VB.net 2.0 Windows Forms DataGridView Get Cell Value from Column Name and Row

I'm new to VB.net and for months I have been searching for a way to get the value of a datagridview cell using the ColumnName and the Row.  I have been told on this site and several others either that you cannot do it, you can only get the value of a cell by using the cell index, or you can do it simply by referring to the cell by Cells("ColumnName").   After testing these suggestions, neither worked.  

This morning a did read another response on this site that was the best presentation on this subject yet but the author did not think you could do it.  But I really wanted to be able to get the value of a cell using the column name and the row.  Using this article as my starting point, here's what I found

1) You cannot find the cell associated with a DataGridColumn from the DataGridColumn.
2)  You cannot refer to a cell by name.
3)  There is no ordinal relationship between columns and cells, e.g. if column 2 = cell 8 then column 3 may not point to cell 9.
4)  However, you can get the DataGridColumn from a Cell using the OwningColumn property.  

At first the Cell.OwningColumn property seems backward but after thinking about it, the OwningColumn is the Foreign Key to DataGridColumn and the DataGridColumn is the parent of the cell (There are many cells in a Column).

Using this, I was able to create the code to generate a SortedList with the ColumnName as the Sort Field, and the Cell Index as the second field.  After testing this works greate.  I have added the code snippet below.   Essentially this code allows you to write formulas based on column names instead of cell index numbers, for example. (This is a simplified snipet that does not include reference to sorted list)

     TotalCost = Cost1 + Cost2

I would really appreciate any feedback on the algorithm and the code.  I hope this helps others.

PS Can I get some points for answering this question




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Public dgvCells as New SortedList(Of String, Long)
 
'-- Load Sorted List when you first enter the DataGrid (Not Datagrid must have rows)
If dgvCells.Count = 0 then
   Dim rowCurr as DataGridViewRow = datagridview1.currentrow
   Dim strColumnName as string
   Dim dgvColumn as New datagridviewcolumn
   Dim i as Int16 = 0
   For i = 0 to rowCurr.Cells.count	-1
      dgvColumn  = rowCurr.Cells(i).OwningColumn
      if dgvColumn.IsDataBound then
         strColumnName = dgvColumn.DataPropertyName
      Else
	strColumnName = dgvColumn.name
      End If
	dgvCells.Add(strColumnName, i)
   Next
End If
 
'-- Get the Cell Value by ColumnName
Dim rowCurrent as DataGridViewRow = datagridview1.CurrentRow
		
Dim intColumnIndex as integer  = Cint(dgvCells("CompanyName"))
Dim strCompanyName as string = Cstr(rowCurrent.Cells(intColumnIndex).Value)