ItemData in visual basic 2005

In VB.NET the normal approach would be to store the Item/ItemData pairs in a datatable and bind the combobox to that datatable with code like this

    MyComboBox.DataSource = MyDataTable
    MyComboBox.DisplayMember = "DisplayField" 'equivalent to Item
    MyComboBox.ValueMember = "DataField" ' equivalent to ItemData

and read the values from the combobox with .SelectedItem and .SelectedValue.

There are other ways, but it would involve you in creating a class to hold the Item/ItemData pairs, and putting them in a "list" of some sort - probably an Array.  Using a datatable is simpler, in my view.

Also in VB.NET the normal approach would be to use ADO.NET rather than recordsets.  

In VB.NET 2005 you could accomplish both the creation of the datatable and the binding of the combobox to it mostly by drag-and-drop within the IDE.

If you need further guidance on the "new" approach, just ask.  I'm off to bed now but I'm sure someone else will pick it up if I'm asleep when you do so.  But I'll look in again in the morning.

Roger

https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/21771968/ItemData-in-VB-NET.html

Bob

Public Sub LoadCombobox(ByVal cmb As ComboBox, ByVal rs As ADODB.Recordset, _
    ByVal sDisplayfield As String, Optional ByVal sDatafield As String = "")

        Dim i As Integer

        'On Error GoTo EH

        If Not rs.EOF Then rs.MoveFirst()
        cmb.Items.Clear()
        i = 0

        While Not rs.EOF

            'cmb.Items.Insert(i, rs.Fields(sDisplayfield).Value)

   ----         cmb.DisplayMember.Insert(i, (rs.Fields(sDisplayfield).Value))

            'If (Len(sDatafield) > 0) Then VB6.SetItemData(cmb, i, Val(rs.Fields(sDatafield).Value))

   ----         cmb.ValueMember.Insert(i, Val(rs.Fields(sDatafield).Value))

            i = i + 1
            rs.MoveNext()
        End While

        Exit Sub

EH:
        Err.Description = "LoadCombobox-> " & Err.Description
        Err.Raise(Err.Number, Err.Source, Err.Description)
    End Sub


I inserted the two lines preceded by ---. I get an error that says: "Argument outofrangeexception was unhandled" it is related to the index which starts at 0 and increases by 1 as it goes through the loop. I do appreciate the help very much. The second help posted by BOB is the one i mentioned from microsoft. It looks good but i am not quite sure how to use that in vb 2005. This is my 3 day working with it.
Any additional comments would be helpful.

Andre

Your help has been helpful. I can now populate the dropdown with the statenames and the id (i believe)
my only problem is the id turns out zero everytime.

here is how i am trying to read the id: any quick sugestions?

Thanks again

        Dim statename As String
        Dim stateid As Long

        stateid = Val(cmbState.ValueMember)

        statename = cmbState.Text

        MsgBox("The id is: " & stateid) ' shows always zero , the state name changes okay but id always 0

Use

        stateid = cmbState.SelectedValue

        statename = cmbState.SelectedItem

instead

Roger

I keep getting the following error when trying to read the id.

the stateid field in my database is a long
the statename is string

i have tried to change the stateid field to string and still have the same problem. The error:

Conversion from type 'Value' to type 'String' is not valid

keeps coming up whether it is long or string.

the Employee class created to handle the data are both string. I have tried to change them also with no good results.

I know that the id is being read becuase i can populate the dropdown with the id instead of the statename (just to test it)

It is a conversion problem which is causing me a lot problems.

Any ideas?

'Dim statename As String
        Dim stateid As String
        Dim statename As String

        stateid = cmbState.SelectedValue

         MsgBox("The id is: " & stateid)

You'll have to do two things.  First change the Employee Class as follows

    Public Class Employee
        Private m_Name As String
        Private m_Id As Long 'CHANGE to Long
        Public Sub New(ByVal Id As Long, ByVal Name As String) 'CHANGE Id to Long
            m_Name = Name
            m_Id = Id
        End Sub
        Public ReadOnly Property Name() As String
            Get
                Return m_Name
            End Get
        End Property
        Public ReadOnly Property Id() As Long 'CHANGE to Long
            Get
                Return m_Id
            End Get
        End Property
    End Class

although substituting stateid and statename.

Second, and this is my fault, sorry, to get the statename you will need to use either

    statename = cmbstate.Text

as you originally suggested, or (perhaps better, in case the user has typed something new in the text portion of the combobox)

    statename = CType(cmbstate.SelectedItem, Employee).Name

substituting your class's name for Employee.

Roger