Set datagrid view background to transparent

Question

I tried to set the background color of a data grid view to be \"transparent\" from properties but it it said \"not a valid property\".

How can I do it?

Answer 1

i did this with Deumber's solution and it works, but causes some troubles that i avoided by adding small improvements:

A. scrolling the DGV messes up the background. solution: put this somewhere:

public partial class main : Form
{ 
    protected override CreateParams CreateParams 
    {
    get
        {
        CreateParams cp = base.CreateParams;
        cp.ExStyle |= 0x02000000;
        return cp;
        }
    }
}

the background will still scroll, but be corrected immediately after each scroll step. it's noticeable, but was acceptable for me. does anyone know a better solution to support scrolling with this?

B. the designer has troubles using it. solution:

protected override void PaintBackground(Graphics graphics, Rectangle clipBounds, Rectangle gridBounds)
{
    base.PaintBackground(graphics, clipBounds, gridBounds);
    if (main.ActiveForm != null && this.Parent.BackgroundImage != null)
    {
        Rectangle rectSource = new Rectangle(this.Location.X, this.Location.Y, this.Width, this.Height);
        Rectangle rectDest = new Rectangle(-3, 3, rectSource.Width, rectSource.Height);
        Bitmap b = new Bitmap(Parent.ClientRectangle.Width, Parent.ClientRectangle.Height);
        Graphics.FromImage(b).DrawImage(this.Parent.BackgroundImage, Parent.ClientRectangle);
        graphics.DrawImage(b, rectDest, rectSource, GraphicsUnit.Pixel);
        SetCellsTransparent();
    }
}

now the designer treats it just like a DGV. it will fail if you ever want to draw the DGV while you have no ActiveForm, but that's not the case usually. it's also possible to just keep the if-line while you might still want to use the designer, and delete it for the release.