Question

Our current software, which is made in FoxPro, got a very nice feature: when we type something over a grid, the search feature is automatically called.

Example: I have a grid containing a list of truck. When I click on the grid and I type a truck number, the grid go directly to the grid’s truck record.

I need to implement it in C#, how could I do it?

P.S. In some situation, a grid COULD have editable field. But if it’s too complicated, I won’t implement-it on the those editable grid.

Answer 1

You can try something like this within your form code:

TextBox searchBox = new TextBox();
Timer searchTimer = new Timer();
bool keyPressed = true;

public Form1()
{
    InitializeComponent();
    yourDataGridView.KeyUp += new KeyEventHandler(dgv_KeyUp);
    searchTimer.Interval = 5000;
    this.Controls.Add(searchBox);
    searchBox.KeyUp += new KeyEventHandler(searchBox_KeyUp);
    searchTimer.Tick += new EventHandler(timerTick);
    searchTimer.Enabled = true;
}

void searchBox_KeyUp(object sender, KeyEventArgs e)
{
    keyPressed = true;
}

void dgv_KeyUp(object sender, KeyEventArgs e)
{
    searchBox.Show();
    searchBox.Text += e.KeyCode.ToString().ToLowerInvariant();
    searchBox.Location = Cursor.Position;
    searchBox.Focus();
    SendKeys.Send("{Right}");
    searchBox.BringToFront();
    // Do your sorting of your DataGridView here according to your search box
}

void timerTick(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    keyPressed = !keyPressed;
    if (keyPressed)
    {
        searchBox.Text = "";
        searchBox.Hide();
    }
}

That will get you a pop up “search” TextBox, that will disappear after 5 seconds. You can use the text from the box to perform the search as you see fit on the data in the DataGridView