Question

I’m getting the strangest error I am absolutely clueless about. I’ll post a description along with some code here, and hopefully one of you guys can point me in the right direction.

My app (Winforms), allows a user to add items to a datagridview (bound to a list), and everytime an item is added, the list is serialized to a xml file. When the application is initially launched, the program checks for the xml file, and if found, adds the previously added items to the dgv.

Ive also added a DataGridViewButtonColumn to delete items from the dgv (list). Here is some of the code.

Main class:

 static void Main()
        {
            Application.EnableVisualStyles();
            Application.SetCompatibleTextRenderingDefault(false);
            Application.Run(new formFoldingClient());
        }

The form’s constructor calls this method to initially set up the dgv

private void InitialDataGridViewSetup()
        {
            dgvClients.DataSource = null;

            //adding delete button column
            DataGridViewButtonColumn btnDelete = new DataGridViewButtonColumn();
            btnDelete.Name = "btnDelete";
            btnDelete.Text = "Delete";
            btnDelete.HeaderText = "Delete";
            btnDelete.UseColumnTextForButtonValue = true;
            btnDelete.DefaultCellStyle.BackColor = Color.DarkBlue;
            btnDelete.DefaultCellStyle.ForeColor = Color.White;
            dgvClients.Columns.Add(btnDelete);

            RefreshDataGridView();
        }

Everytime an item is added or removed, the dgv is refreshed by calling this method:

 private void RefreshDataGridView()
            {
                dgvClients.DataSource = null;

                if (clientList.Count != 0)
                {
                    dgvClients.DataSource = clientList;
                    dgvClients.Show();
                    dgvClients.ClearSelection();


                }
            }

Method that gets triggered when Delete button on a row in the dgv is pressed, followed by the method the performs the delete

 private void dgvClients_CellClick(object sender, DataGridViewCellEventArgs e)
        {
            if (e.ColumnIndex == 0) //delete button has been clicked
            {
                DeleteClient(dgvClients.Rows[e.RowIndex].Cells[e.ColumnIndex + 1].FormattedValue.ToString());
            }
        }

        private void DeleteClient(string clientToDelete)
        {
            dgvGrid.DataSource = null;
            int removeAt = new int();

            for (int i=0; i<clientList.Count; i++)
            {
                if (clientList[i]._ClientName == clientToDelete)
                {
                    removeAt = i;
                    break;
                }
            }

            clientList.RemoveAt(removeAt);
            LogToFile("Removed client: " + clientToDelete);
            LogToBox("Removed client: " + clientToDelete);
            RefreshDataGridView();
            SaveConfigAsXml();
            LogToFile("Changes after deletion persisted to clients.xml.");

        }

I believe this is all the code that should be necesarry. If you need anymore, do let me know.

Problem brief
When the app first loads if it finds the xml and loads those items to the list, everything performs as expected. I can add more items, delete all items (one at a time) etc.

However, if I start without an initial xml, adding items is not a problem. But when I delete the last remaining item in the dgv, I get the following exception at the last line of Main()

Index out of range Exception: {"Index -1 does not have a value."}

Stack Trace

at System.Windows.Forms.CurrencyManager.get_Item(Int32 index)
   at System.Windows.Forms.CurrencyManager.get_Current()
   at System.Windows.Forms.DataGridView.DataGridViewDataConnection.OnRowEnter(DataGridViewCellEventArgs e)
   at System.Windows.Forms.DataGridView.OnRowEnter(DataGridViewCell& dataGridViewCell, Int32 columnIndex, Int32 rowIndex, Boolean canCreateNewRow, Boolean validationFailureOccurred)
   at System.Windows.Forms.DataGridView.SetCurrentCellAddressCore(Int32 columnIndex, Int32 rowIndex, Boolean setAnchorCellAddress, Boolean validateCurrentCell, Boolean throughMouseClick)
   at System.Windows.Forms.DataGridView.OnCellMouseDown(HitTestInfo hti, Boolean isShiftDown, Boolean isControlDown)
   at System.Windows.Forms.DataGridView.OnCellMouseDown(DataGridViewCellMouseEventArgs e)
   at System.Windows.Forms.DataGridView.OnMouseDown(MouseEventArgs e)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WmMouseDown(Message& m, MouseButtons button, Int32 clicks)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WndProc(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.DataGridView.WndProc(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.OnMessage(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.WndProc(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.DebuggableCallback(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam)
   at System.Windows.Forms.UnsafeNativeMethods.DispatchMessageW(MSG& msg)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Application.ComponentManager.System.Windows.Forms.UnsafeNativeMethods.IMsoComponentManager.FPushMessageLoop(IntPtr dwComponentID, Int32 reason, Int32 pvLoopData)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Application.ThreadContext.RunMessageLoopInner(Int32 reason, ApplicationContext context)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Application.ThreadContext.RunMessageLoop(Int32 reason, ApplicationContext context)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Application.Run(Form mainForm)
   at FoldingMonitorLocalClient.Program.Main() in C:\Users\xbonez\Documents\Visual Studio 2010\Projects\FoldingClient\FoldingClient\Program.cs:line 17
   at System.AppDomain._nExecuteAssembly(RuntimeAssembly assembly, String[] args)
   at System.AppDomain.ExecuteAssembly(String assemblyFile, Evidence assemblySecurity, String[] args)
   at Microsoft.VisualStudio.HostingProcess.HostProc.RunUsersAssembly()
   at System.Threading.ThreadHelper.ThreadStart_Context(Object state)
   at System.Threading.ExecutionContext.Run(ExecutionContext executionContext, ContextCallback callback, Object state, Boolean ignoreSyncCtx)
   at System.Threading.ExecutionContext.Run(ExecutionContext executionContext, ContextCallback callback, Object state)
   at System.Threading.ThreadHelper.ThreadStart()

More Info
So, I just realized that if I have n items in the dgv, deleting just the first item also causes the same exception. Deleting items 2 to n is no problem.

Code that reads xml and adds to list

 private void ReadFromConfigFile()
        {
            LogToFile("Beginning to read from clients.xml.");

            XmlSerializer deserializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(List<Client>));

            try
            {
                List<Client> tempClientList = new List<Client>();
                using (Stream reader = new FileStream("clients.xml", FileMode.Open))
                {
                    tempClientList = ((List<Client>)deserializer.Deserialize(reader));
                }

                foreach (Client client in tempClientList)
                {
                    clientList.Add(client);
                }
            }
            catch (FileNotFoundException ex)
            {
                //config file does not exist
                this.LogToBox("No saved settings found.");
                this.LogToFile("No existing clients.xml present.", ex);
            }
            catch (Exception ex)
            {
                LogToBox("Unable to load saved settings. Please see log for more details.");
                LogToFile("Failed to read clients.xml.", ex);
            }
            finally
            {
                LogToFile("Finished reading clients.xml.");
            }
        }

Code when add button is clicked

private void btnAdd_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            this.tbxClientName.BackColor = Color.White;
            this.tbxLogLoc.BackColor = Color.White;

            bool exists = false;

            foreach (Client client in clientList)
            {
                if (client._ClientName == this.tbxClientName.Text)
                    exists = true;
            }

            if (String.IsNullOrEmpty(tbxClientName.Text))
            {
                this.tbxClientName.BackColor = Color.Yellow;
                LogToBox("Enter Client Name");
                LogToFile("user attempted to add client without specifying client name.");
            }
            else if (String.IsNullOrEmpty(tbxLogLoc.Text))
            {
                this.tbxLogLoc.BackColor = Color.Yellow;
                LogToBox("Select WorkLog location.");
                LogToFile("User attempted to add client without specifying worklog location.");
            }
            else if (exists)
            {
                //client name entered by user already exists
                LogToBox("Client name " + this.tbxClientName.Text + " already exists. Enter another Client name.");
                LogToFile("Duplicate client name entered.");
                this.tbxClientName.BackColor = Color.Yellow;
            }
            else
            {
                //everything is valid. Add new client to list
                clientList.Add(new Client(tbxClientName.Text, tbxLogLoc.Text));
                LogToBox("Added new client: " + tbxClientName.Text + ".");
                LogToFile("Added new client: " + tbxClientName.Text + ".");

                this.tbxClientName.Text = String.Empty;
                this.tbxLogLoc.Text = String.Empty;

                RefreshDataGridView();
                SaveConfigAsXml();
            }            
        }

Answer 1

This seems to be some kind of internal binding bug in .NET.
I experienced exactly the same exception whenever using DataGridView bound to a List.
I really spent a lot of time trying to find a solution and I’ve finally managed to get rid of these exceptions today – by adding ICurrencyManagerProvider interface to all my Lists.
This interface only has a “CurrencyManager” read-only property and a “GetRelatedCurrencyManager” method.
I’m just returning Nothing in both of them and that’s it, no more CurrencyManager “index -1 does not have a value” stuff.

EDIT: OK, just found out the “proper way” is actually to use BindingList(of T) class instead of List(of T)