Creating a DataView

There are two ways to create a DataView. You can use the DataView constructor, or you can create a reference to the DefaultView property of the DataTable. The DataView constructor can be empty, or will also take either a DataTable as a single argument, or a DataTable along with filter criteria, sort criteria, and a row state filter. For more information about the additional arguments available for use with the DataView, see Sorting and Filtering Data Using a DataView.

Because the index for a DataView is built both when the DataView is created, and when any of the Sort, RowFilter, or RowStateFilter properties are modified, you will achieve best performance by supplying any initial sort order or filtering criteria as constructor arguments when you create the DataView. Creating a DataView without specifying sort or filter criteria and then setting the Sort, RowFilter, or RowStateFilter properties later results in the index being built at least twice: once when the DataView is created, and again when any of the sort or filter properties are modified.

Note that if you create a DataView using the constructor that does not take any arguments, you will not be able to use the DataView until you have set the Table property.

The following code example demonstrates how to create a DataView using the DataView constructor. A RowFilter, Sort column, and DataViewRowState are supplied along with the DataTable.

Dim custDV As DataView = New DataView(custDS.Tables("Customers"), _
                                      "Country = 'USA'", _
                                      "ContactName", _
                                      DataViewRowState.CurrentRows)
[C#]
DataView custDV = new DataView(custDS.Tables["Customers"], 
                               "Country = 'USA'", 
                               "ContactName", 
                               DataViewRowState.CurrentRows);

The following code example demonstrates how to obtain a reference to the default DataView of a DataTable using the DefaultView property of the table.

Dim custDV As DataView = custDS.Tables("Customers").DefaultView
[C#]
DataView custDV = custDS.Tables["Customers"].DefaultView;

See Also

Creating and Using DataViews | Sorting and Filtering Data Using a DataView | Creating and Using DataTables | DataTable Class | DataView Class