BindingSource.DataSource Property

Definition

Namespace:

System.Windows.Forms

Assembly:

System.Windows.Forms.dll

Source:

BindingSource.cs

Gets or sets the data source that the connector binds to.

public:
 property System::Object ^ DataSource { System::Object ^ get(); void set(System::Object ^ value); };

public object? DataSource { get; set; }

member this.DataSource : obj with get, set

Public Property DataSource As Object

Property Value

Object

An Object that acts as a data source. The default is null.

Examples

The following code example assigns a list of customers to the DataSource of a BindingSource component. This code example is part of a larger example provided at How to: Raise Change Notifications Using the BindingSource ResetItem Method.

void Form1_Load( Object^ /*sender*/, EventArgs^ /*e*/ )
{
   // Create and populate the list of DemoCustomer objects
   // which will supply data to the DataGridView.
   List< DemoCustomer^ >^ customerList = gcnew List< DemoCustomer^ >;
   customerList->Add( DemoCustomer::CreateNewCustomer() );
   customerList->Add( DemoCustomer::CreateNewCustomer() );
   customerList->Add( DemoCustomer::CreateNewCustomer() );
   
   // Bind the list to the BindingSource.
   this->customersBindingSource->DataSource = customerList;
   
   // Attach the BindingSource to the DataGridView.
   this->customersDataGridView->DataSource =
      this->customersBindingSource;
}

private void Form1_Load(System.Object sender, System.EventArgs e)
{
    // Create and populate the list of DemoCustomer objects
    // which will supply data to the DataGridView.
    List<DemoCustomer> customerList = new List<DemoCustomer>();
    customerList.Add(DemoCustomer.CreateNewCustomer());
    customerList.Add(DemoCustomer.CreateNewCustomer());
    customerList.Add(DemoCustomer.CreateNewCustomer());

    // Bind the list to the BindingSource.
    this.customersBindingSource.DataSource = customerList;

    // Attach the BindingSource to the DataGridView.
    this.customersDataGridView.DataSource = 
        this.customersBindingSource;
}

Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, _
    ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Me.Load
    ' Create and populate the list of DemoCustomer objects
    ' which will supply data to the DataGridView.
    Dim customerList As List(Of DemoCustomer) = _
    New List(Of DemoCustomer)
    customerList.Add(DemoCustomer.CreateNewCustomer())
    customerList.Add(DemoCustomer.CreateNewCustomer())
    customerList.Add(DemoCustomer.CreateNewCustomer())

    ' Bind the list to the BindingSource.
    Me.customersBindingSource.DataSource = customerList

    ' Attach the BindingSource to the DataGridView.
    Me.customersDataGridView.DataSource = Me.customersBindingSource
End Sub

Remarks

The DataSource property can be set to a number of data sources, including types, objects, and lists of types. The resulting data source will be exposed as a list. The following table shows some of the common data sources and the resulting list evaluation.

DataSource property	List results
null	An empty IBindingList of objects. Adding an item sets the list to the type of the added item.
null with DataMember set	Not supported, raises ArgumentException.
Non-list type or object of type "T"	Empty IBindingList of type "T".
Array instance	IBindingList containing the array elements.
IEnumerable instance	An IBindingList containing the IEnumerable items.
List instance containing type "T"	IBindingList instance containing type "T".

In addition, DataSource can be set to other list types such as IListSource and ITypedList and the BindingSource will handle them appropriately. In this case, the type contained in the list should have a parameterless constructor.

When setting a data source, if the supplied reference contains more than one list or table, you must set the DataMember property to a string that specifies the list to bind to. Setting this property raises the DataSourceChanged event.

Note

If you make any changes to the DataSource property value, you should do so on the user interface (UI) thread to ensure that the UI reflects the changes.

The DataSource property is the default property for the BindingSource class.

See also

• DataMember
• IList
• IListSource