimeEditor

uRow.Cells(oParam.DisplayName).EditorComponent = udte
udte.Value = uRow.Cells(oParam.DisplayName).Value
udte.FormatString = oParam.FormatValue

If oParam.MinValue IsNot Nothing Then
udte.MinDate = oParam.MinValue
End If
If oParam.MaxValue IsNot Nothing Then
udte.MaxDate = oParam.MaxValue
End If

uRow.Cells(oParam.DisplayName).Column.Style = ColumnStyle.DateTimeWithoutDropDown
uRow.Cells(oParam.DisplayName).Tag = _paramTypeList.Find(Function(en) en.ParameterID = oParam.ID And en.Seq = ugParameters.Rows.Count)

Case DataType.Dropdown
Dim vList As ValueList = New ValueList()
Dim strNArray() As String
Dim strVArray() As String
Dim strSQL As String = ""
vList.ValueListItems.Add("", "")
strSQL = oParam.ItemSQL
If strSQL <> "" Then
Dim strName = oParam.ItemNames
Dim strValue = oParam.ItemValues

Dim results As DataSet = loadItemsFromDB(strSQL)

If results IsNot Nothing Then
For Each oRow As DataRow In results.Tables(0).Rows
vList.ValueListItems.Add(oRow.Item(strValue), oRow.Item(strName))
Next
End If
Else
strNArray = oParam.ItemNames.Split(",")
strVArray = oParam.ItemValues.Split(",")
Dim idx As Integer
If strNArray.Count = strVArray.Count Then
For idx = 0 To strNArray.Count – 1
vList.ValueListItems.Add(strVArray(idx), strNArray(idx))
Next
End If

End If
uRow.Cells(oParam.DisplayName).ValueList = vList
Dim t As ParamType = _paramTypeList.Find(Function(en) en.ParameterID = oParam.ID And en.Seq = ugParameters.Rows.Count)
uRow.Cells(oParam.DisplayName).Tag = t
uRow.Cells(oParam.DisplayName).Style = ColumnStyle.DropDownValidate

Case DataType.Number
Dim une As New UltraNumericEditor
uRow.Cells(oParam.DisplayName).EditorComponent = une
une.MinValue = oParam.MinValue
une.MaxValue = oParam.MaxValue
une.NumericType = NumericType.Integer
une.FormatString = oParam.FormatValue
une.MaskDisplayMode = UltraWinMaskedEdit.MaskMode.IncludeLiterals
une.MaskInput = oParam.FormatValue
une.Nullable = True

uRow.Cells(oParam.DisplayName).Tag = _paramTypeList.Find(Function(en) en.ParameterID = oParam.ID And en.Seq = ugParameters.Rows.Count)

Case DataType.TextType
uRow.Cells(oParam.DisplayName).Tag = _paramTypeList.Find(Function(en) en.ParameterID = oParam.ID And en.Seq = ugParameters.Rows.Count)
End Select

Next

Why does the Date Cell format correctly and the Numeric Cell Format does not? Maybe I am missing something?

Maybe there is a better place to create the cells?

Hm, it's hard to follow what's going on from just a snippet of code like this. 

What's the DataType of the grid column that is not working? 

Try setting the Format property on the column. Maybe the cell format doesn't work unless there is also a column format. 

If that doesn't help, can you put together a small sample project with just a simple grid with a column of the same DataType and see if it works with the same code you have here? Maybe there is something missing that you need to do that isn't obvious from my sample. If I have a sample to work with, I'm sure I could figure out why it's not working. 

so i think you hinted something that gave me an idea that was the issue. I went back and looked at my datasource, The columns was not the correct datatype. Thanks for your help!