Hi Guys, I wanna have a combo box that returns a value other then its text to its data source. Basically, I have a textbox that has the values 'Male' and 'Female' and I have it bound to a datasource and I want it to return a value of just m or f. Any ideas???

Thanks in Advance

Hi,

if you're databinding your combo, you can use its DisplayMember and ValueMember properties. DisplayMember is the datasource item's field, which will be used displaying in the combobox's text area, and ValueMember will contain the item's value. For example, take a look at this code:

DataTable table = new DataTable();
table.Columns.Add("GenderDescription", typeof(string));
table.Columns.Add("GenderKey", typeof(string));
table.Rows.Add(new string[] { "Female", "F" });
table.Rows.Add(new string[] { "Male", "M" });

comboBox1.ValueMember = "GenderKey";
comboBox1.DisplayMember = "GenderDescription";
comboBox1.DataSource = table;

The datatable includes two columns: GenderDescription is used as a DisplayMember field, while GenderKey is used for a ValueMember. If you want to retrieve the currently selected value, you can use combo's SelectedValue property:

string gender = comboBox1.SelectedValue as string;

Hope this helps,

Andrej

Sorry accidentally created this thread twice

Hi,

if you're databinding your combo, you can use its DisplayMember and ValueMember properties. DisplayMember is the datasource item's field, which will be used displaying in the combobox's text area, and ValueMember will contain the item's value. For example, take a look at this code:

DataTable table = new DataTable();
table.Columns.Add("GenderDescription", typeof(string));
table.Columns.Add("GenderKey", typeof(string));
table.Rows.Add(new string[] { "Female", "F" });
table.Rows.Add(new string[] { "Male", "M" });

comboBox1.ValueMember = "GenderKey";
comboBox1.DisplayMember = "GenderDescription";
comboBox1.DataSource = table;

The datatable includes two columns: GenderDescription is used as a DisplayMember field, while GenderKey is used for a ValueMember. If you want to retrieve the currently selected value, you can use combo's SelectedValue property:

string gender = comboBox1.SelectedValue as string;

Hope this helps,

Andrej

That does help butI need one more thing. I need the value of the selected item to be bound another field in a database. I have tried doing this through the form designer but when I change the field and then click my update button the text changes to F or M respectively. Any ideas?

Ok scratch that last bit. I was just having a play around and i realised that it actualy is working so yeah not sure what was happening there. Thanks very much for your help.