Binding to a result of query

Product Version	Product	Author	Last modified
Q3 2012 SP1	RadControls for WinForms	Stefan Stefanov	26 Dec 2012

PROBLEM

How to bind a control (RadGridView, RadListView, RadChartView, RadListControl, etc) to a result of a query of a DataTable

SOLUTION

The correct way to bind a control to a result of a query of a DataTable is to use the result's CopyToDataTable() method, which will copy the result in a DataTable and will return it. If you attempt to use the ToList() method, you will end up with undesired behavior where the control will display the row properties, instead of the rows data. This is caused by the fact that bind mechanism cannot reflect the DataRows information, and the DataTable is the one that handles this kind of objects.

 

Here is a sample:

DataTable table = new DataTable();
table.Columns.Add("CategoryName");
table.Columns.Add("Sales");
table.Rows.Add("Beverages", 102074.31);
table.Rows.Add("Condiments", 55277.6);
table.Rows.Add("Confections", 80894.14);
table.Rows.Add("Diary Products", 114749.78);
table.Rows.Add("Grains/Cereals", 55948.82);
table.Rows.Add("Meat/Poultry", 81338.06);
table.Rows.Add("Produce", 53019.98);
table.Rows.Add("Seafood", 65544.18);

var result = table.AsEnumerable().Take(5);
radGridView1.DataSource = result.CopyToDataTable();

Dim table As New DataTable()
table.Columns.Add("CategoryName")
table.Columns.Add("Sales")
table.Rows.Add("Beverages", 102074.31)
table.Rows.Add("Condiments", 55277.6)
table.Rows.Add("Confections", 80894.14)
table.Rows.Add("Diary Products", 114749.78)
table.Rows.Add("Grains/Cereals", 55948.82)
table.Rows.Add("Meat/Poultry", 81338.06)
table.Rows.Add("Produce", 53019.98)
table.Rows.Add("Seafood", 65544.18)

Dim result = table.AsEnumerable().Take(5)
radGridView1.DataSource = result.CopyToDataTable()