Combobox Tricks

I would like to be able to get data from two columns of a combobox. I have found a lot of instruction for displaying multiple columns, but I really would only want to display one column and be able to insert data from more than one column.

I have come up with a couple of ways to get the data I want, outside of using a combobox, but that defeats the purpose of what I would like to do.

Can anyone steer me to some content that might explain how this could be done?

If you bind your ComboBox to a datasource, you have the displaymember which is what you see in the. ComboBox, and the valuemember, which is an associated value.
Alternatively, you can use a class as a custom listitem, override the ToString to return the property you want displayed in the combobox, and the other properties can be accessed in the selectedindexchanged event by casting selecteditem to your custom class…

There's several ways but it depends on your data and how you are loading the combo box - and how much effort you want to put into it.

Use a datatable, make sure it has an ID of some kind on it. Bbind the datatable to the combobox: Set the .DisplayMember to the field name you want to display. Set the .ValueMember to the ID, then set the .DataSource of the combobox to the DataTable. Then in the selectedIndexchanged event, get the .Value of the combobox... that will give you the ID of the selected row, from there you can get the rest of the data you need.
That's probably the simplest way, and the easiest if your data is coming from a database.

Another way involves creating a class to hold your data and creating a List(Of) to hold it.

-tg

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Originally Posted by techgnome“

…Then in the selectedIndexchanged event, get the .Value of the combobox..

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You mean the SelectedValue? :D

I have not yet attempted to work the suggestions, but I hope to be a little more clear about what I am after. My combobox, as it is currently set, displays one column (DisplayMember), which is also set as the ValueMember.

This one column provides one data from the record. Additionally, I want to obtain the data from an second column from the same record. I do not need, or want, the additional column to display in the combobox. Basically what I believe I need is to have two ValueMembers, if that is possible.

Now I will review the suggestions so far.

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how much effort you want to put into it?

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I would prefer no effort at all, but am willing to put some effort into it.

As explained before, you have the ability to retrieve two values. The displaymember value and the SelectedValue value.

Take a look,

Code:

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        Me.ComboBox1.DisplayMember = "groupid"
        Me.ComboBox1.ValueMember = "crop"
        Me.ComboBox1.SelectedValue = "crop"
        Me.ComboBox1.DataSource = Me.WaterDataSet.groups

  Private Sub Button1_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click

        MessageBox.Show(Me.ComboBox1.Text)
        MessageBox.Show(Me.ComboBox1.SelectedValue.ToString)
    End Sub

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As explained before, you have the ability to retrieve two values.

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OK, I can see how that works (although I am unable to see any previous explanation by you), but after playing with my own solutions (really crappy but working solution), my specifications have changed. There are 3 fields I need to deal with. FullName, EmployeeID, JobTitle from Table1. I would like to display FullName and jobTitle in the combobox, but I need to update two fields in table2, Manager, ManagerID.

Now it looks to me like your method would still work, however, I would still like to be able to display two columns instead of just the one.

Look into concatenating the two fields (FullName and JobTitle) in your SQL query

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OK, I can see how that works (although I am unable to see any previous explanation by you),

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Of course you can't, that was my first post in this thread. lol

But .paul and techgnome both mentioned the two different values.

Code:

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SELECT EmployeeID, FullName, JobTitle, CONCAT(FullName, ' ', JobTitle) AS DisplayField FROM Table1

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Then you can use DisplayField as your DisplayMember

If you bind your ComboBox to a DataSource, you can set any Field as DisplayMember and not bother with a ValueMember, just cast your SelectedItem like this...

Code:

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Private Sub ComboBox1_SelectedIndexChanged(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles ComboBox1.SelectedIndexChanged
    Dim row As DataRowView = DirectCast(ComboBox1.SelectedItem, DataRowView)
    MsgBox(row.Item(columnIndex))
End Sub

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My preference is what techgnome mentioned in regards to a List(Of T).


Here I load data using the following class.

Screenshot Attachment 182847

Code:

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Public Class Employee
    Public Property EmployeeID As Integer
    Public Property TitleOfCourtesy As String
    Public Property FirstName As String
    Public Property LastName As String
    Public Property Fullname As String
    Public Property BirthDate As Date
    Public Property HomePhone As String

    Public Overrides Function ToString() As String
        Return Fullname
    End Function
End Class

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Read the data from where ever e.g. database, text file, json file etc.

Code:

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Public Class Form1
    Private ReadOnly EmployeeBindingSource As BindingSource = New BindingSource()
    Private Sub Form1_Load(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
        EmployeeBindingSource.DataSource = Operations.ReadEmployee()
        EmployeeComboBox.DataSource = EmployeeBindingSource
    End Sub

    Private Sub CurrentButton_Click(sender As Object, ea As EventArgs) Handles CurrentButton.Click
        Dim e = CType(EmployeeBindingSource.Current, Employee)
        MessageBox.Show($"{e.TitleOfCourtesy} {e.LastName}{vbCr}{e.BirthDate.ToShortDateString()}{vbCr}{e.HomePhone}")
    End Sub
End Class

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