How do I display 2 columns on combobox

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Hello guys,
I was wondering if it was possible to show for example ID_REPORT and CLIENT_NAME on a combobox like this:

--------------------
1 - Client name v |
--------------------
Every report is associated with a client, and the best way to identify the reports are by using the client name. For many of the workers, they usually know the reports by client name, but they have a special code, and that code is really needed.

What I have tried:

I've tried to simply change the displaymember to use both columns like so:

cmbReportID.DisplayMember = "ID_REPORT" + "-" + "CLIENT_NAME"

Posted 12-May-17 4:54am

Scribling Doodle

Updated 12-May-17 5:40am

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Richard Deeming 12-May-17 10:56am

Probably simplest to change your query to return the combined value as a computed column, and use that as the display member.

There might be other options, but you haven't told us what UI framework you're using. (Windows Forms, WPF, Xamarin, ASP.NET WebForms, ASP.NET MVC, etc.)

Scribling Doodle 12-May-17 11:13am

I'm using Winforms, but since I'm using * to select all the columns, how could I simply work out a joint between both columns? I also saw some c# things on this forum but all seem like Chinese to me tbh... Since I'm new to programming languages.

Richard Deeming 12-May-17 11:14am

Don't use SELECT * FROM ...; just select the fields you actually want.

Scribling Doodle 12-May-17 11:16am

For example "SELECT ID-REPORT + "var" + CLIENT_NAME FROM ..."?

Richard Deeming 12-May-17 11:18am

SELECT 
    ID_REPORT, 
    CLIENT_NAME, 
    Convert(varchar(50), ID_REPORT) + ' - ' + CLIENT_NAME As DisplayName 
FROM 
    ...

Scribling Doodle 12-May-17 11:24am

Can you tell me why do i need to convert the ID_REPORT to varchar if it is an auto increment number?

Richard Deeming 12-May-17 11:29am

Because you're combining it with CLIENT_NAME, which is (presumably) a varchar column.

Since the int type has a higher precedence than varchar, if you attempt to combine them without converting, SQL will try to convert the varchar to an int, and you'll get a "conversion failed" error.

Scribling Doodle 12-May-17 11:37am

Yeah, I tested exactly that and that was what I came up with. Thanks for clarifying. Post it as an answer so I can accept it ;)

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Richard Deeming · Accepted Answer · 2017-05-12T05:40:00

As discussed in the comments, the simplest solution is to modify the SQL query to add the combined value as a computed column:

SQL

SELECT 
    ID_REPORT, 
    CLIENT_NAME, 
    Convert(varchar(50), ID_REPORT) + ' - ' + CLIENT_NAME As DisplayName 
FROM 
    ...

You then set the display member to the name of the computed column:

VB.NET

cmbReportID.DisplayMember = "DisplayName"