Print alternating rows in color din DataGridView VB.Net

Question

I fill a DatagridView with data, then I want to print this data in alternating colors, but when I do my PrintPreview I only see my columns show alternating colors.

Here is what I am trying;

Private Sub PrintDocument1_PrintPage(sender As System.Object, e As System.Drawing.Printing.PrintPageEventArgs) Handles PrintDocument1.PrintPage
    With DataGridView1
        Dim fmt As StringFormat = New StringFormat(StringFormatFlags.LineLimit)
        fmt.LineAlignment = StringAlignment.Center
        fmt.Trimming = StringTrimming.EllipsisCharacter
        Dim y As Single = e.MarginBounds.Top - 50
        Dim myBrush As Brush
        Dim myBrush1 As Brush
        Dim rowID As Integer = 0

        myBrush = New SolidBrush(Color.AliceBlue)
        myBrush1 = New SolidBrush(Color.White)
        Do While mRow < .RowCount
            Dim row As DataGridViewRow = .Rows(mRow)
            Dim x As Single = e.MarginBounds.Left - 65
            Dim h As Single = 0
            For Each cell As DataGridViewCell In row.Cells
                Dim rc As RectangleF = New RectangleF(x, y, cell.Size.Width, cell.Size.Height)

                e.Graphics.DrawRectangle(Pens.Black, rc.Left, rc.Top, rc.Width, rc.Height)
                If (newpage) Then
                    'e.Graphics.FillRectangle(myBrush, rc)
                    e.Graphics.DrawString(DataGridView1.Columns(cell.ColumnIndex).HeaderText, .Font, Brushes.Black, rc, fmt)
                Else
                    If rowID = 0 Then
                        e.Graphics.FillRectangle(myBrush, rc)
                        rowID = 1
                    ElseIf rowID = 1 Then
                        e.Graphics.FillRectangle(myBrush1, rc)
                        rowID = 0
                    End If
                    e.Graphics.DrawString(DataGridView1.Rows(cell.RowIndex).Cells(cell.ColumnIndex).FormattedValue.ToString(), .Font, Brushes.Black, rc, fmt)
                End If
                x += rc.Width
                h = Math.Max(h, rc.Height)

            Next
            newpage = False
            y += h
            mRow += 1

            If y + h > e.MarginBounds.Bottom Then
                e.HasMorePages = True
                mRow -= 1
                newpage = True
                Exit Sub
            End If
        Loop
        mRow = 0
    End With
End Sub

I have tried to place the

If rowID = 0 Then
                        e.Graphics.FillRectangle(myBrush, rc)
                        rowID = 1
                    ElseIf rowID = 1 Then
                        e.Graphics.FillRectangle(myBrush1, rc)
                        rowID = 0
                    End If

in other places, but I get the same results. This use to be easy in ASP.Net, but now I am working in VB.Net. Any ideas?

Answer 1

The issue is that your brush selection is inside the For Each loop over the cells. If you don't want to change the brush on each cell then don't select the brush on each cell. Put the code that selects the brush inside the outer loop but outside the inner loop.

You should be doing something like this:

Dim useAlternateBrush = False

Using standardBrush As New SolidBrush(Color.AliceBlue),
      alternateBrush As New SolidBrush(Color.White)
    Do While mRow < .RowCount
        '...

        Dim brush = If(useAlternateBrush, alternateBrush, standardBrush)

        useAlternateBrush = Not useAlternateBrush

        '...

        For Each cell As DataGridViewCell In row.Cells
            '...

            'Use brush here.

            '...
        Next
    Loop
End Using

Notice that the SolidBrush objects are created with a Using statement, so that they are implicitly disposed at the End Using statement. Disposable objects should ALWAYS be disposed if at all possible, which is almost always the case, and short-lived, disposable objects should be created and disposed with a Using block.