How to Bind a List of Class Objects to a ComboBox in C#?

Bind the list of class objects to the ComboBox control

If you have a list of class objects and want to bind it to a ComboBox control, follow these steps:

1. Create your class

Suppose there is a class representing a country:

<code class="language-csharp">public class Country
{
    public string Name { get; set; }
    public IList<city> Cities { get; set; }

    public Country()
    {
        Cities = new List<city>();
    }
}</code>

2. Create BindingSource object

Create a BindingSource object and set its DataSource property to your list of countries. For example:

<code class="language-csharp">var countries = new List<Country> { new Country { Name = "UK" }, new Country { Name = "Australia" }, new Country { Name = "France" } };

var bindingSource1 = new BindingSource();
bindingSource1.DataSource = countries;</code>

3. Set the data source of ComboBox

Set the DataSource property of the ComboBox to the DataSource property of the BindingSource object. This will establish a connection between the ComboBox and your list.

<code class="language-csharp">comboBox1.DataSource = bindingSource1.DataSource;</code>

4. Set DisplayMember and ValueMember properties

Specify the class attribute to be displayed in the ComboBox and the attribute to be stored as the selected value. Use DisplayMember to set display properties and ValueMember to set value properties:

<code class="language-csharp">comboBox1.DisplayMember = "Name";
comboBox1.ValueMember = "Name";</code>

5. Get the selected item

To access the selected country, cast the ComboBox's SelectedItem property to your class type:

<code class="language-csharp">Country country = (Country)comboBox1.SelectedItem;</code>

Tips:

• Make sure the data structure used as DataSource implements the IBindingList interface. BindingList is one such implementation.
• Bind to properties, not fields, to ensure correct access to values.

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