I have a three-level master/detail radgrid (think: Bill of Materials application with "Item", "Assembly", "Part").
In the ItemDataBound event for the grid, I am capturing various metrics for each GridDataItem which I am then converting into a text value. The purpose is to give the operator some detailed information for each of the levels (e.g. "based on current inventory levels, we can only produce 5 of this assembly before Part ### is exhausted")
I have been attempting, without success, to customize the radgrid's footer for each level in order to display this information. Also in the itemDataBound event, the event item is a GridFooterItem, I attempt to customize the footer to display this information. I have attempted to do this a couple of ways, based on various forum postings.
One way that "works" is I change the text value of the first column (column #2, as column #0 = expand Column and column #1 = rowindicator column in the grid). I also set the columnspan value to reflect the total # of columns less 2 (for #'s 0 & 1). E.g.:
footeritem["column2"].ColumnSpan = 8;
footeritem["column2"].Text = my-String-field;
I say this works, because, it does "work" (e.g. the data is displayed correctly for the footer), except, it "breaks" the layout of the grid in such a way that each of the levels' columns are no longer fully justified to the left and right sides of the grid. What I end up with is a grid where each detail level's data is displayed as "ragged right". It appears what happens is each column, at each level, in the grid is set to the absolute minimum amount of space needed to display the value.
Removing the ColumnSpan directive results in the grid being laid out properly (e.g. all columns dynamically sized to make the grid at all 3 levels fully justified to the right and left.) However, since column#2 might be only, say, 100 pixels, I end up with 5-10 "lines" of wrapped text containing my string field, which is not very professional looking.
Question: Is there a way to create a custom footer template for the radgrid with a single "column" which will be laid out correctly; that is, I could have a single column which spans the entire width of the radgrid so I can populate it with my text value, and not "break" the full justification of the grid?