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C# WinForms ListBox changes selection to first item

I got a problem with a ListBox in a WinForm application. I have two ListBoxes inside of a tab control and depending on the selection in the first one (lb1), the DataSource of the second one (lb2) changes. This is done in the SelectedValueChanged Event.
private void listBox_ControlUnits_SelectedValueChanged(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
ControlUnit unit = (sender as ListBox).SelectedItem as ControlUnit;
textBox_ProjectNameTab.Text = unit.ProjectName;
listBox_ControlCircuits.DataSource = null;
listBox_ControlCircuits.DataSource = unit.ControlCircuits;
}
lb1 is filled with a DataSource, too.
Now if I select a value in lb1 the selection automatically jumps back to the first item and I can not figure out why. is this some kind of UI update problem?
Even without the SelectedValueChanged event and the connection to the second listbox the issue occures.
Short gif of the problem, sorry for the blurriness
If I select one item more than once it works somehow (as seen in the gif).
Edit:
I found the problem but I do not quite understand what happens.
I have another listBox on another tab of my tab control. This listBox has the same DataSource as lb1. This seems to cause this behavior.

I finally found the problem:
I did not know that if I use the same DataSource for two ListBoxes they share the BindingContext per default.
I created a new BindingContext for the second ListBox and now the selection does no longer change.
listBox_allGroups.DataSource = null;
listBox_allGroups.DataSource = x.y;
listBox_allGroups.DisplayMember = "Name";
listBox_ControlUnits.DataSource = null;
listBox_ControlUnits.DataSource = x.y;
listBox_ControlUnits.DisplayMember = "Name";
listBox_ControlUnits.BindingContext = new BindingContext();

You can use a variable to hold the selected item
object _selecteditem=null;
and check it in ListBox click event.
prive void ListBox1_Click(object sender,EventArgs e)
{
if(ListBox1.SelectItem == _selecteditem) return;
// do ...
}

Selected index combobox winforms

Ok, very dumb question but i haven't really found an answer on internet.
I have multiple comboboxes on a form. The binding of each combobox is on form_load.
When the form loads, the first item is selected on the form. This is obvious, but I don't want this. So i used in the form_load the following code:
private void InvoiceView_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
// Bind list of customers to combobox
CustomerComboBox.DataSource = invoicePresenter.getCustomers();
CustomerComboBox.DisplayMember = "CustomerName";
CustomerComboBox.ValueMember = "CustomerId";
// Bind list of products to combobox
productCombobox.DataSource = invoicePresenter.getProducts();
productCombobox.DisplayMember = "ProductName";
productCombobox.ValueMember = "ProductId";
// Bind list of vat codes to combobox
vatComboBox.DataSource = invoicePresenter.getTaxCodes();
vatComboBox.DisplayMember = "taxCodeShortDescr";
vatComboBox.ValueMember = "taxCodeId";
// Set comboboxes empty
CustomerComboBox.SelectedItem = null;
productCombobox.SelectedItem = null;
vatComboBox.SelectedItem = null;
}
This works. But the textboxes are still giving me the data of the first item ? My guess is because its in the selectedIndexChanged. But i have no clue what to use else.
If I put the combobox.selectedIndex = -1; I face the same issue.
the code:
private void CustomerComboBox_SelectedIndexChanged(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
// Bind the selected customer itemvalues to the texboxes
txtCustomerName.Text = ((tbl_customer)CustomerComboBox.SelectedItem).CustomerName.ToString();
txtAddress.Text = ((tbl_customer)CustomerComboBox.SelectedItem).CustomerAddress.ToString();
txtPostalCode.Text = ((tbl_customer)CustomerComboBox.SelectedItem).CustomerPostalCode.ToString();
txtCity.Text = ((tbl_customer)CustomerComboBox.SelectedItem).CustomerCity.ToString();
txtCountry.Text = ((tbl_customer)CustomerComboBox.SelectedItem).CustomerCountry.ToString();
txtVatNumber.Text = ((tbl_customer)CustomerComboBox.SelectedItem).CustomerCountryCode.ToString() + ((tbl_customer)CustomerComboBox.SelectedItem).CustomerVat.ToString();
}
One would think, because im using selecteditem in the textbox binding, it would be null also. But this is not the case.

Interestingly, seems like you've hit one of the WF data binding quirks. The problem is caused by the fact that the CurrencyManager class which maintains every list data source does not allow setting the Position property to -1 (thus Current to null) when the list count is not zero. Since the ComboBox is synchronizing the SelectedIndex with the CurrencyManager.Position, this effectively prevents having an unselected item.
As a workaround, if the data bound mode of the list portion is not essential for you, replace the line
CustomerComboBox.DataSource = invoicePresenter.getCustomers();
with
foreach (var customer in invoicePresenter.getCustomers())
CustomerComboBox.Items.Add(customer);
Do the same for the other comboboxes that need such behavior.

You can remove the handler for the SelectedIndex_Changed event of combobox, bind data, then add the handler back. like this :
private void InvoiceView_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
this.CustomerComboBox.SelectedIndexChanged -= new EventHandler(CustomerComboBox_SelectedIndexChanged);
this.productCombobox.SelectedIndexChanged -= new EventHandler(productCombobox_SelectedIndexChanged);
this.vatComboBox.SelectedIndexChanged -= new EventHandler(vatComboBox_SelectedIndexChanged);
// Bind list of customers to combobox
CustomerComboBox.DataSource = invoicePresenter.getCustomers();
CustomerComboBox.DisplayMember = "CustomerName";
CustomerComboBox.ValueMember = "CustomerId";
// Bind list of products to combobox
productCombobox.DataSource = invoicePresenter.getProducts();
productCombobox.DisplayMember = "ProductName";
productCombobox.ValueMember = "ProductId";
// Bind list of vat codes to combobox
vatComboBox.DataSource = invoicePresenter.getTaxCodes();
vatComboBox.DisplayMember = "taxCodeShortDescr";
vatComboBox.ValueMember = "taxCodeId";
this.CustomerComboBox.SelectedIndexChanged += new EventHandler(CustomerComboBox_SelectedIndexChanged);
this.productCombobox.SelectedIndexChanged += new EventHandler(productCombobox_SelectedIndexChanged);
this.vatComboBox.SelectedIndexChanged += new EventHandler(vatComboBox_SelectedIndexChanged);
}

Is it wrong to set ListBox DataSource property to null in order to change list Items?

I found that Items.Clear does not always clear a listbox when the listbox has been filled via a DataSource. Setting the DataSource to Null allows it to be cleared with Items.Clear().
Is this the wrong way to do it this way? Is my thinking a bit wrong to do this?
Thanks.
Below is the code I prepared to illustrate my problem. It includes one Listbox and three buttons.
If you click the buttons in this order everything Everything works:
Fill List With Array button
Fill List Items With Array button
Fill List Items With DataSource button
But if you click the "Fill List Items With DataSource" button first, clicking on either of the other two buttons causes this error: "An unhandled exception of type 'System.ArgumentException' occurred in System.Windows.Forms.dll" with "Items collection cannot be modified when the DataSource property is set."
Comments?
public partial class Form1 : Form
{
public Form1()
{
InitializeComponent();
}
private void btnFillListWithArray_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
string[] myList = new string[4];
myList[0] = "One";
myList[1] = "Two";
myList[2] = "Three";
myList[3] = "Four";
//listBox1.DataSource = null; <= required to clear list
listBox1.Items.Clear();
listBox1.Items.AddRange(myList);
}
private void btnFillListItemsWithList_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
List<string> LStrings = new List<string> { "Lorem", "ipsum", "dolor", "sit" };
//listBox1.DataSource = null; <= required to clear list
listBox1.Items.Clear();
listBox1.Items.AddRange(LStrings.ToArray());
}
private void btnFillListItemsWithDataSource_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
List<string> LWords = new List<string> { "Alpha", "Beta", "Gamma", "Delta" };
//listBox1.DataSource = null; <= required to clear list
listBox1.Items.Clear();
listBox1.DataSource = LWords;
}
}

According to Microsoft it looks like setting the Datasource to Null then Clearing the list is acceptable.
Source: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/319927

If your listbox is bound to a datasource, then that datasource becomes the 'master' of the listbox. You then don't clear the listbox, but you need to clear the datasource.
So if the listbox is bound to LWords, you do Lwords.clear() and the listbox would be cleared.
And that is correct behaviour, because that is what being databound is all about.
If you set the datasource to null, you are basically telling the listbox that it is no longer databound. And of course as a side effect of that it becomes empty.
But depending on the situation you might not want the listbox just to be cleared, but you might want to clear the datasource and the listbox both.
Suppose you want to clear LWords via your GUI, and that LWords is the source of your listbox, you press a button and you set the datasource to null, you see the listbox becoming empty, thinking that LWords is not empty, but LWords is not empty at all, and then in this situation that would be a bug.

Share ComboBox DataSource

May I ask why does both comboboxes trigger each other such that both have same values?
Can't I share a single list and have 2 comboboxes with different selected text?
private void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
BindingList<string> list = new BindingList<string>();
list.Add("A");
list.Add("B");
list.Add("C");
list.Add("D");
bind(cbo1, list);
bind(cbo2, list);
}
private void bind(ComboBox combobox, BindingList<string> list)
{
// commented lines are in actual code,
// but appears unimportant in this question
//combobox.DropDownStyle = ComboBoxStyle.DropDown;
//combobox.AutoCompleteSource = AutoCompleteSource.ListItems;
//combobox.AutoCompleteMode = AutoCompleteMode.Suggest;
combobox.DataSource = list;
//combobox.Focus();
//combobox.Text = string.Empty;
//combobox.SelectedText = string.Empty;
}
UPDATE:
Ok, now I found out the issue is that the DataSource is managed by some BindingContext and CurrencyManager to automatically synchronise the list. But I feel someone must know how to disable this behaviour.
I don't wish to use 2 different lists because I want to be able to modify this single list at runtime and have the changes be reflected on all ComboBoxes. Any method to achieve this would be greatly appreciated.

You can "solve" it like this:
// combobox.DataSource = list;
var curr = new BindingSource(list, null);
combobox.DataSource = curr;
There is a default BindingSource (Currencymanager) linked to each Form that was keeping the 2 cbx in sync. But I'm not sure what the exact rules are here. I'm not even sure if the above is a good idea or not.
For small lists I would just make separate copies.

You cannot use the same object as the datasource for 2 seperate combo boxes. You should have list1 and list2 defined and populate each combobox with each one. Using the same datasource means that a selection in one combobox is reflected in the other.

how to dynamically add combobox in windows forms(C#) and bound it to a column of a table in sql database

My windows form has an ADD button which adds a combo box to the form after each click. The problem is, i am not able to bind it to a table column at run time. Using an existing databinding source selects the same value in all the combo boxes. I am coding in C#
here is the sample code :
ComboBox ocbNext = new ComboBox();
//HAVE set the rest of the properties right, the problem is with the databinding
ocbNext.DataSource = this.dummysubjectBindingSource;
ocbNext.DisplayMember = "sub_name";
ocbNext.ValueMember = "sub_name";
this.Controls.Add(ocbNext);

I added a DataSet to the solution and droped the Employees table (from Northwind) in the designer, which automatically created the employeesBindingSource. I dropped a combobox and a button on the Form and I set the DataSource and DataMember of the combo. Then I handled some events:
private void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
this.employeesTableAdapter.Fill(this.dS.Employees);
}
private int _i = 0;
private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
ComboBox combo = new ComboBox();
combo.DataSource = this.employeesBindingSource;
combo.DisplayMember = this.dS.Tables[0].Columns[++_i].ColumnName;
combo.Location = new Point(comboBox1.Location.X, comboBox1.Location.Y + comboBox1.Height * _i);
this.Controls.Add(combo);
}
So on each click, a new combo is added onto the form dynamically right under the previous combo. The combo is also bound to the next column in the Employees table (no boundary checks however).
As you can see, this is pretty easy stuff. Hope this helps.
Okay, so here is a variation of the code that could help you with that other question you asked in the comments of this answer.
It assumes you have a Form with a button and a DataSet with table Employees. On button click it creates a combo, and fills it with data (the Name column of Employees). Each time you add a combo, it gets its own copy of the data (this is important to be able to remove items from one combo at a time). Then, every time you select a value in the combo, the combo is disabled and the other combos don't have that selected value in their list.
private int _i = 0;
private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
DataSet dataS = dS.Clone();
this.employeesTableAdapter.Fill((DS.EmployeesDataTable)dataS.Tables[0]);
BindingSource bindSource = new BindingSource(dataS, "Employees");
ComboBox combo = new ComboBox();
combo.Name = this.dS.Tables[0].Columns[0].ColumnName + (++_i).ToString();
combo.DataSource = bindSource;
combo.DisplayMember = this.dS.Tables[0].Columns[1].ColumnName; //This column is the Name of Employee
combo.Location = new Point(button1.Location.X, button1.Location.Y + combo.Height * _i);
combo.SelectedIndexChanged += new EventHandler(comboBox_SelectedIndexChanged);
this.Controls.Add(combo);
}
private void comboBox_SelectedIndexChanged(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
foreach (Control ctrl in this.Controls)
{
if (ctrl is ComboBox && ctrl != sender && ctrl.Enabled)
{
((BindingSource)((ComboBox)ctrl).DataSource).RemoveAt(((ComboBox)sender).SelectedIndex);
}
}
((ComboBox)sender).Enabled = false;
}
This is pretty close to what you require, or easily adaptable to meet your expectations. Enjoy and please select an answer as the accepted one. Thanks!

Option 1: Fill the combobox with strings:
this.comboBox1.Items.Add("Syed");
this.comboBox1.Items.Add("Baqar");
Option 2: Fill the combobox with an array of strings:
this.comboBox1.Items.AddRange(new object[] { "Syed", "Baqar" });

You need to add controls to the parent window first, and then set the data source.
ComboBox ocbNext = new ComboBox();
this.Controls.Add(ocbNext);
ocbNext.DisplayMember = "sub_name";
ocbNext.ValueMember = "sub_name";
ocbNext.DataSource = this.dummysubjectBindingSource;

Should be fine if you create a new local ComboBox variable in the clickevent. If you use a global variable for the ComboBox this might explain your problems. But without a sample how you're doing it's hard to see what's really happening, so think this is just a rough guess