Visual Basic® .NET Power Coding

Converting Bound Columns to Template Columns

You can manually define columns in a data grid if you prefer to design the columns rather than let them be autogenerated. Custom columns are defined by selecting from the available column types shown in Figure 16.9, adding those types to the selected columns list, and modifying the properties for the column. (We did this for the Contact Name and Phone columns in the Contacts data view earlier in the chapter.) When you do this you get basic text data in the grid cell. What I didn't mention is that you can convert a bound column to a template column by clicking on the link “Convert this column into a Template Column” (at the bottom of Figure 16.9). When you convert a column into a template column, you ...