DataRow Class (System.Data)

Introduction

Represents a row of data in a DataTable. A DataRow is a member of the DataRowCollection, which is accessed through the Rows property of a DataTable.

You can access the values of columns within a DataRow by index or by column name.

Syntax

public sealed class DataRow : MarshalByRefObject, ICloneable

Remarks

The DataRow object holds the data for a single record. It is intrinsically linked to its parent DataTable and its schema.

Each DataRow has a state that indicates whether it is in an Added, Modified, Deleted, or Unchanged state. You can check the RowState property to determine the current state.

When modifying a DataRow, it's good practice to use the BeginEdit and EndEdit methods. This allows for transactional editing and enables handling of the RowChanging and RowChanged events.

Properties

The DataRow class exposes several key properties for interacting with row data and state:

Item(int columnIndex)

Gets or sets the value of the specified column for this row, using the column's zero-based ordinal index.

Item(string columnName)

Gets or sets the value of the specified column for this row, using the column's name.

RowState

Gets the current state of the row (e.g., Added, Modified, Deleted, Unchanged).

Table

Gets the DataTable to which this row belongs.

ItemArray

Gets or sets an array containing the values for all columns in this row.

HasErrors

Gets a value indicating whether any column in the row contains data errors.

Methods

Commonly used methods of the DataRow class include:

AcceptChanges()

Accepts any changes made to the row since the last time AcceptChanges was called. This resets the RowState to Unchanged.

BeginEdit()

Begins an edit operation on the row. Subsequent changes to the row are staged until EndEdit or CancelEdit is called.

CancelEdit()

Cancels the current edit operation on the row. Any changes made since BeginEdit was called are discarded.

EndEdit()

Completes the edit operation on the row. If BeginEdit was called, this method validates the changes and sets the RowState appropriately.

RejectChanges()

Reverts all changes made to the row since the last time AcceptChanges was called. This restores the row to its state prior to the changes.

SetAdded()

Sets the RowState of the row to Added. This is typically called internally by ADO.NET.

Delete()

Marks the row for deletion. The row is not physically removed from the collection until AcceptChanges is called.

Events

DataRow can raise events during data operations:

RowChanging

Fired when a change is made to the row (before the change is applied).

RowChanged

Fired after a change has been successfully made to the row.

RowErrorChanged

Fired when the RowError property value changes.

Inheritance

The DataRow class inherits from MarshalByRefObject and implements ICloneable.

• System.Object
• System.MarshalByRefObject
• System.Data.DataRow

Examples

The following example demonstrates how to create a DataTable, add a DataRow, and access its values.

using System;
using System.Data;

public class Example
{
    public static void Main()
    {
        // Create a new DataTable.
        DataTable dataTable = new DataTable("Customers");

        // Add columns to the DataTable.
        DataColumn columnCustomerID = new DataColumn("CustomerID", typeof(int));
        DataColumn columnCompanyName = new DataColumn("CompanyName", typeof(string));
        DataColumn columnContactName = new DataColumn("ContactName", typeof(string));

        dataTable.Columns.Add(columnCustomerID);
        dataTable.Columns.Add(columnCompanyName);
        dataTable.Columns.Add(columnContactName);

        // Create a new DataRow using the DataTable's NewRow method.
        DataRow newRow = dataTable.NewRow();

        // Populate the DataRow with values.
        newRow["CustomerID"] = 101;
        newRow["CompanyName"] = "Awesome Corp";
        newRow["ContactName"] = "Alice Wonderland";

        // Add the DataRow to the DataTable.
        dataTable.Rows.Add(newRow);

        // Retrieve and display the data from the DataRow.
        Console.WriteLine("Customer ID: {0}", newRow["CustomerID"]);
        Console.WriteLine("Company Name: {0}", newRow["CompanyName"]);
        Console.WriteLine("Contact Name: {0}", newRow["ContactName"]);
        Console.WriteLine("Row State: {0}", newRow.RowState);

        // Example of editing a row
        Console.WriteLine("\nEditing row...");
        newRow.BeginEdit();
        newRow["ContactName"] = "Alice W.";
        newRow.EndEdit();
        Console.WriteLine("Updated Contact Name: {0}", newRow["ContactName"]);
        Console.WriteLine("Row State after edit: {0}", newRow.RowState);

        // Example of deleting a row
        Console.WriteLine("\nDeleting row...");
        newRow.Delete();
        Console.WriteLine("Row State after delete: {0}", newRow.RowState);
    }
}