In this article I will explain with an example, how to select GridView row without using select button in ASP.Net.
Note: For more information on GridView, please refer my articles:
How to change GridView Row Color on MouseOver in ASP.Net
 
 

HTML Markup

The HTML Markup consists of following controls:
GridView – For displaying data.

Columns

The GridView consists of two BoundField columns.
LinkButton - Dummy LinkButton.
<asp:GridView ID="gvCustomers" HeaderStyle-BackColor="#3AC0F2"
    runat="server" AutoGenerateColumns="false" OnRowDataBound="OnRowDataBound" OnSelectedIndexChanged="OnSelectedIndexChanged">
    <Columns>
        <asp:BoundField DataField="Name" HeaderText="Name" ItemStyle-Width="150" />
        <asp:BoundField DataField="Country" HeaderText="Country" ItemStyle-Width="150" />
    </Columns>
</asp:GridView>
<asp:LinkButton ID="lnkDummy" runat="server"></asp:LinkButton>
 
 

Namespaces

You will need to import the following namespaces
C#
using System.Data;
using System.Drawing;
 
VB.Net
Imports System.Data
Imports System.Drawing
 
 

Binding the GridView

Inside the Page_Load event handler, an object of DataTable is created.
Then, three columns are added to the DataTable Columns collection using the AddRange method.
An Array of objects of type DataColumn is specified which will hold the name and the optional parameter Data Type i.e. the Type of the column.
Once the schema is ready i.e. all the columns are defined, some rows have been added using the Rows.Add method.
Finally, the DataTable is assigned to the DataSource property of the GridView and the GridView is populated.
C#
protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    if (!this.IsPostBack)
    {
        DataTable dt = new DataTable();
        dt.Columns.AddRange(new DataColumn[3] {
                            new DataColumn("Id", typeof(int)), 
                            new DataColumn("Name", typeof(string)), 
                            new DataColumn("Country", typeof(string))});
        dt.Rows.Add(1,"John Hammond", "United States");
        dt.Rows.Add(2,"Mudassar Khan", "India");
        dt.Rows.Add(3,"Suzanne Mathews", "France");
        dt.Rows.Add(4,"Robert Schidner", "Russia");
        gvCustomers.DataSource = dt;
        gvCustomers.DataBind();
    }
}
 
VB.Net
Protected Sub Page_Load(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles Me.Load
    If Not Me.IsPostBack Then
        Dim dt As New DataTable()
        dt.Columns.AddRange(New DataColumn(2) {
                            New DataColumn("Id", GetType(Integer)), 
                            New DataColumn("Name", GetType(String)), 
                            New DataColumn("Country", GetType(String))})
        dt.Rows.Add(1, "John Hammond", "United States")
        dt.Rows.Add(2, "Mudassar Khan", "India")
        dt.Rows.Add(3, "Suzanne Mathews", "France")
        dt.Rows.Add(4, "Robert Schidner", "Russia")
        gvCustomers.DataSource = dt
        gvCustomers.DataBind()
    End If
End Sub
 
 

Select GridView Row without Select Button in ASP.Net

Inside the OnRowDataBound event handler, for each GridView Row a JavaScript click event handler is attached using the onclick attribute.
The GetPostBackClientHyperlink method accepts the GridView instance as well as the command with the Row Index of the Row.
Note: GetPostBackClientHyperlink when rendered this gets converted to the JavaScript __doPostBack method that we were discussing earlier.
 
Here the above makes each GridView Row clickable and also it executes the OnSelectedIndexChanged event handler (discussed below) when clicked.
C#
protected void OnRowDataBound(object sender, GridViewRowEventArgs e)
{
    if (e.Row.RowType == DataControlRowType.DataRow)
    {
        e.Row.Attributes["onclick"] = Page.ClientScript.GetPostBackClientHyperlink(gvCustomers, "Select$" + e.Row.RowIndex);
        e.Row.ToolTip = "Click to select this row.";
    }
}
 
VB.Net
Protected Sub OnRowDataBound(sender As Object, e As GridViewRowEventArgs)
    If e.Row.RowType = DataControlRowType.DataRow Then
        e.Row.Attributes("onclick") = Page.ClientScript.GetPostBackClientHyperlink(gvCustomers, "Select$" & e.Row.RowIndex)
        e.Row.ToolTip = "Click to select this row."
    End If
End Sub
 
 

Changing color using OnSelectedIndexChanged event handler

Inside the OnSelectedIndexChanged event handler, The GridView Row is clicked when event is triggered.
Here any GridView row is clicked the background color of the Selected GridView Row is changed.
Note: For more details on how to change color of selected GridView, please refer my article How to change GridView Selected Row Color in ASP.Net.
 
C#
protected void OnSelectedIndexChanged(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    foreach (GridViewRow row in gvCustomers.Rows)
    {
        if (row.RowIndex == gvCustomers.SelectedIndex)
        {
            row.BackColor = ColorTranslator.FromHtml("#A1DCF2");
            row.ToolTip = string.Empty;
        }
        else
        {
            row.BackColor = ColorTranslator.FromHtml("#FFFFFF");
            row.ToolTip = "Click to select this row.";
        }
    }
}
 
VB.Net
Protected Sub OnSelectedIndexChanged(sender As Object, e As EventArgs)
    For Each row As GridViewRow In gvCustomers.Rows
        If row.RowIndex = gvCustomers.SelectedIndex Then
            row.BackColor = ColorTranslator.FromHtml("#A1DCF2")
            row.ToolTip =  String.Empty
        Else
            row.BackColor = ColorTranslator.FromHtml("#FFFFFF")
            row.ToolTip = "Click to select this row."
        End If
    Next
End Sub
 
 

Screenshot

Select GridView row without using Select Button in ASP.Net
 
 

Handling the Event Validation Error

Since we are attaching the event directly to the GridView Row which by default does not have any OnClick event, you might land into the following error.
Invalid postback or callback argument. Event validation is enabled using <pagesenableEventValidation="true"/> in configuration or <%@ Page EnableEventValidation="true" %> in a page. For security purposes, this feature verifies that arguments to postback or callback events originate from the server control that originally rendered them. If the data is valid and expected, use theClientScriptManager.RegisterForEventValidation method in order to register the postback or callback data for validation.
 
To resolve the above error, you must set the property EnableEventValidation = "false"
in the @Page Directive as shown below
Select GridView row without using Select Button in ASP.Net
 
 

Demo

View Demo
 
 

Downloads

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