The editing, deleting, and adding permissions granted to the user at run time are controlled by the AllowUpdate, AllowDelete, and AllowAddNew properties. The default values of these properties are:

Note that these properties only control user interaction with the grid at run time. They do not control whether database operations can be performed by the DataSet or other bound controls, or by the application code.

Editing Data

True DBGrid for WinForms' AllowUpdate property must be True in order for the user to edit data in the grid. The default value is True.

If the user moves to a cell and starts typing, the cell's data will be replaced by what is typed. Alternatively, clicking within the current cell will put the grid into edit mode (its EditActive property becomes True), enabling the user to modify the cell's data.

While editing, the LEFT ARROW and RIGHT ARROW keys move the insertion point within the cell. If the insertion point is at the beginning or end of the cell's text, the LEFT ARROW and RIGHT ARROW keys will terminate editing by moving to the adjacent cell. The UP ARROW and DOWN ARROW keys terminate editing by moving the current cell to the row above or below the current one. The user can also end editing without moving the current cell by pressing the ENTER key.

When one or more cells in a row have been modified, a pencil icon will appear in the record selector column to indicate that data in the row has been changed. The pencil icon does not mean that the grid's EditActive property is True; it means that the grid's DataChanged property is True. To cancel the changes made to the current cell, the user can press the ESC key. In fact, before moving to another row, the user can revisit any column within the current row and press the ESC key to restore the cell to its original value. If the user repeats this procedure for all modified cells in the row, the pencil icon in the record selector will disappear.

Moving to another row by clicking it, using the UP ARROW or DOWN ARROW keys, or by clicking the navigation buttons of the Data control will update the modified record to the database. If the update is successful, the pencil icon will disappear. If no grid columns have been modified, no update will occur when changing rows.

Adding a New Record

True DBGrid for WinForms' AllowAddNew property must be True in order for the user to add new records to the grid interactively. The default value is False.

If the AllowAddNew property is True, an empty AddNew row, marked by an asterisk in the record selector column, will be displayed after the last record. The user can initiate an add operation by navigating to the AddNew row, either by clicking it or by using the DOWN ARROW key, then typing new data. The first character typed will cause the grid to insert a blank row before the AddNew row. The newly inserted blank row becomes the current row, and the grid fires the OnAddNew event.

At this point, the new row exists only in the grid—it does not have a bookmark, and it does not yet represent a physical database record. The new row is added to the underlying data source when the user navigates to another data row or the AddNew row.

Deleting a Record

True DBGrid for WinForms' AllowDelete property must be True in order for the user to delete records through the grid. The default value is False.

To delete a record, the user selects the row to be deleted by clicking its record selector, then pressing the DEL key. Only one record can be deleted at a time. The user cannot select multiple records and press the DEL key to delete them all.

In order for the record to be deleted, the grid must have focus so it can receive the DEL key. Clicking the grid's record selector column does not set focus to the grid. However, if you always want the grid to receive focus when the user clicks the record selector column, set focus to the grid in the grid's SelChange event:

private void C1TrueDBGrid1_SelChange(object sender, C1.Win.C1TrueDBGrid.CancelEventArgs e)
{
    this.c1TrueDBGrid1.Focus();
}