Display objects from different classes in same DataGridView

Question

Hallo,

How can i display collection of objects from different classes in one datagridview. Classes have similar properties but they can have different number of properties.

Thanks

Answer 1

Hi Shan,
yes, you can.

If your application ist Windows Forms application use virtual mode.

If your application ist WPF application use template.

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Best Regards / Viele Grüße
Peter Fleischer (former MVP for Developer Technologies)
Homepage, Tipps, Tricks

Answer 2

If homonymous properties have the same type, then maybe use something like ‘list1.Cast<object>().Concat(list2.Cast<object>()).Concat(…)’ to make a single collection of objects, and assign it to dataGridView.DataSource. Probably you should add the columns explicitly instead of specifying AutoGenerateColumns.

Show some details about your data.

Answer 3

if i understand correctly, i have to make a single collection first and then bind to datagridview?

Answer 4

Hi Shan,
you can use one collection with different data objects and DataGridView in virtual mode. Try following demo:

Public Class Form1

  Private WithEvents dgv As New DataGridView With {.AutoGenerateColumns = False,
    .VirtualMode = True, .Dock = DockStyle.Fill, .AllowUserToAddRows = False}

  Private col As New List(Of Object)

  Private Sub Form1_Load(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
    LoadData()
    Me.Controls.Add(dgv)
    dgv.RowCount = col.Count
    dgv.ColumnCount = 3
  End Sub

  Private Sub LoadData()
    col.Add(New Data1 With {.ID = 1, .Value1 = "Row 1 Data1"})
    col.Add(New Data2 With {.ID = 2, .Value2 = "Row 1 Data2", .Value3 = "Value 3 Row 1 Data2"})
    col.Add(New Data1 With {.ID = 3, .Value1 = "Row 2 Data1"})
    col.Add(New Data2 With {.ID = 4, .Value2 = "Row 2 Data2", .Value3 = "Value 3 Row 2 Data2"})
  End Sub

  Private Sub dgv_CellValueNeeded(sender As Object, e As DataGridViewCellValueEventArgs) Handles dgv.CellValueNeeded
    Dim d1 = TryCast(col(e.RowIndex), Data1)
    If d1 IsNot Nothing Then
      Select Case e.ColumnIndex
        Case 0
          e.Value = d1.ID.ToString
        Case 1
          e.Value = d1.Value1
        Case Else
          e.Value = String.Empty
      End Select
      Exit Sub
    End If
    Dim d2 = TryCast(col(e.RowIndex), Data2)
    If d2 IsNot Nothing Then
      Select Case e.ColumnIndex
        Case 0
          e.Value = d2.ID.ToString
        Case 1
          e.Value = d2.Value2
        Case 2
          e.Value = d2.Value3
        Case Else
          e.Value = String.Empty
      End Select
      Exit Sub
    End If
  End Sub

  Public Class Data1
    Public Property ID As Integer
    Public Property Value1 As String
  End Class

  Public Class Data2
    Public Property ID As Integer
    Public Property Value2 As String
    Public Property Value3 As String
  End Class

End Class

---

--
Best Regards / Viele Grüße
Peter Fleischer (former MVP for Developer Technologies)
Homepage, Tipps, Tricks

Answer 5

Hi Shan,
you can use one collection with different data objects ans DataGridView in virtual mode. Try following demo:

Public Class Form1

  Private WithEvents dgv As New DataGridView With {.AutoGenerateColumns = False,
    .VirtualMode = True, .Dock = DockStyle.Fill, .AllowUserToAddRows = False}

  Private col As New List(Of Object)

  Private Sub Form1_Load(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
    LoadData()
    Me.Controls.Add(dgv)
    dgv.RowCount = col.Count
    dgv.ColumnCount = 3
  End Sub

  Private Sub LoadData()
    col.Add(New Data1 With {.ID = 1, .Value1 = "Row 1 Data1"})
    col.Add(New Data2 With {.ID = 2, .Value2 = "Row 1 Data2", .Value3 = "Value 3 Row 1 Data2"})
    col.Add(New Data1 With {.ID = 3, .Value1 = "Row 2 Data1"})
    col.Add(New Data2 With {.ID = 4, .Value2 = "Row 2 Data2", .Value3 = "Value 3 Row 2 Data2"})
  End Sub

  Private Sub dgv_CellValueNeeded(sender As Object, e As DataGridViewCellValueEventArgs) Handles dgv.CellValueNeeded
    Dim d1 = TryCast(col(e.RowIndex), Data1)
    If d1 IsNot Nothing Then
      Select Case e.ColumnIndex
        Case 0
          e.Value = d1.ID.ToString
        Case 1
          e.Value = d1.Value1
        Case Else
          e.Value = String.Empty
      End Select
      Exit Sub
    End If
    Dim d2 = TryCast(col(e.RowIndex), Data2)
    If d2 IsNot Nothing Then
      Select Case e.ColumnIndex
        Case 0
          e.Value = d2.ID.ToString
        Case 1
          e.Value = d2.Value2
        Case 2
          e.Value = d2.Value3
        Case Else
          e.Value = String.Empty
      End Select
      Exit Sub
    End If
  End Sub

  Public Class Data1
    Public Property ID As Integer
    Public Property Value1 As String
  End Class

  Public Class Data2
    Public Property ID As Integer
    Public Property Value2 As String
    Public Property Value3 As String
  End Class

End Class

---

--
Best Regards / Viele Grüße
Peter Fleischer (former MVP for Developer Technologies)
Homepage, Tipps, Tricks

Hallo Peter, Thanks for the example , I was trying your code and try to bind to datagridview with bindingsource but no success. With few properties inside i can use this but if i have multiple properties and multiple classes how do i do it? any simple method with Bindingsource?. Thanks 

Answer 6

Hi Shan,
instead of binding my demo show how to display different data objects in one collection using virtual mode.

---

--
Best Regards / Viele Grüße
Peter Fleischer (former MVP for Developer Technologies)
Homepage, Tipps, Tricks

Answer 7

Hi Shan,
instead of binding my demo show how to display different data objects in one collection using virtual mode.

---

--
Best Regards / Viele Grüße
Peter Fleischer (former MVP for Developer Technologies)
Homepage, Tipps, Tricks

tried.i cant bind.

Answer 8

Hi Shan1986,

I have some questions to confirm with you based on your description.

>>Classes have similar properties but they can have different number of properties.

Are these classes related to the classes shown in your other thread？

How do you want to bind classes to DataGridView? Could you provide more details or an example here?

Best Regards,

Xingyu Zhao

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Answer 9

Hallo Xingyu, yes. How to bind i have no idea but i used to bind the collection with bindinglist , bindingsource. I am open to all ideas. 

Answer 10

Hi Shan,
via data binding (DataGridView.DataSource) you cannot use different data objects (different properties). In this case you can use only virtual mode like in my demo.

---

--
Best Regards / Viele Grüße
Peter Fleischer (former MVP for Developer Technologies)
Homepage, Tipps, Tricks

Answer 11

Hi Shan,
via data binding (DataGridView.DataSource) you cannot use different data objects (different properties). In this case you can use only virtual mode like in may demo.

---

--
Best Regards / Viele Grüße
Peter Fleischer (former MVP for Developer Technologies)
Homepage, Tipps, Tricks

Thanks peter. I was thinking whether it would be possible to make just two columns in the datagrid view , one column lists all the properties from the classes and another column display its values may be sum of values of all instances.

Is it possible ? that should be also fine.

 

Answer 12

Hi Shan1986,

Thanks for your feedback.

>>I was thinking whether it would be possible to make just two columns in the datagrid view

Since this thread is related to the other one, you can refer to the following code which is based on the 'Category' attribute to make two columns in the datagridview.

    Private Sub Button2_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles Button2.Click
        Dim lst1 As List(Of String) = GetAllAttributes(GetType(Category1))
        Dim lst2 As List(Of String) = GetAllAttributes(GetType(Category2))
        Dim unionLst As List(Of String) = lst1.Union(lst2).ToList()
        Dim table As DataTable = GenerateTableFromLst(unionLst, "WeightCategories")
        table.Columns.Add("Weight", GetType(System.Int32), "'0'")
        DataGridView1.DataSource = table
    End Sub
    Private Function GetAllAttributes(ByVal type As Type) As List(Of String)
        Dim lstAttr As List(Of String) = New List(Of String)()

        For Each prop In type.GetProperties()
            Dim category = CType(prop.GetCustomAttributes(GetType(Category), False).FirstOrDefault(), Category)
            If Not lstAttr.Contains(category.weightCategory) Then
                lstAttr.Add(category.weightCategory)
            End If
        Next
        Return lstAttr
    End Function

    Private Function GenerateTableFromLst(ByVal lst As List(Of String), ByVal columnName As String) As DataTable
        Dim dt As DataTable = New DataTable()
        dt.Columns.Add(columnName)
        For Each str As String In lst
            Dim drow As DataRow = dt.NewRow()
            drow(columnName) = str
            dt.Rows.Add(drow)
        Next
        Return dt
    End Function

Result of my test.

Hope it could be helpful.

Best Regards,

Xingyu Zhao

---

Visual Basic and CLR forum will be migrating to a new home on Microsoft Q&A! (VB.NET and CLR) We invite you to post new questions in the new home on Microsoft Q&A ! For more information, please refer to the sticky post(VB.NET and CLR).

Answer 13

Hi Shan1986,

Thanks for your feedback.

>>I was thinking whether it would be possible to make just two columns in the datagrid view

Since this thread is related to the other one, you can refer to the following code which is based on the 'Category' attribute to make two columns in the datagridview.

    Private Sub Button2_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles Button2.Click
        Dim lst1 As List(Of String) = GetAllAttributes(GetType(Category1))
        Dim lst2 As List(Of String) = GetAllAttributes(GetType(Category2))
        Dim unionLst As List(Of String) = lst1.Union(lst2).ToList()
        Dim table As DataTable = GenerateTableFromLst(unionLst, "WeightCategories")
        table.Columns.Add("Weight", GetType(System.Int32), "'0'")
        DataGridView1.DataSource = table
    End Sub
    Private Function GetAllAttributes(ByVal type As Type) As List(Of String)
        Dim lstAttr As List(Of String) = New List(Of String)()

        For Each prop In type.GetProperties()
            Dim category = CType(prop.GetCustomAttributes(GetType(Category), False).FirstOrDefault(), Category)
            If Not lstAttr.Contains(category.weightCategory) Then
                lstAttr.Add(category.weightCategory)
            End If
        Next
        Return lstAttr
    End Function

    Private Function GenerateTableFromLst(ByVal lst As List(Of String), ByVal columnName As String) As DataTable
        Dim dt As DataTable = New DataTable()
        dt.Columns.Add(columnName)
        For Each str As String In lst
            Dim drow As DataRow = dt.NewRow()
            drow(columnName) = str
            dt.Rows.Add(drow)
        Next
        Return dt
    End Function

Result of my test.

Hope it could be helpful.

Best Regards,

Xingyu Zhao

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Visual Basic and CLR forum will be migrating to a new home on Microsoft Q&A! (VB.NET and CLR) We invite you to post new questions in the new home on Microsoft Q&A ! For more information, please refer to the sticky post(VB.NET and CLR).

Hallo Xingyu. Thanks for the answer.