[asp.net] How to get the cell value by column name not by index in GridView in asp.net

I am having a gridview in asp.net and now I want the cell value by the column name but not by the cell index.

How would be it possible by retrieving the cell value by the cell column name

A little bug with indexcolumn in alexander's answer: We need to take care of "not found" column:

int GetColumnIndexByName(GridViewRow row, string columnName)
{
    int columnIndex = 0;
    int foundIndex=-1;
    foreach (DataControlFieldCell cell in row.Cells)
    {
        if (cell.ContainingField is BoundField)
        {
            if (((BoundField)cell.ContainingField).DataField.Equals(columnName))
            {
                foundIndex=columnIndex;
                break;
            }
        }
        columnIndex++; // keep adding 1 while we don't have the correct name
    }
    return foundIndex;
}

and

protected void GridView_RowDataBound(object sender, GridViewRowEventArgs e)
{
    if (e.Row.RowType == DataControlRowType.DataRow)
    {
        int index = GetColumnIndexByName(e.Row, "myDataField");
        if( index>0)
        {
            string columnValue = e.Row.Cells[index].Text;
        }
    }
}

//get the value of a gridview
public string getUpdatingGridviewValue(GridView gridviewEntry, string fieldEntry)
    {//start getGridviewValue
        //scan gridview for cell value
            string result = Convert.ToString(functionsOther.getCurrentTime()); 
            for(int i = 0; i < gridviewEntry.HeaderRow.Cells.Count; i++)
                {//start i for
                    if(gridviewEntry.HeaderRow.Cells[i].Text == fieldEntry)
                        {//start check field match
                            result = gridviewEntry.Rows[rowUpdateIndex].Cells[i].Text;
                            break;
                        }//end check field match
                }//end i for
        //return
            return result;
    }//end getGridviewValue

For Lambda lovers

protected void GridView_RowDataBound(object sender, GridViewRowEventArgs e)
{
    if (e.Row.RowType == DataControlRowType.DataRow)
    {
        var boundFields = e.Row.Cells.Cast<DataControlFieldCell>()
            .Select(cell => cell.ContainingField).Cast<BoundField>().ToList();

        int idx = boundFields.IndexOf(
            boundFields.FirstOrDefault(f => f.DataField == "ColName"));

        e.Row.Cells[idx].Text = modification;        
    }
}

protected void CheckedRecords(object sender, EventArgs e)

    {
       string email = string.Empty;
        foreach (GridViewRow gridrows in GridView1.Rows)

        {

            CheckBox chkbox = (CheckBox)gridrows.FindControl("ChkRecords");
    if (chkbox != null & chkbox.Checked)

            {

    int columnIndex = 0;
                foreach (DataControlFieldCell cell in gridrows.Cells)
                {
                    if (cell.ContainingField is BoundField)
                        if (((BoundField)cell.ContainingField).DataField.Equals("UserEmail"))
                            break;
                    columnIndex++; 
                }


                email += gridrows.Cells[columnIndex].Text + ',';
                  }

        }

        Label1.Text = "email:" + email;

    }                           

It is possible to use the data field name, if not the title so easily, which solved the problem for me. For ASP.NET & VB:

e.g. For a string:

Dim Encoding = e.Row.DataItem("Encoding").ToString().Trim()

e.g. For an integer:

Dim MsgParts = Convert.ToInt32(e.Row.DataItem("CalculatedMessageParts").ToString())

You can use the DataRowView to get the column index.

    void OnRequestsGridRowDataBound(object sender, GridViewRowEventArgs e)
    {
        if (e.Row.RowType == DataControlRowType.DataRow)
        {
            var data = e.Row.DataItem as DataRowView;

            // replace request name with a link
            if (data.DataView.Table.Columns["Request Name"] != null)
            {
                // get the request name
                string title = data["Request Name"].ToString();
                // get the column index
                int idx = data.Row.Table.Columns["Request Name"].Ordinal;

                // ...

                e.Row.Cells[idx].Controls.Clear();
                e.Row.Cells[idx].Controls.Add(link);
            }
        }
    }

Based on something found on Code Project

Once the data table is declared based on the grid's data source, lookup the column index by column name from the columns collection. At this point, use the index as needed to obtain information from or to format the cell.

protected void gridMyGrid_RowDataBound(object sender, GridViewRowEventArgs e)
{
    if (e.Row.RowType == DataControlRowType.DataRow)
    {
        DataTable dt = (DataTable)((GridView)sender).DataSource;
        int colIndex = dt.Columns["MyColumnName"].Ordinal;

        e.Row.Cells[colIndex].BackColor = Color.FromName("#ffeb9c");
    }
}

Header Row cells sometimes will not work. This will just return the column Index. It will help in a lot of different ways. I know this is not the answer he is requesting. But this will help for a lot people.

public static int GetColumnIndexByHeaderText(GridView gridView, string columnName)
    {      
        for (int i = 0; i < gridView.Columns.Count ; i++)
        {
            if (gridView.Columns[i].HeaderText.ToUpper() == columnName.ToUpper() )
            {
                return i;
            }
        }     
        return -1;
    }

Although its a long time but this relatively small piece of code seems easy to read and get:

protected void GridView1_SelectedIndexChanged(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
   int index;
   string cellContent;

    foreach (TableCell tc in ((GridView)sender).HeaderRow.Cells)
    {
       if( tc.Text.Equals("yourColumnName") )
       {
         index = ((GridView)sender).HeaderRow.Cells.GetCellIndex(tc);
         cellContent = ((GridView)sender).SelectedRow.Cells[index].Text;
         break;
       }
    }
}