CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c#winformsdata-bindinglistbox
AdamMc331
AdamMc331

Reputation: 16710

How to set Listbox DisplayMember and ValueMember using fields of an object?

I have a few DTOs that I am using which are designed like this:

ProjectPrimitives
   string Name
   int ProjectId

ProjectDetails : ProjectPrimitives
   string ReportName
   string Description
   // Others

Project
   ProjectDetails details
   List<Contact> contacts
   // Some more

In my application I have a listbox where I would like to display Project objects. Previously, I was displaying ProjectPrimitives by doing the following:

projectListBox.DisplayMember = "Name";
projectListBox.ValueMember = "ProjectId";
projectListBox.DataSource = projects; // This is a List<ProjectPrimitives>

However, now that I'm displaying Project objects, I can't get this to work. I've tried:

projectListBox.DisplayMember = "Details.Name";
projectListBox.ValueMember = "Details.ProjectId";
projectListBox.DataSource = projects; // This is now a List<Project>

But that didn't work. All it does is display the object (MyProject.DTOs.Project). What can I do to display the name?

EDIT

The ProjectPrimitives class:

public class ProjectPrimitives
{
   public int ProjectId {get; set;}
   public string Name {get; set;}
}

The Project class:

public class Project
{
   public ProjectDetails details = new ProjectDetails();
}

Upvotes: 1

Views: 5590

Answers (1)

LarsTech
LarsTech

Reputation: 81635

They have to be Properties, not Fields:

Public string Name {get; set; }
Public int ProjectId { get; set; }

I don't think the DisplayMember property can handle "sub-properties", so you would have to create these properties in your Project class:

public class Project {
  public ProjectDetails details = new ProjectDetails();

  public string Name {
    get { return details.Name; }
  }

  public int ProjectId {
    get { return details.ProjectId; }
 }
}

WinForms does not have the same breadth of data binding capabilities as WPF. This is probably one of the those limitations.

Upvotes: 3

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