Strongly typed data - the 'current row'

[Larry Lard]

I've got a Windows Forms app talking to an Access db, and I'm
experimenting with VS2005's form data binding stuff etc.

I've got a dataset, a datagridview bound to a query (let's call it
Customers), and I have a button called Edit, which when clicked should
spawn a dialog wherein the customer associated with the current row in
the grid should be edited.

So I need to pass the 'current' Customer ID to this form. There's an
topic in the help titled "Walkthroug h: Passing Data Between Forms in a
Windows Application" wherein a similar thing happens: to quote,

"Using the customers and orders tables from Northwind one form will
allow users to select a customer and a second form will display the
selected customer's orders. This walkthrough shows how to create a
method on one form that receives data from the first form."

The relevant part of the walkthrough is this:

Private Sub CustomersDataGr idView_DoubleCl ick(ByVal sender As Object,
ByVal e As System.EventArg s) _
Handles CustomersDataGr idView.DoubleCl ick

Dim SelectedRowView As Data.DataRowVie w
Dim SelectedRow As NorthwindDataSe t.CustomersRow

SelectedRowView = CType(Customers BindingSource.C urrent,
System.Data.Dat aRowView)
SelectedRow = CType(SelectedR owView.Row,
NorthwindDataSe t.CustomersRow)

Dim OrdersForm As New Form2
OrdersForm.Load Orders(Selected Row.CustomerID)
OrdersForm.Show ()
End Sub

My question is - what's with all these CTypes? I've (or rather, the IDE
has) gone to all this trouble to make a whole bundle of strongly-typed
types for my dataset, my datatables, my tableadapters, my columns, my
rows, change events etc etc (the xsd file is enormous when you look at
it in code!) - and yet just to say 'the current value of column X for
data object Y' I have to do 2 CTypes?

Surely there's a cleaner way of just saying 'the current customer ID' ?

--
Larry Lard
Replies to group please

[CMM]

Bind the CustomerId to a control on the form (hidden or otherwise) and pick
it up from that and bypass having to use the navigator objects to get it.

OrdersForm.Load Orders(Me.Custo merIDLabel)

--
-C. Moya
www.cmoya.com