Question

I want to retrieve data from 2 columns of my database table and bind those 2 columns to the combobox item index and item value properties respectively. I retrieve my data from the samples table of my database with this anonymous query:

var result = from obj in context.Samples
             select new { obj.ID , obj.Name };

I want to set the default index value of each item in my combobox to obj.ID and the value of each respective combobox item to obj.Name so that rather than the items in my combo box having default values starting from 0, 1, 2…. their index values will have the value of obj.ID returned by my LINQ query and the actual value of the item will be obj.Name.

Sorry if this is a silly/amateurish question but I’ve spent a few hours trying to fix it and had no luck. Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

The SelectedIndex property always goes from -1 (no item is selected) to count-1, you can’t change that. If you want to store the ID and Name for each item in the ComboBox, you can do that:

Create non-anonymous type Sample that contains those two properties. Then assign (or bind) collection of Samples to the ComboBox‘s ItemSource and set DisplayMemberPath toName. Then you can access the ID of the selected item using ((Sample)yourComboBox.SelectedItem).ID.