Populate listbox with objects, but let it show a concatenation of several properties of said object-CodePudding

I have a form containing several listboxes, populated by objects. One of these listboxes is supposed to contain objects, but show a sentence which is a concatenation of several properties of this object with words in between.

I have already used the override ToString method for displaying this same class in another listbox in a different way. I tried using databinding, but it seems unsuitable for displaying a sentence containing properties of an object. I do have a method in said class that is meant to create this sentence out of the needed properties, but I cannot use this method to populate the listbox, because then the listbox does not contain the objects.

How can I populate this listbox with objects, but let it show said info?

This is the class from which the objects for the listbox come:

public House(string name, string adress, int nrOfStudents)
        {
            this.name = name;
            this.adress = adress;
            this.nrOfStudents = nrOfStudents;
            taskpackages = new List<string>();
            students = new List<Student>();
        }

This is the method which gives an idea of which info should be displayed in the listbox:

public string GetHouseNameStudentsTasks()
        {
            List<string> studentNames = GetStudentNames();
            return this.name   "\tTaskpackages: "   string.Join(", ", taskpackages)   "\tStudents: "   string.Join(", ", studentNames);
        }

The method in the form that is supposed to fulfill the action:

private void btnSaveHouse_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            House selectedHouse = lbHouses.SelectedItem as House;
            // several irrelevant functions
            lbHousesAllInfo.Items.Add(selectedHouse);
            // How to let lbHousesAllInfo contain House objects,
            // but show the sentence described in the method above?
        }

CodePudding user response：

Add properties to your class House which will return display texts suitable for each of your list boxes. Example,

class House
{
    string name;
    string address;

    public House(string name, string address)
    {
        this.name = name;
        this.address = address;
    }

    public string DisplayTextForListBox1
    {
        get
        {
            return $"{name}";
        }
    }

    public string DisplayTextForListBox2
    {
        get
        {
            return $"{name} {address}";
        }
    }
}

You will have to use BindingSource component (You can add this component to your form in designer), one for each of your list box control, then set their DataSource properties.

// 
// bindingSource1
// 
this.bindingSource1.DataSource = typeof(House);
// 
// bindingSource2
// 
this.bindingSource2.DataSource = typeof(House);

For listBox1 do following settings (You can do it in visual studio designer)

this.listBox1.DataSource = this.bindingSource1;
this.listBox1.DisplayMember = "DisplayTextForListBox1";

For listBox2 do following settings

this.listBox2.DataSource = this.bindingSource2;
this.listBox2.DisplayMember = "DisplayTextForListBox2";

Add items to binding source components

private void Button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    bindingSource1.Add(new House("Name1", "Address 1"));
    bindingSource2.Add(new House("Name2", "Address 2"));
}