ADO.NET 3.5 Cookbook, 2nd Edition

8.17. Synchronizing Master-Detail Data in a Windows Forms Application

Problem

You need to bind both a parent table and child table within a DataSet to a pair of DataGridView controls so that the child data is displayed when a parent is selected.

Solution

Create a BindingSource for both the parent and detail DataGridView controls. Set the DataSource and DataMember properties of the parent BindingSource to specify the parent result set. Set the DataSource of the child BindingSource to the parent BindingSource and DataMember of the child BindingSource to the name of the data relation between the parent and child tables.

Follow these steps:

1. Create a C# Windows Forms application, MasterDetailWindowsFormDataGrid.

2. Add the following controls to the Form1 design surface:

   • DataGridView named headerDataGridView

   • DataGridView named detailDataGridView

   The completed layout of the Windows Form named Form1 is shown in Figure 8-33.

Figure 8-33. Layout for Form1 in MasterDetailWindowsFormDataGrid solution

The C# code in Form1.cs in the project MasterDetailWindowsFormDataGrid is shown in Example 8-29. The solution creates a DataSet containing a subset of the Sales.SalesOrderHeader and Sales.SalesOrderDetail records from AdventureWorks and a DataRelation named FK_SalesOrderDetail_SalesOrderHeader relating the two tables. A BindingSource is created for both the parent and detail DataGridView controls named headerBindingSource ...