I'm trying to bound a DataGridViewComboBoxColumn
to an instance of Foo, but when i set a value on the grid i got a ArgumentException
telling me that i can not convert from String to Foo.
var data = (from item in someTable
select new { Foo = item.foo, Bar = item.Bar }).ToList();
grid.DataSource = data;
column.DataPropertyName = "Foo";
column.DataSource = (from foo in Foo select foo).ToList (); //foo is an instance of Foo
column.DisplayMember = "SomeNameField"; //Foo.SomeNameField contains a description of the instance
Am i missing something? is it possible to databind to a complex object?
UPDATE:
I implemented a TypeConverter and overrided CanConvertFrom, CanConvertTo, ConvertTo, ConvertFrom. Now i'm getting
FormatException: The DataGridViewComboBoxCell value is not valid
Any ideas?
You are missing a possible piece.
UPDATE:
Actually, after reading your question again, I think you are facing that noted bug. There is unfortunately no way to make it return the bound object without using a custom TypeDescriptor/TypeConverter/BindingSource.
Answer for binding to a complex object. No by default. I wrote quite a nice one for my current project. This involves making a custom TypeDescriptor/TypeConverter/BindingSource that returns all the nested properties. Another 'bug', you cant use '.' for a member separator, I had to resort to ':' instead.
the DataGridViewComboBoxColumn should always have all the possible values at the combobox Items list or it will throw "FormatException: The DataGridViewComboBoxCell value is not valid".
If you are trying to get back values chosen from one combobox column, you can handle the DataGridView CellParsing event, and get the selected item from DataGridView.EditingControl cause it will be set for editing control from the edited column. Here is a exemple:
You also can customize the way your objects are show on each cell by handling the cell Formatting Event, here is a code that display toString for any object or interface.
Handles this two events should be enough for show and edit data within any bussiness object and its easer then write type converters. For this work set you DataGridView and you combobox column as follow:
No DisplayMember or ValueMember Property need to be set, just make sure your combobox data source list has all the possible values for Foo.
Hope its helps.
Actually, you can use a complex type in
DataGridViewComboBoxColumn
.For example:
Self
is:Very important - need to override 'Equals' method of a complex type. In my case:
I was constantely hitting the same problem until I discovert that you cannot set the
DisplayMember
of theDataGridViewComboBoxCell
without setting theValueMember
too.In the same way, setting the
ValueMember
and not theDisplayMember
is a fail too, you have to define none or both.Your model is Foo, and you certainly want that the Value of the ComboBox be the item itself. For doing this, the simplest way is too create a Property in your foo, returning itself.
Then bindings becomes:
This should work, and the Value of the Cell should be of type Foo as expected.
An interesting reference: Problems with the DataGridViewComboBoxColumn