StartsWith search in RadGridView

Updated on Aug 27, 2026

Environment

Product Version	Product	Author
2019.2.618	RadGridView for WinForms	Desislava Yordanova

Description

By default, RadGridView searches for cell values that 'Contain' the search criteria.

This article demonstrates how to search only for the cells that 'StartsWith' the search criteria.

Solution

All you need to do, is to create a custom GridViewSearchRowInfo. Subscribe to the CreateRowInfo event at design time and use the following code snippet:

C#

public RadForm1()
{
    InitializeComponent();

    this.radGridView1.AllowSearchRow = true;

    this.radGridView1.CurrentRowChanging += RadGridView1_CurrentRowChanging;
}

private void RadGridView1_CurrentRowChanging(object sender, CurrentRowChangingEventArgs e)
{
    if (e.NewRow is GridViewSearchRowInfo)
    {
        e.Cancel = true;
    }
}


private void radGridView1_CreateRowInfo(object sender, GridViewCreateRowInfoEventArgs e)
{
    if (e.RowInfo is GridViewSearchRowInfo)
    {
         e.RowInfo = new CustomSearchRow(e.ViewInfo);
    }
}

public class CustomSearchRow : GridViewSearchRowInfo
{
    public CustomSearchRow(GridViewInfo viewInfo) : base(viewInfo)
    {
    }

    protected override bool MatchesSearchCriteria(string searchCriteria, GridViewRowInfo row, GridViewColumn col)
    {
        return (row.Cells[col.Name].Value + "").StartsWith(searchCriteria); 
    }
}
        

VB.NET

Sub New()

    InitializeComponent()

    Me.RadGridView1.AllowSearchRow = True

    AddHandler Me.RadGridView1.CurrentRowChanging, AddressOf RadGridView1_CurrentRowChanging
End Sub

Private Sub RadGridView1_CurrentRowChanging(sender As Object, e As CurrentRowChangingEventArgs)
    If TypeOf e.NewRow Is GridViewSearchRowInfo Then
        e.Cancel = True
    End If
End Sub
    

 Private Sub RadGridView1_CreateRowInfo(sender As Object, e As Telerik.WinControls.UI.GridViewCreateRowInfoEventArgs) _
    Handles RadGridView1.CreateRowInfo
    If TypeOf e.RowInfo Is GridViewSearchRowInfo Then
        e.RowInfo = New CustomSearchRow(e.ViewInfo)
    End If
End Sub
Public Class CustomSearchRow
    Inherits GridViewSearchRowInfo

    Public Sub New(ByVal viewInfo As GridViewInfo)
        MyBase.New(viewInfo)
    End Sub

    Protected Overrides Function MatchesSearchCriteria(ByVal searchCriteria As String, ByVal row As GridViewRowInfo, _
                                                       ByVal col As GridViewColumn) As Boolean
        Return (row.Cells(col.Name).Value & "").StartsWith(searchCriteria)
    End Function
End Class
     

See Also

• Search Row