How to bind empty GridView with header and custom message when no data present in Datatable in Asp.net

Introduction: In this article i will explain how to bind GridView control with header i.e. with Column names and Custom message like "No Data Found" etc.It become necessary to bind empty gridview where there is no data in data source e.g Datatable.

In previous articles i explained How to Upload and store image in binary format in Sql server database and retrieve, bind to Gridview and Bind,upload,download,delete image files from the GridView and Change GridView cell background color based on condition and Upload and create Zip file in asp.net and  Bind gridview using SqlDataAdapter, SqlCommand, DataTable and Stored procedure and  Pass parameter to stored procedure using SqlDataAdapter and check login and Highlight gridview row on mouse over using CSS

Description: Sometimes we want to show the header of the gridview i.e. header with column names even when there is no data to fill in gridview. So i have created a sample web page to implement this functionality. It will bind the records in gridview if there are records in the database and it will show empty gridview with message as shown in image above.

Implementation: Let's create a sample web page to demonstrate the concept.

First of all create a database e.g. "EmpDb" and in that create a table with the columns as shown below and name it "employee":

Column Name	Data Type
EmpId	Int(Primary key so set Is Idenetity=True)
EmpName	varchar(50)
Salary	decimal(18, 2)
Dept	varchar(50)

• In the web.config file create the connection string as:

<connectionStrings>

    <add name="conStr" connectionString="Data Source=LALIT;Initial Catalog=EmpDb;Integrated Security=True"/>

  </connectionStrings>

Note: Replace the Data Source as per your application

• In the design page(.aspx) place a GridView control as

        <fieldset style="width:175px">

    <legend>GridView with empty data</legend>

    <asp:GridView ID="MyGridView" runat="server" AutoGenerateColumns="False">

                    <Columns>

                         <asp:BoundField DataField="EmpName" HeaderText="Name" />

                         <asp:BoundField DataField="Dept" HeaderText="Department" />

                         <asp:BoundField DataField="Salary" HeaderText="Salary" />

                    </Columns>

         </asp:GridView>

    </fieldset>

• Add following code in the code behind file(.aspx.cs)

C#.Net Code to bind empty GridView with header and custom message

First include the following namespaces

using System.Data;

using System.Data.SqlClient;

using System.Configuration;

then write code as:

protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)

    {

        if (!IsPostBack)

        {

            BindGrid();

        }

    }

     

private void BindGrid()

    {

        SqlConnection con=new SqlConnection(ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings["conStr"].ConnectionString);

        SqlDataAdapter adp=new SqlDataAdapter("select * from employee",con);

        DataTable dt=new DataTable();

        adp.Fill(dt);

        if (dt.Rows.Count>0 )

        {

            MyGridView.DataSource = dt;

            MyGridView.DataBind();

        }

        else

        {

            BingEmpyGridViewWithHeader(MyGridView, dt, "No data found");

        }

    }

    protected void BingEmpyGridViewWithHeader(GridView grd, DataTable dt,String msg)

{

            try

    {

                        if (dt.Rows.Count == 0) {

                                    //Add a blank row to the datatable

                                    dt.Rows.Add(dt.NewRow());

                                    //Bind the DataTable to the GridView

                                    grd.DataSource = dt;

                                    grd.DataBind();

                                    //Get the number of columns to know what the Column Span should be

                                    int columnCount = grd.Rows[0].Cells.Count;

                                    //Call the clear method to clear out any controls that you use in the columns.  E.g If you are using dropdown list etc. in any of the column then it is necessary.

                                    grd.Rows[0].Cells.Clear();

                                    grd.Rows[0].Cells.Add(new TableCell());

                                    grd.Rows[0].Cells[0].ColumnSpan = columnCount;

                                    grd.Rows[0].Cells[0].Text = "<font color=Red><b><center>"+ msg +"</center></b></font>";

                        }

            }

    catch (Exception ex)

    {

                        //Do your exception handling here

            }

}

VB.Net Code to bind empty GridView with header and custom message

First import the following namespaces

Imports System.Data

Imports System.Data.SqlClient

Imports System.Configuration 

then write code as:

Protected Sub Page_Load(sender As Object, e As EventArgs)

               If Not IsPostBack Then

                               BindGrid()

               End If

End Sub

Private Sub BindGrid()

               Dim con As New SqlConnection(ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings("conStr").ConnectionString)

               Dim adp As New SqlDataAdapter("select * from employee", con)

               Dim dt As New DataTable()

               adp.Fill(dt)

               If dt.Rows.Count > 0 Then

                               MyGridView.DataSource = dt

                               MyGridView.DataBind()

               Else

                               BingEmpyGridViewWithHeader(MyGridView, dt, "No data found")

               End If

End Sub

Protected Sub BingEmpyGridViewWithHeader(grd As GridView, dt As DataTable, msg As [String])

               Try

                               If dt.Rows.Count = 0 Then

                                              'Add a blank row to the datatable

                                              dt.Rows.Add(dt.NewRow())

                                              'Bind the DatTable to the GridView

                                              grd.DataSource = dt

                                              grd.DataBind()

                                              'Get the number of columns to know what the Column Span should be

                                              Dim columnCount As Integer = grd.Rows(0).Cells.Count

                                              'Call the clear method to clear out any controls that you use in the columns.  E.g If you are using dropdown list etc. in any of the column then it is necessary.

                                              grd.Rows(0).Cells.Clear()

                                              grd.Rows(0).Cells.Add(New TableCell())

                                              grd.Rows(0).Cells(0).ColumnSpan = columnCount

                                              grd.Rows(0).Cells(0).Text = "<font color=Red><b><center>" & Convert.ToString(msg) & "</center></b></font>"

                               End If

                                              'Do your exception handling here

               Catch ex As Exception

               End Try

End Sub

Now over to you:

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