Newb looking for data binding help

[kevinwolfe]

Hi all.

I'd like any suggestions on how I can get my data set (not a DataSet)
bound to a couple of controls on a form. Let me start by describing
what my data looks like. Each entry correlates to a piece of equipment
and has the following information:

Two strings, one for a system name and one for equipment name
An integer
An ArrayList (which will contain only strings)

Each data entry has an associated TreeNode and is a child node to a
'system' node. Each node is in a hashtable which then points to the
'equipment's data set.

When the user clicks on an 'equipment' node, I'd like to display just
its data (the integer, and the array list). When a 'system' node is
selected, I'd like to display all of the strings in the arraylists of
that system, and a MIN function of that system's integers.

I thought it would be awesome if I could store the entries in a
dataTable (one row per piece of equipment), bind columns to Text and
ListBoxes. Then when a user selects a node, I find it's system &
equipment name (hashtable lookup to get a datarow), then simply change
the datatable's rowFilter string to display only the selected piece of
equipment or only the selected table's equipment.

That all almost works great. However, the list boxes I am using call
the ToString method of each arrayList instead of displaying each string
within the arrayList. (so I get a list of 'System.ArrayList' entries).

Does anyone have any workarounds, or suggestions as to better
arrainging my datastructure (such as a custom class instead of a table,
forget data binding, etc)

Thanks in advance,

Kevin

 

[Cor Ligthert [MVP]]

Kevin,

The first thing that you need to bind are properties.

Therefore a strongly typed generic list will probably be better.

Cor

 

[kevinwolfe]

Thanks for the reply,

Are you suggesting that instead of storing my entries in a datatable,
store them in a custom generic list, or rather, instead of using array
lists to store the strings, using a generic list there? If its the
later, wouldn't I have the same problem in that, I can't get the
binding control to iterate for each string within the collections?

Regards,

Kevin

 

[Cor Ligthert [MVP]]

Kevin,

Sorry I readed your message to quick,


As I now read your message again and hope to understand it now well, is it
probably better to use dataviews with your datatable.

Than you can set the rowfilter of the dataview to the clicked part in the
tree.

A little bit like this,
http://www.vb-tips.com/dbPages.aspx?ID=cb1408ff-030d-4ea8-80b1-af26354b1fa0

I hope this helps,

Cor