Question

I’ve created a custom user control that has several properties. One specifies which database I want the control to access. I want to be able to present the user of the control a drop down from which he can select which database the control will interact with.

How do I get the dropdown to work? I can get default values, but have yet to figure out how to get the selectable list.

Any help is apprectiated.

Thanks.

Marshall

Answer 1

Here is the template I use to create a custom datasource for my comboboxes:

    Private Class Listing

    Private _List As New ArrayList

    Public Sub Add(ByVal ItemNumber As Integer, ByVal ItemName As String)

        _List.Add(New dataItem(ItemNumber, ItemName))

    End Sub

    Public ReadOnly Property List() As ArrayList
        Get
            Return _List
        End Get
    End Property

End Class

Private Class dataItem
    Private _ItemNumber As Integer
    Private _ItemName As String

    Public Sub New(ByVal intItemNumber As Integer, ByVal strItemName As String)
        Me._ItemNumber = intItemNumber
        Me._ItemName = strItemName
    End Sub

    Public ReadOnly Property ItemName() As String
        Get
            Return _ItemName
        End Get
    End Property

    Public ReadOnly Property ItemNumber() As Integer
        Get
            Return _ItemNumber
        End Get
    End Property

    Public ReadOnly Property DisplayValue() As String

        Get
            Return CStr(Me._ItemNumber).Trim & " - " & _ItemName.Trim
        End Get

    End Property

    Public Overrides Function ToString() As String

        Return CStr(Me._ItemNumber).Trim & " - " & _ItemName.Trim

    End Function

End Class

And this is how I load it:

    ListBindSource = New Listing

    Me.BindingSource.MoveFirst()
    For Each Row As DataRowView In Me.BindingSource.List
        Dim strName As String = String.Empty
        Dim intPos As Integer = Me.BindingSource.Find("Number", Row("Number"))
        If intPos > -1 Then
            Me.BindingSource.Position = intPos
            strName = Me.BindingSource.Current("Name")
        End If
        ListBindSource.Add(Row("Number"), strName)
    Next

    cboNumber.DataSource = ListBindSource.POList
    cboNumber.DisplayMember = "DisplayValue"
    cboNumber.ValueMember = "Number"
    AddHandler cboNumber.SelectedIndexChanged, AddressOf _
            cboNumber_SelectedIndexChanged

Hope this helps. One thing to keep in mind is that if cboNumber has a handler already assigned to the SelectedIndexchanged event, you will encounter problems. So don’t create a default event.