[RESOLVED] Changing object name in Combo Box.

[CaptainDingo]

I was just starting to learn how to use classes today and I think I might have a vague handle on them.

Anyways, I was using a class to generate troops (as objects, since I needed various statistics tied to each individual one) in an army for sort of a basic medieval-type game I was creating and adding them to a combo box.

It all works perfect and the index holds my object and I can call data from it, etc., my only issue is with the aesthetics of my result.

All of the troops I add to the combo box as objects appear in the dropdown list as "WarProject.Soldier", the name of the object. This is obviously not something an end-user would understand or want to see. I have no idea how to change what an object appears as in the combo box.

Anyone know how to do this?

I don't think helping with this requires looking at my code at all (since all I need is for someone to help me figure out how to change what my objects are appearing in the combo box as), but let me know if you do need to see it for some reason.

Help appreciated!

[ForumAccount]

There's a couple ways you can do this. The first way is to assign the property name of what you want to show in the combobox to the ComboBox's DisplayMember property:

Public Class Form1
    Public Sub New()
        InitializeComponent()
        Dim ws As New WarSoldier()
        ws.Name = "John"
        ws.SomeOtherProperty = "Some other value"
        Me.ComboBox1.Items.Add(ws)
        Me.ComboBox1.DisplayMember = "Name" 'Property name to show
    End Sub
 
End Class
 
Public Class WarSoldier
    Private _Name As String
    Property Name() As String
        Get
            Return Me._Name
        End Get
        Set(ByVal value As String)
            Me._Name = value
        End Set
    End Property
 
    Private _SomeOtherProperty As String
    Public Property SomeOtherProperty() As String
        Get
            Return _SomeOtherProperty
        End Get
        Set(ByVal value As String)
            _SomeOtherProperty = value
        End Set
    End Property
End Class

The second way is to override the ToString() method:

Public Class Form1
    Public Sub New()
        InitializeComponent()
        Dim ws As New WarSoldier()
        ws.Name = "John"
        ws.SomeOtherProperty = "Some other value"
        Me.ComboBox1.Items.Add(ws)
        'notice you don't have to assign the display member here
    End Sub
 
End Class
 
Public Class WarSoldier
    Private _Name As String
    Property Name() As String
        Get
            Return Me._Name
        End Get
        Set(ByVal value As String)
            Me._Name = value
        End Set
    End Property
 
    Private _SomeOtherProperty As String
    Public Property SomeOtherProperty() As String
        Get
            Return _SomeOtherProperty
        End Get
        Set(ByVal value As String)
            _SomeOtherProperty = value
        End Set
    End Property
 
    Public Overrides Function ToString() As String
        Return Name
    End Function
 
End Class

[CaptainDingo]

Hrm. I tried both those but I just can't get it to work.

The item in the list is always blank now. And if I take out InitializeComponent(), it just does what it always did.

I'm kind of frustrated.

I'll just post the entire block of code I have that's adding the troop, and my troop class. Maybe you can help me plug all this stuff in correctly, I'm not even sure what most of that code was doing.

Troop Class:

Public Class Soldier
    Public Soldier_ID As Integer
    Public Soldier_Name As String
    Public Soldier_LastName As String
    Public Soldier_Age As Integer
    Public Soldier_Power As Integer
    Public Soldier_Defense As Integer
    Public Soldier_Rank As String
    Private _Name As String

    Property Name() As String
        Get
            Return Me._Name
        End Get
        Set(ByVal value As String)
            Me._Name = value
        End Set
    End Property

    Private _SomeOtherProperty As String
    Public Property SomeOtherProperty() As String
        Get
            Return _SomeOtherProperty
        End Get
        Set(ByVal value As String)
            _SomeOtherProperty = value
        End Set
    End Property
End Class

Public Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
        InitializeComponent()
        Dim objSoldier As Soldier
        objSoldier = New Soldier

        randindex = randomnumber.Next(0, 30)
        objSoldier.Soldier_Name = ArmyFirstNames(randindex)
        randindex = randomnumber.Next(0, 40)
        objSoldier.Soldier_LastName = ArmyLastNames(randindex)
        objSoldier.Soldier_ID = "1"
        objSoldier.Soldier_Age = Rand(100, 500)
        objSoldier.Soldier_Power = Rand(1, 2)
        objSoldier.Soldier_Defense = Rand(1, 2)
        objSoldier.Soldier_Rank = "New Recruit"
        objSoldier.Name = "Testing"

        ComboBox1.Items.Add(objSoldier)
        ComboBox1.DisplayMember = Name
    End Sub

Some of the extra stuff here if it confuses you... I was randomizing first and last names using two arrays I built, so when I recruit a new troop his name is random, and he's got a bunch of other properties I was setting. You can probably ignore those.

I'm sure I'm doing something horribly wrong with the code you gave me. :P I'm really not very good at VB right now and don't understand all the set/get stuff and why it's not linked right or not working with the combo box, etc.

[ForumAccount]

1) Remove InitializeComponent from the button click event. That call is only performed in the New sub.

2) If you look at what I posted, you have to put the name of the property as a string. Meaning this:

ComboBox1.DisplayMember = Name

Should be this:

ComboBox1.DisplayMember = "Name"

[CaptainDingo]

Oh, jeez. Epic. It works perfectly now, thanks.

Here, you can see the fruits of your tutelage.

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c1...go/Success.jpg

Thanks again!

[ForumAccount]

The font you have for Recruit looks like an Age Of Empires font or something...

[CaptainDingo]

Haha. It's AvQuest, the font most commonly known as the font used in the Diablo series.

Unfortunately it sizes down very very poorly so I'll be switching to a different one.