WPF DataGrid: how do I stop auto scrolling when a cell is clicked?

Question

Problem:
If my DataGrid is not entirely visible (horizontal & vertical scrollbars are showing) and I click on one of my cells that is partially visible, the grid auto-scrolls to bring that cell into view. I don't want this to happen. I've tried playing around with RequestBringIntoView, like this:

private void DataGrid_RequestBringIntoView(object sender, RequestBringIntoViewEventArgs e)
{
    e.Handled = true;
}

But that does nothing.

Things I've tried:

• My cells are custom UserControls; I tried putting an event handler for RequestBringIntoView on all UserControls that make up my cells, and tried handling the event, thinking that maybe I wasn't doing enough by just handling RequestBringIntoView on the DataGrid itself. This did not work.
• Hosted the DataGrid inside of a ScrollViewer, and handled the ScrollViewer's RequestBringIntoView event. This actually works, and stops the auto-scrolling behavior, but in my case hosting a DataGrid inside of a ScrollViewer is not at all desirable, so I need to come up with a different solution.

I'm not sure how to stop this behavior, any ideas?

Answer 1

I'm not sure this is working but here is an idea based on some investigation is made in the DataGrid's source code using Reflector:

1/ create a class which inherits DataGridCellsPanel. This is the Panel that is used internally by the DataGrid in order to arrange the cells

2/ override the BringIndexIntoView method by an empty method (without calling the base method)

3/ set the ItemsPanelTemplate property in your XAML:

<tk:DataGrid>
    <tk:DataGrid.ItemsPanel>
        <ItemsPanelTemplate>
            <local:DataGridCellsPanelNoAutoScroll />
        </ItemsPanelTemplate>
    </tk:DataGrid.ItemsPanel>
</tk:DataGrid>

It seems that when a MouseDown event occurs, at some point the BringIndexIntoView method of the panel is called to do the auto-scroll. Replacing it with a no-op might do the trick.

I hadn't time to test this solution, please let us know if it's working.

Answer 2

You can access the DataGrid's internal ScrollViewer by modifying the template. Although normally you wouldn't put an event handler to code behind in a template, if you declare the template inline you can treat the event handler the same way you are when you attach it to the DataGrid itself. This is the default template as generated from Blend including an added handler on the ScrollViewer for the RequestBringIntoView event:

<ControlTemplate TargetType="{x:Type Controls:DataGrid}">
<Border SnapsToDevicePixels="True" Background="{TemplateBinding Background}" BorderBrush="{TemplateBinding BorderBrush}" BorderThickness="{TemplateBinding BorderThickness}" Padding="{TemplateBinding Padding}">
    <ScrollViewer x:Name="DG_ScrollViewer" Focusable="False" RequestBringIntoView="DG_ScrollViewer_RequestBringIntoView">
        <ScrollViewer.Template>
            <ControlTemplate TargetType="{x:Type ScrollViewer}">
                <Grid>
                    <Grid.RowDefinitions>
                        <RowDefinition Height="Auto"/>
                        <RowDefinition Height="*"/>
                        <RowDefinition Height="Auto"/>
                    </Grid.RowDefinitions>
                    <Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
                        <ColumnDefinition Width="Auto"/>
                        <ColumnDefinition Width="*"/>
                        <ColumnDefinition Width="Auto"/>
                    </Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
                    <Button Width="{Binding CellsPanelHorizontalOffset, RelativeSource={RelativeSource FindAncestor, AncestorLevel=1, AncestorType={x:Type Controls:DataGrid}}}" Focusable="False">
                        <Button.Visibility>
                            <Binding Path="HeadersVisibility" RelativeSource="{RelativeSource FindAncestor, AncestorLevel=1, AncestorType={x:Type Controls:DataGrid}}">
                                <Binding.ConverterParameter>
                                    <Controls:DataGridHeadersVisibility>All</Controls:DataGridHeadersVisibility>
                                </Binding.ConverterParameter>
                            </Binding>
                        </Button.Visibility>
                        <Button.Template>
                            <ControlTemplate TargetType="{x:Type Button}">
                                <Grid>
                                    <Rectangle x:Name="Border" Fill="{DynamicResource {x:Static SystemColors.ControlBrushKey}}" SnapsToDevicePixels="True"/>
                                    <Polygon x:Name="Arrow" Fill="Black" Stretch="Uniform" HorizontalAlignment="Right" Margin="8,8,3,3" VerticalAlignment="Bottom" Opacity="0.15" Points="0,10 10,10 10,0"/>
                                </Grid>
                                <ControlTemplate.Triggers>
                                    <Trigger Property="IsMouseOver" Value="True">
                                        <Setter Property="Stroke" TargetName="Border" Value="{DynamicResource {x:Static SystemColors.ControlDarkBrushKey}}"/>
                                    </Trigger>
                                    <Trigger Property="IsPressed" Value="True">
                                        <Setter Property="Fill" TargetName="Border" Value="{DynamicResource {x:Static SystemColors.ControlDarkBrushKey}}"/>
                                    </Trigger>
                                    <Trigger Property="IsEnabled" Value="False">
                                        <Setter Property="Visibility" TargetName="Arrow" Value="Collapsed"/>
                                    </Trigger>
                                </ControlTemplate.Triggers>
                            </ControlTemplate>
                        </Button.Template>
                        <Button.Command>
                            <RoutedCommand/>
                        </Button.Command>
                    </Button>
                    <Custom:DataGridColumnHeadersPresenter x:Name="PART_ColumnHeadersPresenter" Grid.Column="1">
                        <Custom:DataGridColumnHeadersPresenter.Visibility>
                            <Binding Path="HeadersVisibility" RelativeSource="{RelativeSource FindAncestor, AncestorLevel=1, AncestorType={x:Type Controls:DataGrid}}">
                                <Binding.ConverterParameter>
                                    <Controls:DataGridHeadersVisibility>Column</Controls:DataGridHeadersVisibility>
                                </Binding.ConverterParameter>
                            </Binding>
                        </Custom:DataGridColumnHeadersPresenter.Visibility>
                    </Custom:DataGridColumnHeadersPresenter>
                    <ScrollContentPresenter x:Name="PART_ScrollContentPresenter" Grid.ColumnSpan="2" Grid.Row="1" Content="{TemplateBinding Content}" ContentStringFormat="{TemplateBinding ContentStringFormat}" ContentTemplate="{TemplateBinding ContentTemplate}" CanContentScroll="{TemplateBinding CanContentScroll}" CanHorizontallyScroll="False" CanVerticallyScroll="False"/>
                    <ScrollBar x:Name="PART_VerticalScrollBar" Visibility="{TemplateBinding ComputedVerticalScrollBarVisibility}" Grid.Column="2" Grid.Row="1" Maximum="{TemplateBinding ScrollableHeight}" Value="{Binding VerticalOffset, Mode=OneWay, RelativeSource={RelativeSource TemplatedParent}}" Orientation="Vertical" ViewportSize="{TemplateBinding ViewportHeight}"/>
                    <Grid Grid.Column="1" Grid.Row="2">
                        <Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
                            <ColumnDefinition Width="{Binding NonFrozenColumnsViewportHorizontalOffset, RelativeSource={RelativeSource FindAncestor, AncestorLevel=1, AncestorType={x:Type Controls:DataGrid}}}"/>
                            <ColumnDefinition Width="*"/>
                        </Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
                        <ScrollBar x:Name="PART_HorizontalScrollBar" Visibility="{TemplateBinding ComputedHorizontalScrollBarVisibility}" Grid.Column="1" Maximum="{TemplateBinding ScrollableWidth}" Value="{Binding HorizontalOffset, Mode=OneWay, RelativeSource={RelativeSource TemplatedParent}}" Orientation="Horizontal" ViewportSize="{TemplateBinding ViewportWidth}"/>
                    </Grid>
                </Grid>
            </ControlTemplate>
        </ScrollViewer.Template>
        <ItemsPresenter SnapsToDevicePixels="{TemplateBinding SnapsToDevicePixels}"/>
    </ScrollViewer>
</Border>

Answer 3

I took more time to have a look at this problem as my first solution wasn't working.

However the answer of John is almost the good one. The trick is to catch the RequestBringIntoView event BEFORE it gets to the ScrollViewer in order to mark it has handled.

If you don't have to refine the whole template, you can use the following code:

var scp = TreeHelper.FindVisualChild<ScrollContentPresenter>(this.datagrid);
scp.RequestBringIntoView += (s, e) => e.Handled = true;

We use the ScrollContentPresenter because it's just below the ScrollViewer in the visual tree.

Hope this helps !