Question

It would seem that the DataGridView control can only bind to data sources that are flat (all the Properties are primative types). My data is hierarchal. For example:

    interface INestedObj
{
    string Prop3 { get; }
}

interface IParentObj
{
    public string Prop1 { get; }
    public string Prop2 { get; }
    public INestedObj NestedObj { get; }
}

Given this, how does one bind to an object implementing IParentObj? Eventually you are faced with having to do something like this:

grid.Columns["prop1Col"].DataPropertyName = "Prop1";
grid.Columns["prop2Col"].DataPropertyName = "Prop2";

grid.Columns["prop3Col"].DataPropertyName = "How to display Prop3?";

grid.Columns["prop3Col"].DataPropertyName = "NestedObj.Prop3"; // does not work

I am looking for advice and/or work-arounds.

TIA

Answer 1

Here is a simple solution that came to me at the end of a long day.

I used a Linq query and projection to create an anonymous type that displays the proper information in the DataGridView.

var query = from pt in parentObjCollection
  select new {Prop1=pt.Prop1, Prop2=pt.Prop2, NestedObj.Prop3=pt.NestedObj.Prop3};

I had to supply the proper value (NestedObj.Prop3) to the DataPropertyName property to get the value to display in the grid.

When I have more time I am going to try and implement Bradley’s solution.