Gridview design: How do I split the gridview so it does not take full width of page?

Question

Hi,

I have a gridview control in my c# program which currently has 12 columns and 2 rows (1 row being the header). Is it possible to split the 12 columns so I have 6 columns and 2 rows and then below that another 6 columns and rows so it doesn't take up the full width of the page? Thank you.

My gridview:

<asp:GridView ID="GridView1" HorizontalAlign="center" Visible="false" runat="server" AutoGenerateColumns="False" DataKeyNames="ID"
                DataSourceID="SqlDataSource" EmptyDataText="No data could be found for the email address" CellSpacing="3" CellPadding="4"
                GridLines="None" ForeColor="#333333">
                <Columns>
                    <asp:BoundField DataField="ID" HeaderText="ID" InsertVisible="False" ReadOnly="True"
                        SortExpression="ID">
                        <ItemStyle Font-Names="Verdana" Font-Size="9pt" Width="50px" />
                        <HeaderStyle Font-Names="Verdana" Font-Size="10pt" Width="50px" />
                    </asp:BoundField>
                    <asp:BoundField DataField="name" HeaderText="Name" SortExpression="name">
                        <ItemStyle Font-Names="Verdana" Font-Size="9pt" />
                        <HeaderStyle Font-Names="Verdana" Font-Size="10pt" />
                    </asp:BoundField>
                    <asp:BoundField DataField="EmailAddress" HeaderText="Email Address" SortExpression="EmailAddress">
                        <ItemStyle Font-Names="Verdana" Font-Size="9pt" />
                        <HeaderStyle Font-Names="Verdana" Font-Size="10pt" />
                    </asp:BoundField>
                    <asp:BoundField DataField="Address1" HeaderText="Address1" SortExpression="Address1">
                        <ItemStyle Font-Names="Verdana" Font-Size="9pt" />
                        <HeaderStyle Font-Names="Verdana" Font-Size="10pt" />
                    </asp:BoundField>
                    <asp:BoundField DataField="Address2" HeaderText="Address2" SortExpression="Address2">
                        <ItemStyle Font-Names="Verdana" Font-Size="9pt" />
                        <HeaderStyle Font-Names="Verdana" Font-Size="10pt" />
                    </asp:BoundField>
                    <asp:BoundField DataField="city" HeaderText="City" SortExpression="city">
                        <ItemStyle Font-Names="Verdana" Font-Size="9pt" />
                        <HeaderStyle Font-Names="Verdana" Font-Size="10pt" />
                    </asp:BoundField>
                    <asp:BoundField DataField="PostCode" HeaderText="Post Code" SortExpression="PostCode">
                        <ItemStyle Font-Names="Verdana" Font-Size="9pt" />
                        <HeaderStyle Font-Names="Verdana" Font-Size="10pt" />
                    </asp:BoundField>
                </Columns>

                <RowStyle BackColor="#F7F6F3" ForeColor="#333333" />
                <FooterStyle BackColor="#5D7B9D" ForeColor="White" Font-Bold="True" />
                <PagerStyle BackColor="#284775" ForeColor="White" HorizontalAlign="Center" />
                <SelectedRowStyle BackColor="#E2DED6" Font-Bold="True" ForeColor="#333333" />
                <HeaderStyle BackColor="#5D7B9D" Font-Bold="True" ForeColor="White" />
                <AlternatingRowStyle BackColor="White" ForeColor="#284775" />
                <EditRowStyle BackColor="#999999" />
                <EmptyDataRowStyle cssclass="mycentertext" />
            </asp:GridView>

Answer 1

Mike, if you implement what you want i think you're going to end up with a confusing UI, IMHO.

Any time i encounter a grid view with lots of columns i refactor the UI so that the grid displays fewer, more important or identifying columns and then, when the user clicks a row i display the rest of the row data is a separate "details" display below the grid.

In your case i would leave the id, name and email columns and move the rest into the details section.

This should also be possible client-side if you're JavaScript saavy enough.