ListControl.DataSource Property

Definition

Namespace:

System.Windows.Forms

Assembly:

System.Windows.Forms.dll

Source:

ListControl.cs

Gets or sets the data source for this ListControl.

C#

public object? DataSource { get; set; }

Property Value

Object

An object that implements the IList or IListSource interfaces, such as a DataSet or an Array. The default is null.

Exceptions

ArgumentException

The assigned value does not implement the IList or IListSource interfaces.

Examples

The following code example is a complete application that shows how you can use DataSource, DisplayMember, ValueMember, and SelectedValue members of the ListControl class as implemented by the ListBox class. The example loads an ArrayList and the list box. When the user selects an item in the list box, the selected value is used to return the data associated with the selected item.

C#

using System;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Collections;

namespace MyListControlSample
{
    public class ListBoxSample3 : Form
    {
        private ListBox ListBox1 = new ListBox();
        private Label label1 = new Label();
        private TextBox textBox1 = new TextBox();

        [STAThread]
        static void Main()
        {
            Application.Run(new ListBoxSample3());
        }

        public ListBoxSample3()
        {
            this.ClientSize = new Size(307, 206);
            this.Text = "ListBox Sample3";

            ListBox1.Location = new Point(54, 16);
            ListBox1.Name = "ListBox1";
            ListBox1.Size = new Size(240, 130);

            label1.Location = new Point(14, 150);
            label1.Name = "label1";
            label1.Size = new Size(40, 24);
            label1.Text = "Value";

            textBox1.Location = new Point(54, 150);
            textBox1.Name = "textBox1";
            textBox1.Size = new Size(240, 24);
            
            this.Controls.AddRange(new Control[] { ListBox1, label1, textBox1 });

            // Populate the list box using an array as DataSource.
            ArrayList USStates = new ArrayList();
            USStates.Add(new USState("Alabama", "AL"));
            USStates.Add(new USState("Washington", "WA"));
            USStates.Add(new USState("West Virginia", "WV"));
            USStates.Add(new USState("Wisconsin", "WI"));
            USStates.Add(new USState("Wyoming", "WY"));
            ListBox1.DataSource = USStates;

            // Set the long name as the property to be displayed and the short
            // name as the value to be returned when a row is selected.  Here
            // these are properties; if we were binding to a database table or
            // query these could be column names.
            ListBox1.DisplayMember = "LongName";
            ListBox1.ValueMember = "ShortName";

            // Bind the SelectedValueChanged event to our handler for it.
            ListBox1.SelectedValueChanged += 
                new EventHandler(ListBox1_SelectedValueChanged);

            // Ensure the form opens with no rows selected.
            ListBox1.ClearSelected();
        }

        private void InitializeComponent()
        {
        }

        private void ListBox1_SelectedValueChanged(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            if (ListBox1.SelectedIndex != -1)
            {
                textBox1.Text = ListBox1.SelectedValue.ToString();
                // If we also wanted to get the displayed text we could use
                // the SelectedItem item property:
                // string s = ((USState)ListBox1.SelectedItem).LongName;
            }
        }
    }

    public class USState
    {
        private string myShortName;
        private string myLongName;

        public USState(string strLongName, string strShortName)
        {

            this.myShortName = strShortName;
            this.myLongName = strLongName;
        }

        public string ShortName
        {
            get
            {
                return myShortName;
            }
        }

        public string LongName
        {

            get
            {
                return myLongName;
            }
        }
    }
}

Remarks

There are two ways to fill the ComboBox and ListBox controls.

For example, you can add objects to the ComboBox by using the Add method. You can also add objects to a ComboBox by using the DataSource, DisplayMember, and ValueMember properties to fill the ComboBox.

When the DataSource property is set, a user cannot modify the items collection.

If setting the DataSource property causes the data source to change, the DataSourceChanged event is raised. If setting this property causes the data member to change, the DisplayMemberChanged event is raised.

When you set DataSource to null, DisplayMember is set to an empty string ("").

Applies to