ComboBox help

RyJaBy

Hi, I need help displaying a list of items in a combo box. My problem is this, I want to display a name "Drive Time" and when it is selected i want to use the value of the variable "002302" it is like: Drive Time = 002302 I want to display "Drive Time" and I want to use the value "002302" when it is selected in the combobox. I hope this made sense. I appreciate the help. Thanks

Wayne Gaylard

It would be best if you created a structure to hold both items as a single datatype, and then you create a List(Of item) and bind the ComboBox to the List(Of T). Then in your ComboBox.SelectedIndexChanged you can reset the textbox Like this

Public Class Form1

Private Structure Items

    Private strName As String
    Private intID As Integer
    Public Property Name() As String
        Get
            Return strName
        End Get
        Set(ByVal value As String)
            strName = value
        End Set
    End Property
    Public Property ID() As Integer
        Get
            Return intID
        End Get
        Set(ByVal value As Integer)
            intID = value
        End Set
    End Property
End Structure

Private lstItems As List(Of Items)

Private Sub Form1\_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load

    lstItems = New List(Of Items)
    For i As Integer = 0 To 5
        Dim newItem As New Items
        newItem.Name = "Item " & i.ToString
        newItem.ID = i
        lstItems.Add(newItem)
    Next
    ComboBox1.DataSource = lstItems
    ComboBox1.DisplayMember = "Name"
    ComboBox1.ValueMember = "ID"

End Sub

Private Sub ComboBox1\_SelectedIndexChanged(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles ComboBox1.SelectedIndexChanged

    TextBox1.Text = CType(ComboBox1.SelectedItem, Items).Name

End Sub

End Class

Hope this helps Happy Coding

Scubapro

Yes, makes sense. Why don't you use an ArrayList in conjuction with your ComboBox and make the indexes correspond to one another? E.g.

ComboBox1.Items.Add("Drive Time")
ComboBox1.Items.Add("......")
...
Array1.Add("002302")
Array1.Add("......")
...

Public Sub ComboBox1_SelectedIndexChanged(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles ComboBox1.SelectedIndexChanged

value = Array1.Item(ComboBox1.SelectedIndex).ToString

End Sub

RyJaBy

Thanks for the help!

RyJaBy

Thank you! that makes so much sense.

Luc Pattyn

That is horrible. It was OK in the eighties perhaps, now things get to be handled in an object-oriented way, so turn those things into objects, show one of their properties and use another property. BTW: that is exactly what ComboBox.DisplayMember and ValueMember properties are for. :)

Luc Pattyn [Forum Guidelines] [Why QA sucks] [My Articles] Nil Volentibus Arduum

Please use <PRE> tags for code snippets, they preserve indentation, and improve readability.

Scubapro

Simia est simia et si aurea gestet insignia.

programmervb netc

I hate to admit it but I just recently learned this. I believe what you are trying to do is display one value and use another that is associated with it for something else. The easiest way I have seen this done is to use the DisplayMember and the ValueMember properties of the combo box like I said I just figured this out and it has made my life so much easier than the old way we handled it. So in your case you would use.

cboMyCombo.DisplayMember = "Drive Time"
cboMyCombo.ValueMember = "002302"

Msgbox(cboMyCombo.ValueMember.ToString())

I did not compile that code it may or may not work but you get the general idea.

Humble Programmer

Scubapro

Alas, this won't work, since .DisplayMember and .ValueMember are string based which refer to a corresponding (table)column name of the bonded data.

Neville Nazerane

I think the best solution for this is using an enum

private enum combo_values
Drive_Time = 002302
.....
.....
end enum

this is the code for diclareing an enum. Unfortunataly ths would mean that you would have to use an underscore instead of a space. But I guess the user would not mind. So, once the enum is diclared, you can enter the following code when an item is selected:

myValue=ctype(combo1.text,enum)

if you want make 'combo_values' a variable of your type, you can do it by typing something like,' private enum combo_values as integer'. and do inform me if it does not work.