DataSource, DisplayMember for Label or Textbox?

[CraigBest]

Hi Folks

This is probably a dumb question, but I have a few labels on a form that are currently unbound, but display data from a data table.

I'd like to be able to feed these controls a code value (1, 2, 3) and have it display a related text value ("One", "Two", "Three") in the text of the control. Sort of like you can do with a ComboBox that has DataSource and DisplayMember properties.

Now I know that a standard label or textbox doesn't have these attributes, but if I wanted to add them how could I do that? I'm already assuming to create a small table with the lookup values to assign it to.

Appreciate any help you can throw at me...

Craig

CraigHartz

 

[RiverGuy]

Are you saying you are setting the data in these labels like this?

=FIRST(Fields!SomeFieldName.Value, "SomeDataSetName")

My first suggestion is that I prefer to use a table to neatly arrange labels. Is there anyway you could construct a query to populate a table?

My second suggestion would be to use a VB function if these values are static. If you create a function like so:

    Function GetNumberString(ByVal Number As Integer) As String
        Select Case Number
            Case 1
                Return "One"
            Case 2
                Return "Two"
            Case 3
                Return "Three"
            Case Else
                Return ""
        End Select
    End Function

then you could use an expression like this:

=Code.GetNumberString(FIRST(Fields!SomeFieldName.Value, "SomeDataSetName"))

A third suggestion is if these are static would be to just use a derived table in your source query to get a string value, and use that in your labels

SELECT a.*, ISNULL(b.Display, '') AS Display
FROM YourTable a
LEFT OUTER JOIN
  (SELECT 1 As ID, 'One' AS Display
   UNION ALL
   SELECT 2 As ID, 'Two' AS Display
   UNION ALL
   SELECT 3 As ID, 'Three' AS Display) b
ON a.NumberColumn = b.ID

Then in your label, you can have something like the following

=FIRST(Fields!Display.Value, "SomeDataSetName")

If your values are not static, then yes, create a permanent table and use it instead of the derived table I showed above.

 

[CraigBest]

Hi RiverGuy

Thanks - unfortunately the values are not static, or yeah I would have set it up pretty much like you suggested (perhaps not as well).

But the values can be different, which is why I was hoping to figure out something that would take the code value and look up the descriptive value, then place it in the label / textbox.

Hmm, I think I just gave myself an idea to build a function, I'm going to go and try it to see if it will work. Thanks!

Craig

CraigHartz

 

[RiverGuy]

Oh man. Craig, when I posted the reply, I thought I was in the SSRS forum, so basically most of my reply makes no sense as far as answering your question is concerned.

Anyways, if you do write a query which returns both your value and your description, you can bind both of those from the same row to your label as below:

        Me.Label1.DataBindings.Add("Text", DataTableName, "DisplayColumn")
        Me.Label1.DataBindings.Add("Tag", DataTableName, "IDColumn")

If you want to get the ID from the label, you would then look at it's .Tag property.

 

[CraigBest]

Hey RiverGuy

lol- oddly enough I sort of understood what you were trying to say!

In the end what I ended up doing was to create a function with a select query into which I pass the table name, the Code field, the Desc field, and the Code Value, and return the Desc value. Just a simple oledbCommand object in the function runs with an ExecuteScalar method and Bob's your Uncle, it's done. It actually works better than what I had planned from a code re-use standpoint, and the statements are more readable. I'm happy with it!

Craig

CraigHartz