Bind or show object properties values in datagridview rows?

Question

Hallo I am looking for a way to bind object properties to data grid view row items . for example i have sample class like blow

Public Class Sample

Public Readonly Property Prop1 as integer
Public Readonly Property Prop2 as integer

End Class 

and a datagridview with 3 columns which shows the description and value of the Prop1 and Prop2 and may be i can hide the property column

Property Description Value
Prop1 Description 1 xx
Prop2 Description 2 xx

Is there a way to do this so that the properties values are always synced/changes immediately? Thanks.

Answer 1

Hi,
you can use Reflection to get names and values of properties for displaying in Datagrid like in following demo:

Imports System.Reflection

Public Class Form10

  Private dgv As New DataGridView With {.Dock = DockStyle.Fill, .AutoGenerateColumns = True}

  Private Sub Form1_Load(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
    Me.Controls.Add(dgv)
    '
    Dim s As New Sample
    '
    dgv.DataSource = New PropertyList(s)
  End Sub

  Private Class PropertyList
    Inherits List(Of PropertyItem)
    Public Sub New(obj As Object)
      For Each prop In obj.GetType().GetProperties(BindingFlags.Public Or BindingFlags.Instance)
        Me.Add(New PropertyItem(obj, prop))
      Next
    End Sub
  End Class

  Public Class PropertyItem
    Public Sub New(obj As Object, prop As PropertyInfo)
      Me._obj = obj
      Me._prop = prop
    End Sub
    Private _obj As Object
    Private _prop As PropertyInfo
    Public ReadOnly Property PropertyName As String
      Get
        Return Me._prop.Name
      End Get
    End Property
    Public ReadOnly Property PropertyValue As Object
      Get
        Return Me._prop.GetValue(Me._obj)
      End Get
    End Property
  End Class

  Public Class Sample
    Public ReadOnly Property Prop1 As Integer = 1
    Public ReadOnly Property Prop2 As Integer = 2
  End Class

End Class

Answer 2

Hi
If I understand your question, maybe this is helpful. A stand alone example. Adds a few initial values and then Button1 click adds random pair each click (and everything is 'sync'ed')

' FORM1 with
' DataGridView1,
' Button1
Option Strict On
Option Explicit On
Public Class Form1
    Dim col As New List(Of Sample)
    Dim BS As New BindingSource
    Dim rand As New Random
    Private Sub Form1_Load(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
        col.Add(New Sample(1, 2))
        col.Add(New Sample(11, 21))
        col.Add(New Sample(21, 22))

        BS.DataSource = col
        DataGridView1.DataSource = BS
    End Sub
    Private Sub Button1_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
        col.Add(New Sample(rand.Next(99, 999), rand.Next(999, 9999)))
        BS.ResetBindings(False)
    End Sub
    Public Class Sample
        Public ReadOnly Property Prop1 As Integer
        Public ReadOnly Property Prop2 As Integer
        Sub New(one As Integer, two As Integer)
            Prop1 = one
            Prop2 = two
        End Sub
    End Class
End Class

Answer 3

Hi,
you can use PropertyGrid to display and change values of properties of object. Try following demo:

Public Class Form09

  Private pg As New PropertyGrid With {.Dock = DockStyle.Fill,
    .Text = "Property Grid", .CommandsVisibleIfAvailable = True}
  Private Sub Form1_Load(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
    Me.Controls.Add(pg)
    ' '
    Dim s As New Sample
    ' '
    pg.SelectedObject = s
  End Sub

  Public Class Sample
    Public ReadOnly Property Prop1 As Integer = 1
    Public ReadOnly Property Prop2 As Integer = 2
  End Class

End Class

Answer 4

Hello @Hobbyist_programmer

For your requirements, implement INotifyPropertyChanged Interface for allowing immediate updates to the user interface. If we were to simply set the list (in this case of Person) to the DataGridView it would seem we are done although there is no sorting so a custom BindingList (found here) is needed and on top of this a BindingSource to tie things together.

You can copy code below or copy the full code including the custom BindingList from the following GitHub repository.

Here is the Person class which implements INotifyPropertyChanged.

Imports System.ComponentModel  
Imports System.Runtime.CompilerServices  
  
Public Class Person  
    Implements INotifyPropertyChanged  
  
    Public Property Id() As Integer  
    Public Property FirstName() As String  
    Public Property LastName() As String  
  
    Public Event PropertyChanged As PropertyChangedEventHandler Implements INotifyPropertyChanged.PropertyChanged  
    Protected Overridable Sub OnPropertyChanged(<CallerMemberName> Optional ByVal propertyName As String = Nothing)  
        PropertyChangedEvent?.Invoke(Me, New PropertyChangedEventArgs(propertyName))  
    End Sub  
End Class  

And a class for some mocked up data.

Public Class Mocked  
    Public Shared ReadOnly Property PeopleList() As List(Of Person)  
        Get  
            Return New List(Of Person) From {  
                New Person() With {.Id = 1, .FirstName = "Karen", .LastName = "Payne"},  
                New Person() With {.Id = 2, .FirstName = "Bill", .LastName = "Smith"},  
                New Person() With {.Id = 3, .FirstName = "Mary", .LastName = "Jones"},  
                New Person() With {.Id = 4, .FirstName = "Kim", .LastName = "Adams"}}  
        End Get  
    End Property  
End Class  

Form code for displaying, minimal editing and a mocked up add new Person.

Public Class Form1  
  
    Private peopleBindingList As SortableBindingList(Of Person)  
    Private peopleBindingSource As New BindingSource()  
  
    Private Sub Form1_Load(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load  
        peopleBindingList = New SortableBindingList(Of Person)(Mocked.PeopleList)  
        peopleBindingSource.DataSource = peopleBindingList  
  
        dataGridView1.DataSource = peopleBindingSource  
        dataGridView1.Columns("id").Visible = False  
    End Sub  
  
    Private Sub CurrentPersonButton_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) _  
        Handles CurrentPersonButton.Click  
  
        If peopleBindingSource.Current Is Nothing Then  
            Return  
        End If  
  
        Dim currentPerson = peopleBindingList(peopleBindingSource.Position)  
        MessageBox.Show($"{currentPerson.Id}, {currentPerson.FirstName}, {currentPerson.LastName}")  
  
    End Sub  
  
    Private Sub NewPersonButton_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles NewPersonButton.Click  
  
        peopleBindingList.Add(New Person() With  
            {  
                .Id = peopleBindingList.Select(Function(p) p.Id).Max() + 1,  
                .FirstName = "Jude",  
                .LastName = "Lennon"  
            })  
  
    End Sub  
End Class  

Screen shot

Answer 5

@Hobbyist_programmer

DataGridView columns are created in the designer, nothing special other than the first column is read-only. I use reflection to set cell values from properties. Since I didn't want to disturb first code sample I left the Id property in and filtered it out for the PropertyInfo code in form load.

Imports System.Reflection  
Public Class Form2  
    Private peopleBindingSource As New BindingSource()  
    Private Sub Form2_Load(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load  
  
        Dim person = New Person() With {.Id = 1, .FirstName = "Karen", .LastName = "Payne"}  
  
        peopleBindingSource.DataSource = New List(Of Person) From {person}  
  
        Dim properties = GetType(Person).  
                GetProperties().  
                Where(  
                    Function(propertyInfo)  
                        Return propertyInfo.PropertyType IsNot GetType(Integer)  
                    End Function)  
  
        For Each propertyInfo As PropertyInfo In properties  
            DataGridView1.Rows.Add(propertyInfo.Name,  
                                   propertyInfo.GetValue(person),  
                                   propertyInfo.Name)  
        Next  
  
        AddHandler DataGridView1.CellValueChanged, AddressOf CellChanged  
    End Sub  
    Private Sub CellChanged(sender As Object, e As DataGridViewCellEventArgs)  
        Dim item = CType(peopleBindingSource.Current, Person)  
  
        If e.RowIndex = 0 Then  
            item.FirstName = DataGridView1.Rows(e.RowIndex).Cells(1).Value.ToString()  
        Else  
            item.LastName = DataGridView1.Rows(e.RowIndex).Cells(1).Value.ToString()  
        End If  
  
    End Sub  
    Private Sub PersonValues_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click  
        Dim person = CType(peopleBindingSource.Current, Person)  
  
        MessageBox.Show($"{person.FirstName} {person.LastName}")  
  
    End Sub  
End Class