Beginning ASP.NET 3.5 in C# 2008: From Novice to Professional, Second Edition

17.2. Formatting the GridView

Formatting consists of several related tasks. First, you want to ensure that dates, currencies, and other number values are presented in the appropriate way. You handle this job with the DataFormatString property. Next, you'll want to apply the perfect mix of colors, fonts, borders, and alignment options to each aspect of the grid, from headers to data items. The GridView supports these features through styles. Finally, you can intercept events, examine row data, and apply formatting to specific values programmatically. In the following sections, you'll consider each of these techniques.

The GridView also exposes several self-explanatory formatting properties that aren't covered here. These include GridLines (for ...