Display Multiline Grid Cell

[Lisa]

I have a grid with several databound columns. Some of the columns contain multiline data. The data is captured and stored in the database correctly (with carriage returns), but in the grid itself the carriage returns are removed and the lines all just run together into one long line in the cell instead of displaying 3 lines in the cell.
Does a databound grid column have any setting for multiline display within a cell?
Thanks

[Shinu]

Hi Lisa,

Browsers normally ignore white spaces in the HTML source. You should either modify the strings before binding the RadGrid control, or modify them in the RadGrid ItemDataBound event, or set DataFormatString="<pre>{0}</pre>" for the respective column. You may need to add some font styles for the <pre> element so that it looks like the rest of the RadGrid content.
By default, text inside a <pre> tag is wrapped only where there is a new line. If the text has new lines at too few places, you will have to use ItemDataBound to insert <br /> tags at the places where you want new lines (paragraphs) to appear in the browser.
Below is a sample code that displays use of <pre> tag and giving space through ItemDataBound:

ASPX:

<telerik:RadGrid ID="RadGrid1" runat="server" Width="200px" AutoGenerateColumns="false" OnNeedDataSource="RadGrid_NeedDataSource">
    <MasterTableView>
        <Columns>
            <telerik:GridBoundColumn DataField="Column1" HeaderText="Column" DataFormatString="<pre>{0}</pre>" />
        </Columns>
    </MasterTableView>
</telerik:RadGrid>
<br />
<br />
<telerik:RadGrid ID="RadGrid2" runat="server" Width="200px" AutoGenerateColumns="false" OnItemDataBound="RadGrid_ItemDataBound" OnNeedDataSource="RadGrid_NeedDataSource">
    <MasterTableView>
        <Columns>
            <telerik:GridBoundColumn DataField="Column1" HeaderText="Column" />
        </Columns>
    </MasterTableView>
</telerik:RadGrid>

C#:

protected void RadGrid_NeedDataSource(object sender, GridNeedDataSourceEventArgs e)
{
    DataTable dt = new DataTable();
    DataRow dr;
    int colsNum = 1;
    int rowsNum = 2;
    string colName = "Column";
    for (int j = 1; j <= colsNum; j++)
    {
        dt.Columns.Add(String.Format("{0}{1}", colName, j));
    }

    for (int i = 1; i <= rowsNum; i++)
    {
        dr = dt.NewRow();

        for (int k = 1; k <= colsNum; k++)
        {
            dr[String.Format("{0}{1}", colName, k)] = String.Format(@"{0}{1} {0}{1} {0}{1} {0}{1} Row{2} Row{2} Row{2} Row{2}", colName, k, i);
        }
        dt.Rows.Add(dr);
    }
    (sender as RadGrid).DataSource = dt;
}

protected void RadGrid_ItemDataBound(object sender, GridItemEventArgs e)
{
    if (e.Item is GridDataItem && !e.Item.IsInEditMode)
    {
        TableCell cell = (e.Item as GridDataItem)["Column1"];
        cell.Text = cell.Text.Replace("\n", "<br />");
    }
}

Thanks,
Shinu

[Lisa]

Thanks Shinu. You pointed me in the right direction.

I ended up modifying the SQL data source view to REPLACE carriage returns with ' \n ' in the "nonconformance" field.
 
I then added code to the grid's ItemDataBound event as follows (VB.NET):

    Private Sub RadGrid1_ItemDataBound(sender As Object, e As Telerik.Web.UI.GridItemEventArgs) Handles RadGrid1.ItemDataBound

        If (TypeOf (e.Item) Is GridDataItem) Then
            Dim dataBoundItem As GridDataItem = e.Item
            Dim cell As TableCell = dataBoundItem("Nonconformance")
            cell.Text = cell.Text.Replace(" \n ", "<br />")
        End If

    End Sub

This worked fine.

BTW I tried your first suggestion of using the <pre> tag which was good to know but did not work well in my case. The field usually has several lines of data. When using <pre>, it did start each line on a new line but the individual lines did not wrap as the user wanted.

[Mark]

I know this is a really late reply but I had the same problem and used DetailItemTemplate and it worked perfectly