DataBinding Combo Boxes

Typically, when binding a combo box, you use one object to fill the list, and a property on another object to specify the currently selected value in the list.

Specifying the Display Text and Selected Value

To fill the combo box with items, you can set its DisplayMemberPath property. For example, to specify that a combo box is filled with a list of ShipperEntity objects (e.g. from Northwind Database), you can do the following:

1. Select the combo box in design mode.

2. Go to the Properties panel and at the bottom of the Common Properties section, click the Show Advanced properties arrow.

   Set the DisplayMemberPath property to CompanyName. This specifies the property of the ShipperEntity object that contains the text to be displayed in the combo box.

3. Next, set the SelectedValuePath property to ShipperID. This specifies the property of the ShipperEntity object that contains the key value of the item.

Specifying the Property to Bind the Combo Box's Currently Selected Value

The SelectedValue attribute specifies the property that the combo box's currently selected value is bound to.

For example, if you want to bind the SelectedValue property to an OrderEntity object's ShipVia property (assuming that OrderEntity is set as the parent window's Data Context), you would follow these steps:

1. Click the tiny Advanced property options button to the right of the SelectedValue property.

2. Select Data Binding... from the shortcut menu. This launches the Create Data Binding dialog.

3. In the Path box on the right, select ShipVia , and then click OK to close the dialog: