Question

I have an enumeration in the form:

Public Enum MyCollections As Integer
    My_Stuff = 0
    My_Things = 1
End Enum

I would like to use these as values in a ComboBox, but I would like to display the strings “My Stuff” and “My Things” respectively.

I’m sure I’ve seen a method for quickly creating some kind of local object definition where I can assign a string property to be displayed, and a “MyCollections” type property to store the value of the enum element, but I can’t for the life of me think of how to explain that to a search engine.

Can anyone interpet my vague memories into some code I can use to set a DataSource for my ComboBox and retrieve the data when a user changes the selection?

Answer 1

Right, it looks as though I was thinking of “anonymous types”. Here’s some code that answer the (vary, very vague) question I as trying to ask:

Private Sub TestCodeForm_Load(sender As System.Object, e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
    Dim addOutcomes As New Collection
    For Each enumIn As MyCollections In [Enum].GetValues(GetType(MyCollections))
        addOutcomes.Add(New With {.Display = [Enum].GetName(GetType(MyCollections), enumIn), .Value = enumIn})
    Next

    Me.ComboBox1.DisplayMember = "Display"
    Me.ComboBox1.ValueMember = "Value"
    Me.ComboBox1.DataSource = addOutcomes
End Sub

Private Sub ComboBox1_SelectedIndexChanged(sender As System.Object, e As System.EventArgs) Handles ComboBox1.SelectedIndexChanged
    MsgBox("Display: " & CType(sender, ComboBox).SelectedItem.Display & vbCrLf &
           "Value: " & CType(sender, ComboBox).SelectedItem.value.GetType.ToString)
End Sub