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HI,,
I need to display a Surname field and a Forenames field when the record is selected in a Combobox. I also need to have an ID field stored in the ValueMember property. I can see nothing in previous threads or MSDN Help on this. Is it so simple it does not need comment or can it not be accomplished?
You could alway use a multicolumn combobox.
Edneeis made one that I think works great. go to www.edneeis.com
/Unisse
Hi unisse,
"You could alway use a multicolumn combobox.
Are you sure? I thought the multicolumn property simply used verticle columns to reduce the amount of scrolling required, not that they could show different fields.
what about creating a collection of custom objects and binding that to the combobox?
Hi nswan,
"what about creating a collection of custom objects and binding that to the combobox?"
Fine. But how do I locate the various fields of the data row? Where are they in the combobox?
i thought you wanted to bind FirstName & " " & Surname to the combo box textvalue and personID to the valuemember?
Hi nswan,
Yes, exactly.
I misunderstood your previous post. What you are saying is bind e.g. a textbox to the database and then bind the combobox to the textbox?
I had hoped I could retrieve the info. direct from the combobox.
Hi taxes,
i'm not sure if i've got the wrong end of the stick for what you want but this is what i meant anyway
obviously you'd set "andy" and "smith" to firstname and surname from the database, and id would be got from there as well.Code:Public Class person
Dim intPersonID As Integer
Dim strPersonName As String
Public Property personID() As Integer
Get
Return intPersonID
End Get
Set(ByVal Value As Integer)
intPersonID = Value
End Set
End Property
Public Property personName() As String
Get
Return strPersonName
End Get
Set(ByVal Value As String)
strPersonName = Value
End Set
End Property
End Class
'then in your form
Dim myCol As New System.Collections.ArrayList
Dim person1 As New person
person1.personName = "Andy" & " " & "Smith"
person1.personID = 1
myCol.Add(person1)
Dim person2 As New person
person2.personName = "Chris" & " " & "Jones"
person2.personID = 2
myCol.Add(person2)
cboFriends.DataSource = myCol
cboFriends.DisplayMember = "personName"
cboFriends.ValueMember = "personID"
Don't know if this is what you are after but if not at least it's bought the thread alive again ;)
cheers
Nick
I don't think he meant the multicolumn property, I made an actual mutlicolumn combobox control (somewhat like the access one).Quote:
Originally posted by taxes
Hi unisse,
"You could alway use a multicolumn combobox.
Are you sure? I thought the multicolumn property simply used verticle columns to reduce the amount of scrolling required, not that they could show different fields.
Hi Edneeis,
Sounds just what I need. I have downloaded and unzipped the files but can't see the .DLL. How do I put your control into my toolbox please?
It's there under \Control\bin\Edneeis.Controls.MultiColumnCombo.dll and to add it to the toolbox you just right click on the toolbox and click 'Add/Remove items' then browse to the dll.
Hi Edneeis,
Many thanks. It definitely has possibilities. It does not suit my present problem, however. How can I access the other fields in the record of the selection shown in a ComboBox.Display property? I would like to show them in a textbox or label.
Hi Nick,
"obviously you'd set "andy" and "smith" to firstname and surname from the database, and id would be got from there as well. "
I like the look of what you suggest, but I'm afraid I can't figure out how to get the data from the database (Access) into the arraylist. I've tried messing around with a DataAdapter and a DataSet with no success. Any ideas please?
Also, would it be possible to load the data from the database into a multidimension array, i.e. each element representing a row and each dimension containing one column?
Many thanks.
You would use databinding and bind to the same source as the combo. Although on a re-read it doesn't seem that you really are wanting a multicolumn thing for a combo but just want to access the selected item from the combo. You can use binding as I mentioned or simply use the SelectedItem object to reach the selected item. Its a matter of what are you actually storing in your combo? A string? An object? A dataset?Quote:
Originally posted by taxes
Hi Edneeis,
Many thanks. It definitely has possibilities. It does not suit my present problem, however. How can I access the other fields in the record of the selection shown in a ComboBox.Display property? I would like to show them in a textbox or label.
Hi Edneeis,
"Its a matter of what are you actually storing in your combo? A string? An object? A dataset?"
I am using a Dataset, but I want to display, either in the ComboBox or in a textbox, two other fields - as well as leaving the ID field in the combo valuemember. Perhaps this is just not possible and I will have to take another route, but the combo is so convenient.
I am looking at nswan's suggestion, but I cannot see how to populate the ArrayList from the dataset.
Many thanks.
give me an hour or so and i'll have some code for you
Nick
ok here you go
The reason for blnFinishedLoading is that when you bind to a combobox the selectedindexchanged event seems to fire for each item you add. Obviously you don't want that to happen until the user actually clicks on the combo box!Code:Imports System.Data.OleDb
Dim blnFinishedLoading As Boolean = False
Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
Dim strConnection As String = "Provider=Microsoft.Jet.Oledb.4.0;Data Source=c:\friends.mdb"
Dim myConnection As New OleDbConnection(strConnection)
Dim daFriends As New OleDbDataAdapter("select * from tblFriend", myConnection)
Dim dsFriends As New DataSet()
Try
daFriends.Fill(dsFriends, "friends")
Dim intCount As Integer
Dim friendsArray As New System.Collections.ArrayList()
For intCount = 0 To dsFriends.Tables("friends").Rows.Count - 1
Dim newFriend As New person()
Dim strName As String
newFriend.personID = dsFriends.Tables("friends").Rows(intCount).Item("ID")
strName = dsFriends.Tables("friends").Rows(intCount).Item("Firstname") & _
" " & _
dsFriends.Tables("friends").Rows(intCount).Item("Surname")
newFriend.personName = strName
friendsArray.Add(newFriend)
Next
cboFriend.DisplayMember = "personName"
cboFriend.ValueMember = "personID"
cboFriend.DataSource = friendsArray
blnFinishedLoading = True
Catch ex As OleDbException
MsgBox(ex.ToString)
End Try
End Sub
Private Sub cboFriend_SelectedIndexChanged(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles cboFriend.SelectedIndexChanged
If blnFinishedLoading Then
TextBox1.Text = cboFriend.Text
TextBox2.Text = cboFriend.SelectedValue
End If
End Sub
'THE ACTUAL CLASS#######################
Public Class person
Dim intPersonID As Integer
Dim strPersonName As String
Public Property personID() As Integer
Get
Return intPersonID
End Get
Set(ByVal Value As Integer)
intPersonID = Value
End Set
End Property
Public Property personName() As String
Get
Return strPersonName
End Get
Set(ByVal Value As String)
strPersonName = Value
End Set
End Property
End Class
Hope this helps
Nick
Hi Nick
Brilliant! Many thanks. When I used your code I changed some of the variable and property names to suit my actual application (it handles tennis player's rankings) so I'm not absolutely sure but should you have included
VB Code:
I have had a look at your site and I can hardly believe what you are freely offering. Congratulations. I have a proposition you may be interested in and will phone you within 2 weeks when I have researched it a little further.
Once again, many thanks.
glad to have been of help and look forward to hearing from you.
Nick
can edneeis or someone please up load file Edneeis.Controls.MultiColumnCombo.dll for me? i can't download it anywhere
Hi,Quote:
Originally Posted by bobochacha29
I thought this one was long dead!
Look at posts 10 & 11 above