Binding combo-box to Entity Data Model

[eljapo4]

Hi,

I'm trying to keep my data access code separate from the code behind my form. What I am trying to do is populate my combo-box with a list of CompanyNames here's how I'm trying to bind this combo-box to my Companies entity to retrieve the CompanyName:

private void frmMain_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    dal = new DataAccessLayer();
 
    cmbCompanyNameSearch.DataSource = dal.GetcmbCompanyList();
}

and here's the method in my DataAccessLayer:

public List<Companies> GetcmbCompanyList()
{
    // Check we have an ObjectContext
    if (entities == null) entities = new CompanySecretaryEntities();
 
        // Create a query from the entityset
    ObjectQuery<Companies> companies = entities.Companies;
    companies.MergeOption = MergeOption.AppendOnly;
 
    // Define the query
    var query = from c in entities.Companies
            select c.CompanyName;
 
    // Execute the query
    List<Companies> results = query.ToList();
 
    // Return the results in a List
    return results;
}

This is giving me the following error:
Error 1 Cannot implicitly convert type 'System.Collections.Generic.List<string>' to 'System.Collections.Generic.List<CompanySecretary.Companies>'