GridView - How to disable column reordering but keep the column grouping and hiding functionalities

Description:
I use a GridControl component with the GridView and I need to disable the capability to reorder columns by an end-user. At the same time, I want to keep all other functionalities such as grouping, removing, adding and other. How can I achieve this?

Answer:
Hello,

Our GridView allows a user to completely disable the capability to move columns by dragging their headers out of the box. For that, you can disable the GridView.OptionsCustomization.AllowColumnMoving option. However, when the option is disabled, it is also impossible to group data against this column or hide it by dragging its header since the column header cannot be moved. To avoid this limitation, you can perform these actions in other ways.

The first way is to use the grid column's context menu:
To group data by a specific column, right-click the column header and select the 'Group By This Column' menu item.
To hide a specific column, right-click its header and select the 'Remove This Column' menu item.

The second approach that I suggest is to leave the GridView.OptionsCustomization.AllowColumnMoving option enabled and handle the GridView.DragObjectOver event to control column header dragging:

C#
private void gridView_DragObjectOver(object sender, DevExpress.XtraGrid.Views.Base.DragObjectOverEventArgs e) {  
    var dragObject = e.DragObject;  
    if(!(dragObject is GridColumn)) {  
        return;  
    }  
    var column = dragObject as GridColumn;  
    if(column.GroupIndex >= 0) {  
        return;  
    }  
    var index = e.DropInfo.Index;  
    GridView view = sender as GridView;  
    bool isInGroupPanel = GetIsInGroupPanel(view);  
    if(!isInGroupPanel && index >= 0 && column.Visible) {  
        e.DropInfo.Valid = false;  
    }  
}  
private bool GetIsInGroupPanel(GridView view) {  
    var hitInfo = GetHitInfo(view);  
    bool isInGroupPanel = hitInfo.InGroupPanel;  
        return isInGroupPanel;  
}  
private DevExpress.XtraGrid.Views.Grid.ViewInfo.GridHitInfo GetHitInfo(GridView view) {  
    if (view == null) {  
        return null;  
    }  
    var mousePosition = Control.MousePosition;  
    var hitInfo = view.CalcHitInfo(view.GridControl.PointToClient(mousePosition));  
        return hitInfo;  
}  

Visual Basic
Private Sub gridView1_DragObjectOver(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As DevExpress.XtraGrid.Views.Base.DragObjectOverEventArgs) Handles gridView1.DragObjectOver  
    Dim dragObject = e.DragObject  
    If Not(TypeOf dragObject Is GridColumn) Then  
        Return  
    End If  
    Dim column = TryCast(dragObject, GridColumn)  
    If column.GroupIndex >= 0 Then  
        Return  
    End If  
    Dim index = e.DropInfo.Index  
    Dim view As GridView = TryCast(sender, GridView)  
    Dim isInGroupPanel As Boolean = GetIsInGroupPanel(view)  
    If (Not isInGroupPanel) AndAlso index >= 0 AndAlso column.Visible Then  
        e.DropInfo.Valid = False  
    End If  
End Sub  
Private Function GetIsInGroupPanel(ByVal view As GridView) As Boolean  
    Dim hitInfo = GetHitInfo(view)  
    Dim isInGroupPanel As Boolean = hitInfo.InGroupPanel  
        Return isInGroupPanel  
End Function  
Private Function GetHitInfo(ByVal view As GridView) As DevExpress.XtraGrid.Views.Grid.ViewInfo.GridHitInfo  
    If view Is Nothing Then  
        Return Nothing  
    End If  
    Dim mousePosition = Control.MousePosition  
    Dim hitInfo = view.CalcHitInfo(view.GridControl.PointToClient(mousePosition))  
        Return hitInfo  
End Function  

Attached is a sample illustrating how to use the second approach.

See also
Hit Information Overview
Samples of Using Hit Information
DragObjectOverEventArgs.DropInfo