How to Use BindingNavigator in F#

Introduction

This article explains the BindingNavigator Control and how to use this control in a Windows Forms application. I have used a BindingSource to retrieve the Data Source. For this article I have used Visual Studio 2010 and SQL Server 2008.

BindingNavigator Control

A BindingNavigator control allows us to navigate and manipulate data on a form. It is a special purpose ToolStrip control for navigating and manipulating the controls on the forms.

Use the Top Button to get the first record of the table field.
Use the Prev Button to get he previous record of the table field.
Use the Next Button to get the next record of the table field.
Use the Bottom Button to get the last record of the table field.

Namespace: System.Windows.Forms

Syntax:

let navigationbind=new BindingNavigator(Dock=DockStyle.None)

BindingSource

The BindingSource Property has the ability to access the the data source. The BindingSource property binds the Windows Forms control to the data source. The default property of the BindingSource class is DataSource.

Create Database & Tables

Create Database joining

use joining

CREATE TABLE [dbo].[EmployeeInfo](

[UserId] [int] IDENTITY(1,1) NOT NULL,

[UserName] [varchar](30) NULL,

[FirstName] [varchar](30) NULL,

[LastName] [varchar](30) NULL,

[Address] [nvarchar](max) NULL,

[City] [varchar](30) NULL

)

To insert the values in the fields:

insert into EmployeeInfo values ('Pank','Pankaj','Lohani','a-43 santnagar','Delhi')

insert into EmployeeInfo values ('Nicks','Nimit','Joshi','Vinod Nagar','Delhi')

insert into EmployeeInfo values ('pr','pravesh','khanduri','pratap vihar','Delhi')

insert into EmployeeInfo values ('Nicks','Nimit','Joshi','Vinod Nagar','Delhi')

insert into EmployeeInfo values ('Ammu','Amit','Senwal','East Vinod Nagar','Delhi')

The following is the query to execute:

SELECT * FROM EmployeeInfo

Now let's use the following procedure.

Step 1:

Open Visual Studio then select "Create New Project" --> "F# Console Application".

Step 2:

Now go the Solution Explorer on the right side of the application. Select the references and right-click on it and select "Add references".

Step 3:

After selecting "Add References", in the framework template you need to select "System.Windows.Forms", "System.Data", "System.Data.SqlClient" and "System.Drawing" while holding down the Ctrl key and click on "Ok".

Step 4:

Provide the following code for the F# application.

open System

open System.Windows.Forms

open System.Data

open System.Data.SqlClient

open System.Drawing

let constring = @"Data Source=MCNDESKTOP38;Initial Catalog=joining;User Id=sa; Password=Password$2"

let con = new SqlConnection(constring)

let dataadpter=new SqlDataAdapter("Select * from EmployeeInfo", con)

let ds = new DataSet()

dataadpter.Fill(ds,"empInfo")|>ignore

let navbuttonform = new Form(Text="Binding Database Table")

//creates User controls

let lblId=new Label(Text="UserId:",Location=new System.Drawing.Point(0, 10),AutoSize=true)

let lblfname=new Label(Text="Firstname:",Location=new System.Drawing.Point(0, 50),AutoSize=true)

let lblLname=new Label(Text="Lastname:",Location=new System.Drawing.Point(0,100),AutoSize=true)

let lblUname=new Label(Text="UserName:",Location=new System.Drawing.Point(0,150),AutoSize=true)

let lblAddress=new Label(Text="Address:",Location=new System.Drawing.Point(0,200),AutoSize=true)

let lblCity=new Label(Text="City:",Location=new System.Drawing.Point(0,250),AutoSize=true)

let emplabel=new Label(Location=new System.Drawing.Point(100,10),BorderStyle=BorderStyle.FixedSingle)

let fnamelabel=new Label(Location=new System.Drawing.Point(100,50),BorderStyle=BorderStyle.FixedSingle)

let lnamelabel=new Label(Location=new System.Drawing.Point(100,100),BorderStyle=BorderStyle.FixedSingle)

let unamelabel=new Label(Location=new System.Drawing.Point(100,150),BorderStyle=BorderStyle.FixedSingle)

let addresslabel=new Label(Location=new System.Drawing.Point(100,200),BorderStyle=BorderStyle.FixedSingle)

let citylabel=new Label(Location=new System.Drawing.Point(100,250),BorderStyle=BorderStyle.FixedSingle)

let bindsource=new BindingSource()

//creates a binding navigator

let navigationbind=new BindingNavigator(Dock=DockStyle.None,Location=new System.Drawing.Point(100, 300))

let movefirst=new ToolStripButton(Text="Top")

let moveprev=new ToolStripButton(Text="Prev")

let movenext=new ToolStripButton(Text="Next")

let movelast=new ToolStripButton(Text="Bottom")

let exitbutton=new ToolStripButton(Text="Exit")

navigationbind.Items.Add(movefirst)|>ignore

navigationbind.Items.Add(moveprev)|>ignore

navigationbind.Items.Add(movenext)|>ignore

navigationbind.Items.Add(movelast)|>ignore

navigationbind.Items.Add(exitbutton)|>ignore

//funtions for the each navigational

navigationbind.MoveFirstItem<-movefirst

navigationbind.MoveNextItem<-movenext

navigationbind.MovePreviousItem<-moveprev

navigationbind.MoveLastItem<-movelast

exitbutton.Click.Add(fun exit->

navbuttonform.Close()

con.Close())

bindsource.DataSource<-ds

bindsource.DataMember<-"empInfo"

navigationbind.BindingSource<-bindsource

con.Open()

//Binding UserControl

navbuttonform.Controls.Add(lblId)

navbuttonform.Controls.Add(lblfname)

navbuttonform.Controls.Add(lblLname)

navbuttonform.Controls.Add(emplabel)

navbuttonform.Controls.Add(fnamelabel)

navbuttonform.Controls.Add(lnamelabel)

navbuttonform.Controls.Add(lblUname)

navbuttonform.Controls.Add(lblAddress)

navbuttonform.Controls.Add(lblCity)

navbuttonform.Controls.Add(unamelabel)

navbuttonform.Controls.Add(addresslabel)

navbuttonform.Controls.Add(citylabel)

navbuttonform.Controls.Add(navigationbind)

emplabel.DataBindings.Add(new Binding("Text",bindsource,"UserId"))

fnamelabel.DataBindings.Add(new Binding("Text",bindsource,"FirstName"))

lnamelabel.DataBindings.Add(new Binding("Text",bindsource,"LastName"))

unamelabel.DataBindings.Add(new Binding("Text",bindsource,"UserName"))

addresslabel.DataBindings.Add(new Binding("Text",bindsource,"Address"))

citylabel.DataBindings.Add(new Binding("Text",bindsource,"City"))

navbuttonform.Show()

Application.Run(navbuttonform)

Step 5:

Debug the application by pressing F5 and the result would be shown in the application as in the following figure.

Step 6:

Click on the "Next" button; you'll get the next record of the table from the datbase.

Step 7:

Click on the "Bottom" button; you'll get the last record of the table from the datbase.

Step 8:

Click on the "Previous" button; you'll get the previous record of the table from the datbase.

Step 9:

If you want to see the first record of the table again then just click on the "Top" Button.