Setting Parameters to a Custom RichTextBox Control Hosted in a DataGridViewColumn

Question

I have a custom control called RichTextBoxMasked which is similar to a MaskedTextBox but different. This control, when dropped on a form, allows me to "mask" the value in the RichTextBox.  The enum values for the control are:
enum Mask { None, DateOnly, PhoneWithArea, IpAddress, SSN, Decimal, Digit, AllCaps, SpellCheck}
Either programmatically or via a dropdown in the property grid, I can restrict the value of the control to one of the above formatted types, or perform spellcheck.
So far, so good, but now I want to do the same thing in a DataGridView.  That is, I want a DataGridViewRichTextBoxMaskedColumn that provides the same function for the content of the cells of the columns. 
So I started with very good sample project that I found at
http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/31823/RichTextBox-Cell-in-a-DataGridView. 
This code allows me to host a RichTextBox in the cells of a DataGridViewColumn easily enough by substituting "RichTextBoxMasked" for every occurrence of "RichTextBox", but I can't determine how to pass a Mask value from my enum
to the cell so that the editing control knows what to do with it.
I hesitate to post my code because there is a lot of it.  I hope that viewing the Code Project sample will suffice.  However, I have posted a bit of code below that shows the custom control being added to a panel on a form.  I hope to
do something similar to a column in a DataGridView.
RichTextBoxMasked rtbx = new RichTextBoxMasked();
rtbx.Masked = Mask.SpellCheck;
pnlEquipmentDetails.Controls.Add(rtbx);
Will I have to resort to a custom DataGridViewRichTextBoxMaskedCell to replace the DataGridViewTextBoxCell class found in the sample?  If not, then how should I modify the sample code?  If so, then how would I go about doing that?
Rob E.

Answer 1

Shortly, we need to create an editing  control class which inherits from your RichTextBoxMasked control.
If I understand you correctly, I have already done so when I substituted RichTextBoxMasked for RichTextBox in the editing control code:
public class DataGridViewRichTextBoxEditingControl :
RichTextBox, IDataGridViewEditingControl
becomes...
public class DataGridViewRichTextBoxEditingControl :
RichTextBoxMasked, IDataGridViewEditingControl
Is that what you meant?  If so, it still doesn't give me a way to  assign a value for the mask parameter for the RichTextBoxMasked control.
I am wondering if I shouldn't abandon this effort and instead modify the original code to DataGridViewRichTextBox so that the editing control has the same functionality as that found in my RichTextBoxControl.  In other words, DataGridViewRichTextBox
would not be altered to inherit RichTextBoxMasked, and the editing control would contain mostly the same functionality code as that found in RichTextBoxMasked.  I suppose then I could create a Mask property for the DataGridViewRichTextBox class
so that it could be used to create a cell template which would assign a property value to the DataGridViewRichTextBoxColumn.  Do you think that would work?
Rob E.
Hello,
Yes, we need to change that code like the one you shared, to share you a example, I created a simple sample.
My RTB Class.
public class MyRichTextBox:RichTextBox
public string YourCustomProperty { get; set; }
DataGridViewRichTextBoxEditingControl.
public class DataGridViewRichTextBoxEditingControl : MyRichTextBox, IDataGridViewEditingControl
//the other code
DataGridViewRichTextBoxCell.
public class DataGridViewRichTextBoxCell : DataGridViewImageCell
public static readonly MyRichTextBox _editingControl = new MyRichTextBox();
public void PassYourParm(string strYourparmater)
_editingControl.YourCustomProperty = strYourparmater;
public override Type EditType
get
return typeof(DataGridViewRichTextBoxEditingControl);
public override Type ValueType
get
return typeof(string);
set
base.ValueType = value;
public override Type FormattedValueType
get
return typeof(string);
private static void SetRichTextBoxText(MyRichTextBox ctl, string text)
try
ctl.Rtf = text;
catch (ArgumentException)
ctl.Text = text;
private Image GetRtfImage(int rowIndex, object value, bool selected)
Size cellSize = GetSize(rowIndex);
if (cellSize.Width < 1 || cellSize.Height < 1)
return null;
MyRichTextBox ctl = null;
if (ctl == null)
ctl = _editingControl;
ctl.Size = GetSize(rowIndex);
SetRichTextBoxText(ctl, Convert.ToString(value));
if (ctl != null)
// Print the content of MyRichTextBox to an image.
Size imgSize = new Size(cellSize.Width - 1, cellSize.Height - 1);
Image rtfImg = null;
if (selected)
// Selected cell state
ctl.BackColor = DataGridView.DefaultCellStyle.SelectionBackColor;
ctl.ForeColor = DataGridView.DefaultCellStyle.SelectionForeColor;
// Print image
rtfImg = RichTextBoxPrinter.Print(ctl, imgSize.Width, imgSize.Height);
// Restore MyRichTextBox
ctl.BackColor = DataGridView.DefaultCellStyle.BackColor;
ctl.ForeColor = DataGridView.DefaultCellStyle.ForeColor;
else
rtfImg = RichTextBoxPrinter.Print(ctl, imgSize.Width, imgSize.Height);
return rtfImg;
return null;
DataGridViewRichTextBoxColumn.
public class DataGridViewRichTextBoxColumn : DataGridViewColumn
//the other code
public void ToPassYourParm(string strYourparmater)
(base.CellTemplate as DataGridViewRichTextBoxCell).PassYourParm(strYourparmater);
Form.
private void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
DataGridViewRichTextBoxColumn rtbColumn = new DataGridViewRichTextBoxColumn();
rtbColumn.ToPassYourParm("YourParm");
this.dataGridView1.Columns.Add(rtbColumn);
Regards,
Carl
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