WPF DataGrid, Read-Only Row

A common requirement for a DataGrid is to have entire rows that are read-only. You may have a list of records in your DataGrid and some need to be locked for various reasons. Unfortunately, in the XAML definition of a DataGrid, there isn’t a way to mark a row as being Read-Only. To accomplish this without tying my view to my model or rewriting the DataGrid, I’m utilizing the BeginningEdit event, the Tag property of the DataGridRow, and created a style for the DataGridRow with a DataTrigger to put everything together.

First thing I did was to make sure my Model had an IsReadOnly property to latch onto, in the attached sample code, I did this by adding the property to one of the Customer in the Northwind database .

Next, using a Trigger in my DataGridRow style, if the data item’s IsReadOnly property evaluates to “True” then I set the DataGridRow ‘s Tag to a string I can look for in my BeginningEdit event handler. In the sample project attached and in the code snippets below, I used the string “ReadOnly”. For a visual cue, I also set the HeaderTemplate to show an image to indicate that the row is locked.

XAML Styles

<!– Row Header Template to show a Locked icon.–>
<DataTemplate x:Key="rowHeaderTemplate">
    <StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal">
        <Image x:Name="editImage" Source="Images/lock.gif" Width="16" Margin="1,0" />
    </StackPanel>
</DataTemplate>
<!– DataGridRow Style –>
<Style x:Key="ReadOnlyCheck" TargetType="{x:Type DataGridRow}">
    <Style.Triggers>
        <DataTrigger Binding="{Binding IsReadOnly}" Value="True">
            <Setter Property="Tag" Value="ReadOnly" />
            <Setter Property="HeaderTemplate" Value="{StaticResource rowHeaderTemplate}">
            </Setter>
        </DataTrigger>
    </Style.Triggers>
</Style>

Finally, in my BeginningEdit event handler for my DataGrid, I look at the Row going into Edit Mode, if its Tag property has been set to “ReadOnly” I cancel the event so it never makes it into edit mode. This enforces the IsReadOnly property from my mode.

BeginningEdit Event Handler

/// <summary>
/// Event Handler for BeginningEdit Event of DataGrid.  If the Row entering into Edit Mode has a Tag set to "ReadOnly", 
/// cancel the edit.
/// </summary>
/// <param name="sender">Reference to the DataGrid</param>
/// <param name="e">Instance of DataGridBeginningEditEventArgs</param>
private void dataGrid_BeginningEdit(object sender, DataGridBeginningEditEventArgs e)
{
    if (((DataGridRow)e.Row).Tag != null && ((DataGridRow)e.Row).Tag.ToString() == "ReadOnly")
    {
        e.Cancel = true;
    }
}