DataGridView row: Semi-transparent selection or row border on selection

Question

I have a DataGridView where the background of each row is different depending on the data bound item. Though, when I select a row, I can no longer see its original background color.

To solve this, I have thought of two solutions:

I can make the selections semi-transparent, making it possible to see if two selected rows have different background colors.

Or; I can remove the selection colors entirely, and draw a border around the selected rows.

What option is easier and how can I do this?

It's a WinForm app.

Edit: I ended up with the code in my original post: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4448945/datagridview-row-semi-transparent-selection-or-row-border-on-selection

Answer 1

My first reaction when I read that "the background of each row is different depending on the data bound item" was Oh no, I hope that he's talking of one or two colors at most ! :-)

Rather than solving your selection problem, I suggest that you make it a non-problem and make it go away. I would do that by adding a separate column to provide the same information that the background color is intended to represent. Not only would it be cleaner, IMO, but it would also provide the following advantages:

• You can sort by "status" (or whatever the colored background is intended to represent)

• If you don't have a lot of different colors, you might be able to use shapes, which is very helpful for the color blind.

• You can combine a visual with numeric information. The following screen snapshot shows progress bars in a column, but you can use a similar approach to represent what your background color is currently trying to achieve.

  

Is there a reason that you must use background color?