Storing Data and Filling the ComboBox with Two Display Members

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In this tutorial, I will show you how to store and fill data in the combobox with two display members using Visual Basic 2008 and Ms Access Database. Displaying two members in the ComboBox is very easy, all you need is a concatenation function in a query.

Concatenation is a function that joins two or more fields in the table of the Ms Access Database.

The concatenation in the MS Access Database is, you have to put an operator (&) to concat the two or more fields.

And in the MySQL Database, you have to type the word “concat” and put an open and close parenthesis in two or more fields.

You will find out what I’m talking about in the following steps below.

To start with:

Open the Visual Basic 2008, create a project and in the Form. You need to add four Labels, two TextBoxes, to write your records to save it on the two fields of the table. Then, add a button and a ComboBox. In the ComboBox, it is where you display the two fields in the table of Ms Access Database.

Double click the Form and do this code for the connection of MS Access Database to Visual Basic 2008 above the Form1_Load

.

1. 'connection of MS Access Database to Visual Basic 2008
   
2. Dim
   
   con As
   
   OleDb.
   
   OleDbConnection
   
   =
   
   New
   
   _
   
3. OleDb.
   
   OleDbConnection
   
   (
   
   "Provider=Microsoft.ACE.OLEDB.12.0;Data Source="
   
   _
   
4. &
   
   Application.
   
   StartupPath
   
   &
   
   "\test.accdb"
   
   )
   
5. 
   
6. 'declaring the classes
   
7. 'OleDbDataAdapter represents a set of data command and
   
8. ' the database that are use to update and fill the data source
   
9. Dim
   
   da As
   
   OleDb.
   
   OleDbDataAdapter
   
10. Dim
    
    ds As
    
    DataSet 'represent a cache in memory of data
    

Description : OleDb is a namespace of a class. Application in the application.startpath is providing the static method to manage the application. Startpath in the application.startpath is getting the executive file.

In the Form1_Load

, do this code for filling the data in the ComboBox that has two display members.

1. Private
   
   Sub
   
   Form1_Load(
   
   ByVal
   
   sender As
   
   System.
   
   Object
   
   , ByVal
   
   e As
   
   System.
   
   EventArgs
   
   )
   
   Handles
   
   MyBase
   
   .
   
   Load
   
2. 'filling the data of a combobox in the first load
   
3. 'openning the connection
   
4. con.
   
   Open
   
   (
   
   )
   
5. 'in this area, it is where the command happens for filling
   
6. 'and updating data in the database
   
7. 'and also the concatenation of a query.
   
8. da =
   
   New
   
   OleDb.
   
   OleDbDataAdapter
   
   (
   
   "SELECT ID,(fname & ' ' & lname) as [Fullname] from member "
   
   , con)
   
9. ds =
   
   New
   
   DataSet
   
10. 
    
11. 'refreshes the row into the dataset
    
12. 'to match those data in the table
    
13. da.
    
    Fill
    
    (
    
    ds, "test"
    
    )
    
14. 'defining what are the attributes of a combo box
    
15. With
    
    ComboBox1
    
16. 'set the data source to this combo box
    
17. .
    
    DataSource
    
    =
    
    ds.
    
    Tables
    
    (
    
    0
    
    )
    
18. 'set the fields of the table to display in a list control
    
19. .
    
    DisplayMember
    
    =
    
    "Fullname"
    
20. 'set the actual value of a combo box
    
21. .
    
    ValueMember
    
    =
    
    "ID"
    
22. End
    
    With
    
23. 'closing the connection
    
24. con.
    
    Close
    
    (
    
    )
    
25. End
    
    Sub
    

And this code is for storing the data in the database.

1. Private
   
   Sub
   
   Button1_Click(
   
   ByVal
   
   sender As
   
   System.
   
   Object
   
   , ByVal
   
   e As
   
   System.
   
   EventArgs
   
   )
   
   Handles
   
   Button1.
   
   Click
   
2. 'for data storing
   
3. 'openning connection
   
4. con.
   
   Open
   
   (
   
   )
   
5. da =
   
   New
   
   OleDb.
   
   OleDbDataAdapter
   
   (
   
   "INSERT INTO member (fname,lname) VALUES ('"
   
   &
   
   TextBox1.
   
   Text
   
   &
   
   "','"
   
   &
   
   TextBox2.
   
   Text
   
   &
   
   "')"
   
   , con)
   
6. ds =
   
   New
   
   DataSet
   
7. da.
   
   Fill
   
   (
   
   ds)
   
8. 'closing the connection
   
9. con.
   
   Close
   
   (
   
   )
   
10. 'calling the first load to refresh the record in the combo box
    
11. Call
    
    Form1_Load(
    
    sender, e)
    
12. End
    
    Sub
    

The database of this file is in the bin. You can download the complete Source Code.

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