DataGridViewComboBoxColumn.DisplayMember Property

Definition

Namespace:

System.Windows.Forms

Assembly:

System.Windows.Forms.dll

Gets or sets a string that specifies the property or column from which to retrieve strings for display in the combo boxes.

public:
 property System::String ^ DisplayMember { System::String ^ get(); void set(System::String ^ value); };

[System.ComponentModel.TypeConverter("System.Windows.Forms.Design.DataMemberFieldConverter, System.Design, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a")]
public string DisplayMember { get; set; }

[<System.ComponentModel.TypeConverter("System.Windows.Forms.Design.DataMemberFieldConverter, System.Design, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a")>]
member this.DisplayMember : string with get, set

Public Property DisplayMember As String

Property Value

String

A String that specifies the name of a property or column in the data source specified in the DataSource property. The default is Empty.

Attributes

TypeConverterAttribute

Exceptions

InvalidOperationException

The value of the CellTemplate property is null.

Examples

The following code example demonstrates how to use a DataGridViewComboBoxColumn to aid in data entry of the title column. DisplayMember is set to the property name responsible for containing the user-viewable text. In this example, the DisplayMember is set to the same value as ValueMember because no mapping is necessary. This example is part of a larger example available in the DataGridViewComboBoxColumn class overview topic.

private:
    DataGridViewComboBoxColumn^ CreateComboBoxColumn()
    {
        DataGridViewComboBoxColumn^ column =
            gcnew DataGridViewComboBoxColumn();
        {
            column->DataPropertyName = ColumnName::TitleOfCourtesy.ToString();
            column->HeaderText = ColumnName::TitleOfCourtesy.ToString();
            column->DropDownWidth = 160;
            column->Width = 90;
            column->MaxDropDownItems = 3;
            column->FlatStyle = FlatStyle::Flat;
        }
        return column;
    }

private:
    void SetAlternateChoicesUsingDataSource(DataGridViewComboBoxColumn^ comboboxColumn)
    {
        {
            comboboxColumn->DataSource = RetrieveAlternativeTitles();
            comboboxColumn->ValueMember = ColumnName::TitleOfCourtesy.ToString();
            comboboxColumn->DisplayMember = comboboxColumn->ValueMember;
        }
    }

private:
    DataTable^ RetrieveAlternativeTitles()
    {
        return Populate("SELECT distinct TitleOfCourtesy FROM Employees");
    }

    String^ connectionString;

private:
    DataTable^ Populate(String^ sqlCommand)
    {
        SqlConnection^ northwindConnection = gcnew SqlConnection(connectionString);
        northwindConnection->Open();

        SqlCommand^ command = gcnew SqlCommand(sqlCommand, northwindConnection);
        SqlDataAdapter^ adapter = gcnew SqlDataAdapter();
        adapter->SelectCommand = command;

        DataTable^ table = gcnew DataTable();
        adapter->Fill(table);

        return table;
    }

    // Using an enum provides some abstraction between column index
    // and column name along with compile time checking, and gives
    // a handy place to store the column names.
    enum class ColumnName
    {
        EmployeeID,
        LastName,
        FirstName,
        Title,
        TitleOfCourtesy,
        BirthDate,
        HireDate,
        Address,
        City,
        Region,
        PostalCode,
        Country,
        HomePhone,
        Extension,
        Photo,
        Notes,
        ReportsTo,
        PhotoPath,
        OutOfOffice
    };

private DataGridViewComboBoxColumn CreateComboBoxColumn()
{
    DataGridViewComboBoxColumn column =
        new DataGridViewComboBoxColumn();
    {
        column.DataPropertyName = ColumnName.TitleOfCourtesy.ToString();
        column.HeaderText = ColumnName.TitleOfCourtesy.ToString();
        column.DropDownWidth = 160;
        column.Width = 90;
        column.MaxDropDownItems = 3;
        column.FlatStyle = FlatStyle.Flat;
    }
    return column;
}

private void SetAlternateChoicesUsingDataSource(DataGridViewComboBoxColumn comboboxColumn)
{
    {
        comboboxColumn.DataSource = RetrieveAlternativeTitles();
        comboboxColumn.ValueMember = ColumnName.TitleOfCourtesy.ToString();
        comboboxColumn.DisplayMember = comboboxColumn.ValueMember;
    }
}

private DataTable RetrieveAlternativeTitles()
{
    return Populate("SELECT distinct TitleOfCourtesy FROM Employees");
}

string connectionString =
    "Integrated Security=SSPI;Persist Security Info=False;" +
    "Initial Catalog=Northwind;Data Source=localhost";

private DataTable Populate(string sqlCommand)
{
    SqlConnection northwindConnection = new SqlConnection(connectionString);
    northwindConnection.Open();

    SqlCommand command = new SqlCommand(sqlCommand, northwindConnection);
    SqlDataAdapter adapter = new SqlDataAdapter();
    adapter.SelectCommand = command;

    DataTable table = new DataTable();
    table.Locale = System.Globalization.CultureInfo.InvariantCulture;
    adapter.Fill(table);

    return table;
}

// Using an enum provides some abstraction between column index
// and column name along with compile time checking, and gives
// a handy place to store the column names.
enum ColumnName
{
    EmployeeId,
    LastName,
    FirstName,
    Title,
    TitleOfCourtesy,
    BirthDate,
    HireDate,
    Address,
    City,
    Region,
    PostalCode,
    Country,
    HomePhone,
    Extension,
    Photo,
    Notes,
    ReportsTo,
    PhotoPath,
    OutOfOffice
};

Private Function CreateComboBoxColumn() _
    As DataGridViewComboBoxColumn
    Dim column As New DataGridViewComboBoxColumn()

    With column
        .DataPropertyName = ColumnName.TitleOfCourtesy.ToString()
        .HeaderText = ColumnName.TitleOfCourtesy.ToString()
        .DropDownWidth = 160
        .Width = 90
        .MaxDropDownItems = 3
        .FlatStyle = FlatStyle.Flat
    End With
    Return column
End Function

Private Sub SetAlternateChoicesUsingDataSource( _
    ByVal comboboxColumn As DataGridViewComboBoxColumn)
    With comboboxColumn
        .DataSource = RetrieveAlternativeTitles()
        .ValueMember = ColumnName.TitleOfCourtesy.ToString()
        .DisplayMember = .ValueMember
    End With
End Sub

Private Function RetrieveAlternativeTitles() As DataTable
    Return Populate( _
        "SELECT distinct TitleOfCourtesy FROM Employees")
End Function

Private connectionString As String = _
        "Integrated Security=SSPI;Persist Security Info=False;" _
        & "Initial Catalog=Northwind;Data Source=localhost"

Private Function Populate(ByVal sqlCommand As String) As DataTable
    Dim northwindConnection As New SqlConnection(connectionString)
    northwindConnection.Open()

    Dim command As New SqlCommand(sqlCommand, _
        northwindConnection)
    Dim adapter As New SqlDataAdapter()
    adapter.SelectCommand = command
    Dim table As New DataTable()
    table.Locale = System.Globalization.CultureInfo.InvariantCulture
    adapter.Fill(table)

    Return table
End Function

' Using an enum provides some abstraction between column index
' and column name along with compile time checking, and gives
' a handy place to store the column names.
Enum ColumnName
    EmployeeId
    LastName
    FirstName
    Title
    TitleOfCourtesy
    BirthDate
    HireDate
    Address
    City
    Region
    PostalCode
    Country
    HomePhone
    Extension
    Photo
    Notes
    ReportsTo
    PhotoPath
    OutOfOffice
End Enum

Remarks

The data for the values stored in a column of DataGridViewComboBoxCell objects is obtained from the DataGridView.DataSource. If this data comes from a nondefault property or column, then the DisplayMember property must be set to the necessary property name or column name.

If the cell values are internal values not visible to the user, then use DisplayMember and ValueMember to map the internal cell values to user-viewable values.

When the DataSource property is set to a string array, the DisplayMember property does not need to be set because each string in the array will be used as a valid display string and as a valid underlying value.

Getting or setting this property gets or sets the DisplayMember property of the object returned by the CellTemplate property. Setting this property also sets the DisplayMember property of every cell in the column and refreshes the column display. To override the specified value for individual cells, set the cell values after you set the column value.

See also

• DataGridView
• DataSource
• DataSource
• ValueMember
• CellTemplate
• DataGridViewComboBoxCell
• DisplayMember