Question

Can anyone please suggest how should I implement column drag and drop (with auto scroll) feature in DataGridView. I know I can use the controll’s AllowUserToDragDrop option. However, since my datagridview control has relatively large number of columns, I need an auto scroll feature which follows the current drag-drop position so that users can see the destination column(s) before dropping. I have implemented the custom drag and drop feature but still I am having problem to enable auto scroll option.

Answer 1

I am using the following class to auto-scroll a TTreeView. The TScroller is created in the Create of the Frame on which it sits, passing in the TreeView. It is destroyed in the frame’s Destroy. In the OnDragOver of the TreeView I simply call MyDragScroller.Scroll(State);

type
  TScroller = class(TObject)
  private
    MyTimer: TTimer;
    FControl: TWinControl;
    FSensitiveSize: Integer;
  protected
    procedure HandleTimer(Sender: TObject);
  public
    constructor Create(aControl: TWinControl);
    destructor Destroy; override;

    procedure Scroll(const aState: TDragState);
  end;

implementation

{ TScroller }

constructor TScroller.Create(aControl: TWinControl);
begin
  inherited Create;
  MyTimer := TTimer.Create(nil);
  MyTimer.Enabled := False;
  MyTimer.Interval := 20; // Not too short, otherwise scrolling flashes by.
  MyTimer.OnTimer := HandleTimer;

  FControl := aControl;
  // Width/Height from edge of FControl within which the mouse has to be for
  // automatic scrolling to occur. By default it is the width of a vertical scrollbar.
  FSensitiveSize := GetSystemMetrics(SM_CXVSCROLL);
end;

destructor TScroller.Destroy;
begin
  FreeAndNil(MyTimer);
  FControl := nil;
  inherited;
end;

procedure TScroller.HandleTimer(Sender: TObject);
var
  MousePos: TPoint;
  MouseX: Integer;
  MouseY: Integer;

  function _MouseInSensitiveSize: Boolean;
  begin

    MousePos := FControl.ScreenToClient(Mouse.CursorPos);
    MouseY := MousePos.Y;
    MouseX := MousePos.X;

    Result :=
         ((MouseY >= 0) and (MouseY < FSensitiveSize))
      or ((MouseY > FControl.ClientHeight - FSensitiveSize) and (MouseY <= FControl.ClientHeight))
      or ((MouseX >= 0) and (MouseX < FSensitiveSize))
      or ((MouseX > FControl.ClientWidth - FSensitiveSize) and (MouseX <= FControl.ClientWidth))
    ;

  end;
begin
  if Mouse.IsDragging and _MouseInSensitiveSize then begin
    if MouseY < FSensitiveSize then begin
      FControl.Perform(WM_VSCROLL, SB_LINEUP, 0);
    end else if MouseY > FControl.ClientHeight - FSensitiveSize then begin
      FControl.Perform(WM_VSCROLL, SB_LINEDOWN, 0);
    end;

    if MouseX < FSensitiveSize then begin
      FControl.Perform(WM_HSCROLL, SB_LINELEFT, 0);
    end else if MouseX > FControl.ClientWidth - FSensitiveSize then begin
      FControl.Perform(WM_HSCROLL, SB_LINERIGHT, 0);
    end;
  end else begin
    MyTimer.Enabled := False;
  end;
end;

procedure TScroller.Scroll(const aState: TDragState);
begin
  if not Mouse.IsDragging then Exit;  // Only scroll while dragging.
  if not (aState in [dsDragMove]) then Exit; // No use scrolling on a dsDragLeave and not nice to do so on a dsDragEnter.

  MyTimer.Enabled := True;
end;

Notes:
If you have more controls that need auto-scrolling, you would need to create a TScroller per control. In that case it would probably do the performance of your app a lot of good to use some sort of observer/observed mechanism to share a timer between all scrolling controls.