diff --git a/include/wx/dataview.h b/include/wx/dataview.h
index f02ad00a19..b2b9275d4f 100644
--- a/include/wx/dataview.h
+++ b/include/wx/dataview.h
@@ -186,6 +186,14 @@ public:
     virtual void GetValue( wxVariant &variant,
                            const wxDataViewItem &item, unsigned int col ) const = 0;
 
+    // return true if the given item has a value to display in the given
+    // column: this is always true except for container items which by default
+    // only show their label in the first column (but see HasContainerColumns())
+    bool HasValue(const wxDataViewItem& item, unsigned col) const
+    {
+        return col == 0 || !IsContainer(item) || HasContainerColumns(item);
+    }
+
     // usually ValueChanged() should be called after changing the value in the
     // model to update the control, ChangeValue() does it on its own while
     // SetValue() does not -- so while you will override SetValue(), you should
diff --git a/interface/wx/dataview.h b/interface/wx/dataview.h
index debcecdb43..21f04a8472 100644
--- a/interface/wx/dataview.h
+++ b/interface/wx/dataview.h
@@ -193,6 +193,20 @@ public:
     */
     virtual bool HasDefaultCompare() const;
 
+    /**
+        Return true if there is a value in the given column of this item.
+
+        All normal items have values in all columns but the container items
+        only show their label in the first column (@a col == 0) by default (but
+        see HasContainerColumns()). So this function always returns true for
+        the first column while for the other ones it returns true only if the
+        item is not a container or HasContainerColumns() was overridden to
+        return true for it.
+
+        @since 2.9.1
+     */
+    bool HasValue(const wxDataViewItem& item, unsigned col) const;
+
     /**
         Override this to indicate of @a item is a container, i.e. if
         it can have child items.