Formatting Values

• Feb 13, 2025
• 2 minutes to read

Most DevExpress .NET WinForms controls let you format values before they are displayed onscreen. For instance, you can format a numeric value as a currency, display a date/time value in one of the standard forms depending upon the culture (6/17/2005; Friday, June 17, 2006), etc. DevExpress controls use a standard formatting mechanism to format values as described in Microsoft documentation.

Concepts

• Formatting Approaches
• Members that Support the Formatting Mechanism
• Format Specifiers
• Composite Formatting
• Custom Formatting

Controls

Specific controls also provide events that allow you to dynamically format displayed text.

• Data Grid
• Vertical Grid
• Pivot Grid
• Tree List

Editors

For editors, it is possible to use masks to enable formatted input; the masks can also be used to format values even when no editing is active.

• Input Mask
• Formatting and Parsing Values

Task-Based Help

• How to: Format Date-Time Values Using the LongDate Pattern
• How to: Format Date-Time Values Using a Custom Format Pattern
• How to: Format a Numeric Value according to its Sign
• How to: Add Custom Text to a Formatted String
• How to: Create a Custom Formatter to Change the Case of String Values
• How to: Create a Custom Formatter to Represent Decimal Values in Binary

Cheat Sheets and Best Practices

DevExpress WinForms UI controls share the same value formatting and masking techniques. Read the following quick-reference guides for detailed information and examples:

• Display Values Different from Real Underlying Values
• Text Input Masks