Row and Column Headers

Updated on Sep 29, 2026

This article describes how you can customize the row and column headings of RadSpreadsheet and how to show or hide the row and column headers and the worksheet gridlines.

Customizing Row and Column Headings

Giving your data meaningful names helps you better understand it. For example, if your document contains a column with the first names of your employees, the column name A does not necessarily help you understand the meaning of the data contained in that column. For the same reason, you probably are likely to have one header row in the document that will store the names of your columns. But when a user scrolls down, the content of the header row would be hidden and the user would not see the names.

It is useful to set the column heading name when the first row is not visible, as shown in the image below.

Column with a Custom Heading Name

Change the Row and Column Headings

Each worksheet has a property called RenderNameConverter, which provides a mechanism for changing the row and column headings for UI purposes, including PDF export and Printing. Create a custom name converter and assign an instance of it to the RenderNameConverter property. The converter class must inherit from HeaderNameRenderingConverterBase.

The following example shows a simple implementation for the converter class used for creating the snapshots above.

Creating a Custom Name Converter

C#

public class CustomNameConverter : HeaderNameRenderingConverterBase
{
    protected override string ConvertColumnIndexToNameOverride(HeaderNameRenderingConverterContext context, int columnIndex)
    {
        if (columnIndex == 0 &&
            context.VisibleRange.FromIndex.RowIndex >= 1 && context.VisibleRange.FromIndex.RowIndex <= 5)
        {
            return "First Name";
        }

        return base.ConvertColumnIndexToNameOverride(context, columnIndex);
    }
}

After implementing your custom name converter, instantiate it and assign it to the worksheet's RenderNameConverter property. The following example sets a new instance of the custom name converter to a RadSpreadsheet's worksheet.

Instantiating and Assigning a Custom Converter

C#

this.radSpreadsheet.Workbook.Worksheets[0].HeaderNameRenderingConverter = new CustomNameConverter();

You can download a runnable project of the previous example from our online SDK repository here.

States of the Row and Column Headings

The headings of the rows and columns have different states. You can use these states to apply different styles to the items depending on whether they appear in a selection. This section describes the possible states of the headings in RadSpreadsheet.

• HeadingState: A property of type RowColumnHeadingBase that gets or sets the heading state. It is an enum and it can have the following values:

  • Normal: The heading is not included in any selection.

  • Selected: A cell from the row/column appears in a selection.

  • FullySelected: All the cells included in the row/column are selected.

• SelectAllControlState: A property of the SelectAllControl which is of type SelectAllControlState. The property gets or sets a value indicating whether the control is selected. It is an enum and it can have the following values:

  • Normal: The control is not selected.

    SelectAllControl in Normal State

  • Selected: The control is selected.

    SelectAllControl in Selected State

Showing or Hiding Row and Column Headings

Row and column headings, as well as worksheet gridlines, are handy when creating or editing a document in RadSpreadsheet. However, at times you would want to hide them in order to make the spreadsheet more clean and presentable.

The RadWorksheetEditor exposes a Boolean property ShowRowColumnHeadings. Its default value is true and this makes the row and column headings visible. Setting the property to false, as demonstrated in the following example, hides them.

Hiding Row and Column Headers

C#

this.radSpreadsheet.ActiveWorksheetEditor.ShowRowColumnHeadings = false;

Showing or Hiding Gridlines

To show or hide the gridlines of RadSpreadsheet, set the ShowGridlines Boolean property of RadWorksheetEditor to true for showing the gridlines or false for hiding them. The following example shows how to disable the gridlines.

Hiding Gridlines

C#

this.radSpreadsheet.ActiveWorksheetEditor.ShowGridlines = false;

Find a runnable project of the previous example in the WPF Samples GitHub repository.

See Also

• Hidden Rows and Columns
• Selection