Using Combobox in Silverlight - in a smarter way

Posted Date: 30 Jul 2009	Resource Type: Articles	Category: Silverlight Programming
Author: Miss Meetu Choudhary	Member Level: Silver
Rating:	Points: 45

After reading this article we will be able to use a comboobx in a Silverlight application as we are habitual of using it with the formal application. Normally we would like to have a combo box which will show the name of the article or any thing which we would like that our client should see but internally we like to use the ID the primary key or something else to use for the internal purpose. So here are the steps we are going to follow.

Creating the Design Page For the Combobox Application.

1. Open Visual Studio 2008 or above. Create new Project.
2. Select the language C#, Silverlight Project.
3.Name it Combox.
4.Click ok.
5.Leave the Rest Settings as default.
6.Now open MainPage.xaml. modify the grid add the HorizontalAlignment="Left"
VerticalAlignment="Top"
7. And now And now add the Textblock (Label) like this:


<TextBlock Height="17.09" Grid.Column="0" Grid.Row="0" Width="100.303" Canvas.Left="260" Canvas.Top="38.91" Text="Client Name" TextWrapping="Wrap"
              Foreground="#FF000000" FontSize="16" Margin="12,0,8,5" />

8. In the next column of grid Add the Combobox. like:


              <ComboBox x:Name="cmbClient" Grid.Column="1" Grid.Row="0" SelectionChanged="cmbClient_SelectionChanged"></ComboBox>

9. Not going into more Designing Issues. Lets Finish it here. And Start Our Coding.
10. Creating a button so that onclick of that button we can get the
Information of the Client


<Button  x:Name="btn"  Click="btn_Click"  Content="Get Info"  Grid.Column="0" Grid.Row="1"></Button>

Now lets create a class with the following Member Properties

Client ID
Client Name
Client Address
Client Mobile number

Now open the MainPage.xaml.cs File And create the following Class


      public class MyClients
      
{
      
#region Pubic Propertypublic int pkid;
      
public string ClientName { get; set; }
      
public string ClientAddress { get; set; }
      
public string ClientMobile { get; set; }
      
#endregion
}

In Next strep we will Creat a List<T> type of variables which will hold the List of MyClients to be displayed in the comboobx. Like:

public static List<MyClients> clientlist = new List<MyClients>();

Now next step is to create a function which will add the MyClients to the List Here is the function.


public voidAddClients()
      {
MyClients mynewclient = new MyClients();
      mynewclient.ClientAddress = "Jaipur";
      
mynewclient.ClientMobile = "1234567890";
      
mynewclient.ClientName = "Meetu Choudhary";
      
mynewclient.pkid = 1;
      
clientlist.Add(mynewclient);
      
//Adding 2nd CLient
        mynewclient = newMyClients();
      mynewclient.ClientAddress = "Jaipur";
      
mynewclient.ClientMobile = "1234567890";
      
mynewclient.ClientName = "Anita Choudhary";
      
mynewclient.pkid = 2;
      
clientlist.Add(mynewclient);
      
//Adding 3rd client
      
mynewclient = new MyClients();
      
mynewclient.ClientAddress = "Delhi";
      
mynewclient.ClientMobile = "1234567890";
      
mynewclient.ClientName = "Raman Mehta";
      
mynewclient.pkid = 3;
      
clientlist.Add(mynewclient);
//Adding 4th client
      mynewclient = new MyClients();
      
mynewclient.ClientAddress = "Delhi";
      
mynewclient.ClientMobile = "1234567890";
      
mynewclient.ClientName = "Gaurav Arora";
      
mynewclient.pkid = 4;
      
clientlist.Add(mynewclient);
      
}

Now we need to call this function in the MainPage so the code of MainPage will now look like

public MainPage()
      
{
      
InitializeComponent();
      
/*From here I added the code*/
      
AddClients();
      
//Telling the combobox which member to be displayed
cmbClient.DisplayMemberPath = "ClientName";
      //Telling the Source of the List
      
cmbClient.ItemsSource = clientlist;
      
//This line will set the selected item
      
cmbClient.SelectedIndex = 1;
      
}

      Now We will again declare a public static variable to access the object through out the page.
public static MyClients selectedcl;

Now setting the above variable on the selectionchanged event:

private void cmbClient_SelectionChanged(object sender,SelectionChangedEventArgs e)
      {
        selectedcl = (MyClients)cmbClient.SelectedItem;
      
}
      
and Finally the code for the click event:

      private void btn_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
      {
      
MessageBox.Show("Client Name : " + selectedcl.ClientName + Environment.NewLine
      
+ "Client Address : " + selectedcl.ClientAddress + Environment.NewLine
      
+ "Client Mobile : " + selectedcl.ClientMobile + Environment.NewLine
+ "ID : " + selectedcl.pkid);
      }

Now run and see the combox in active Code is attached

Attachments

combobox.rar (1877-30721-30896-30611-Combobox.rar)

For more details, visit http://aspnetbymeetu.blogspot.com/2009/07/after-reading-this-article-we-will-be.html

Responses to the resource: "Using Combobox in Silverlight - in a smarter way"

Author: Gaurav Arora 30 Jul 2009 Member Level: Gold Points : 0

Its a very good and usefule artcile.

Keep it up Meetu!

Author: Nishikant 04 Mar 2010 Member Level: Bronze Points : 1

Hi,

Nice article.

Regards,
Nishikant K

"All things are difficult before they are easy"

Author: GARCIA 25 Jun 2010 Member Level: Bronze Points : 1

Hi,

Nice article.

I'm new in Silverlight, and this kind of article is helpful for me.

How would you do, if your decide to put distinct ClientAdress on the combobox instead of ClientName ?

Thanks

Feedbacks

Popular Tags

What are tags ?

Search Tags

Silverlight . Meetuchoudhary . Meetu choudhary . Combobox . How to use a combobox in silverlight . Meetu . Using Combobox in Silverlight - in a smarter way .

Post Feedback

This is a strictly moderated forum. Only approved messages will appear in the site. Please use 'Spell Check' in Google toolbar before you submit.
You must Sign In to post a response.

	Next Resource: Silverlight Charting Controls
	Previous Resource: Gain Knowledge of SilverLight
	Return to Resources
	Post New Resource
	Category: Silverlight Programming

Post resources and earn money!

More Resources