Here's the scenario i am working with...

//works ok, gridview displays data in customersNonGeneric object.

SortedList CustomersNonGeneric; //holds Customer objects

myDataGridView.Columns["col1"].DataPropertyName = "FName";

myDataGridView.Columns["col2"].DataPropertyName = "LName";

When i converted the above to use Generics, no data is displayed...

//does NOT throw any errors but GridView does not show data, as if CustomersGeneric was empty, which it is not.

SortedList<DateTime, Customer> CustomersGeneric;

myDataGridView.Columns["col1"].DataPropertyName = "FName";

myDataGridView.Columns["col2"].DataPropertyName = "LName";

My workaround was to covert the IList<> into a List<> as follows:

IList<Customer> CustomersIList = (IList<Customer>)CustomersGeneric.Values;

List<Customer> Customers = new List<Customer>();

foreach (Customer cust in CustomersIList) {

myDataGridView.Columns["col1"].DataPropertyName = "FName";

myDataGridView.Columns["col2"].DataPropertyName = "LName";

//etc..

Can anyone please explain:

1. Why is List<> acceptable in GridView.DataSource,but IList<> is not?

2. My workaround works, but is there a better way of doing it - or am i already doing it right?

Hi joedotnot,

Here are the answers to your questions:

1. The DataGridView control supports the standard Windows Forms data binding model, so it will bind to instances of classes described in the following list:

· Any class that implements the IList interface, including one-dimensional arrays.

· Any class that implements the IListSource interface, such as the DataTable and DataSet classes.

· Any class that implements the IBindingList interface, such as the BindingList<(Of <(T>)>) class.

· Any class that implements the IBindingListView interface, such as the BindingSource class.

IList doesn’t implement any of the interfaces described above, that’s the reason that your DataGridView doesn’t display anything.

Here’s an document describes DataGridView’s required interfaces

DataGridView Control Overview (Windows Forms)

Here’s an document describes interfaces implemented by IList

IList(T) Generic Interface (System.Collections.Generic)

2. Another approach is

The ToList() method returns the internal objects in a List object, the List class implements IList interface.

Best regards,

Jacob

The datagridview needs a datasource that implements the IList interface not IDictionary. I would use a BindingList<T> instead of a List<T> because it is setup for databinding

Thanks for the reply Ken... but if you refer to my non-working example above, itclearly implements the IList interface.

myDataGridView.DataSource = CustomersGeneric.Values;

i.e. CustomersGeneric implements IDictionary but CustomersGeneric.Values implements IList.

Hi joedotnot,

Here are the answers to your questions:

1. The DataGridView control supports the standard Windows Forms data binding model, so it will bind to instances of classes described in the following list:

· Any class that implements the IList interface, including one-dimensional arrays.

· Any class that implements the IListSource interface, such as the DataTable and DataSet classes.

· Any class that implements the IBindingList interface, such as the BindingList<(Of <(T>)>) class.

· Any class that implements the IBindingListView interface, such as the BindingSource class.

IList doesn’t implement any of the interfaces described above, that’s the reason that your DataGridView doesn’t display anything.

Here’s an document describes DataGridView’s required interfaces

DataGridView Control Overview (Windows Forms)

Here’s an document describes interfaces implemented by IList

IList(T) Generic Interface (System.Collections.Generic)

2. Another approach is

The ToList() method returns the internal objects in a List object, the List class implements IList interface.

Best regards,

Jacob