How do I get email value from an object in listbox?

Question

1.22/5 (2 votes)

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I have a listbox which displays first and last name. Each item in the listbox is an object. That means even though I am displaying names (because it is easier for user to look at a list of names and not emails), it is possible to get email from each selected name (object). I do not know how to do this.
My question is, how do I get the email associated with the selected name (item in the listbox)?

What I have tried:

The problem with my code is that ListItem.ToString()) holds a name that is displayed and not email. I want to get the email inside the object.
For example Joe Doe is selected name (ListItem) in the listbox. The email of Joe Doe is inside the object. When I hover over the staffEmails which has 16 objects, I find Joe Doe email by copying Expression. Here is the expression for Joe Doe email

C#

(new System.Collections.Generic.Mscorlib_CollectionDebugView<FTACaseReset.Models.GetRequestorInfoModel>(staffEmails).Items[1]).Email

C#

mailMessage.To.Add(to);
List<GetRequestorInfoModel> staffEmails = new List<GetRequestorInfoModel>();
staffEmails = await FTACaseReset.Controllers.RequestorInfoController.GetAllRequestorInfoes();
ListBoxItem staffEmail = new ListBoxItem();
staffEmail.Text = staffEmails[0].Email;
foreach (var ListItem in MyListBox.SelectedItems)
{
MailAddress to = new MailAddress(ListItem.ToString());
}

Here is how I am populating the listbox

C#

public async void PopulateAdditionalStaffEmailListBox()
    {
        List<getrequestorinfomodel> staffEmails = new List<getrequestorinfomodel>();
        try
        {
            staffEmails = await FTACaseReset.Controllers.RequestorInfoController.GetAllRequestorInfoes();
            staffEmails = staffEmails.OrderBy(x => x.DisplayName).ToList();
            for (int i = 0; i < staffEmails.Count; i++)
            {
                ListBoxItem staffEmail = new ListBoxItem();
                staffEmail.Text = staffEmails[i].DisplayName;
                //staffEmail.Text = staffEmails[i].Email;
                staffEmail.Value = staffEmails[i].Email 
                AdditionalStaffEmailListBox.Items.Add(staffEmail.Text).ToString();
            }
        }
    }

Posted 21-Aug-19 9:04am

Member 11403304

Updated 23-Aug-19 7:48am

v5

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Comments

Richard MacCutchan 22-Aug-19 11:26am

Just get the object and extract the email property. Or rework the object so that it displays the email from its ToString method. And why are calling ToString on Text fields

Member 11403304 22-Aug-19 11:40am

Hi Richard. I am not sure how to get the object and extract the email property. That is where I am stuck. I already have code that sends emails when I populate my listbox with emails. However, project owner told me to display names and not emails in the listbox for user to select. Each item in the listbox is an object which also contains email. But I do not know how to extract email from the object. This is why I included a lot of details in my question.

Maciej Los 22-Aug-19 11:44am

No. ListBoxItem does not contain email object, because you did not set it in your code.
BTW: Use "Reply" widget if you want system to inform users about your replies.

Member 11403304 22-Aug-19 11:58am

I forgot to update the code here. I did make a change in my code and set emails like this staffEmail.Value = staffEmails[i].Email. However I am MailAddress(ListItem.Value.ToString()) I am getting o'object does not contain a definition for 'Value' and no accessible extension method 'Value' accepting a first argument of type 'object' could be found (are you missing a using directive or an assembly reference?) when I use Value in MailAddress

Richard MacCutchan 22-Aug-19 12:54pm

I suggest you read up on Classes and there member accessors. You cannot possibly be writing code such as the above unless you understand the basics of OOP.

Maciej Los 22-Aug-19 11:46am

Is it a WPF project?

j snooze 22-Aug-19 17:35pm

It seems to me that what might work better is if you bind your list object to the listbox using a databind, and then setting the display and value properties to whatever you want to show. Then when you get the SelectedItem(s) of the list box you can get the getrequestorinfomodel object back out for each item so that the entire object is bound to each list item object.

usually its something like
listbox.Datasource = staffemails
listbox.Displaymember = "DisplayName"
listbox.ValueMember = "some identifier here? or email if you prefer"

but then you can get the
var selecteditem = (getrequestorinfomodel)lisbox.SelectedItem
and then you can get the email address of
selectedItem.Email

Member 11403304 23-Aug-19 9:47am

Should I add code to the code that is populating the listbox?

j snooze 23-Aug-19 9:50am

databinding to a list would replace the "for" loop you have. You can just comment that out if you want to save it in the event this doesn't work out for you. although it should.

Member 11403304 23-Aug-19 9:58am

When I type ListBox. the Datasource is not available among what I can select.

j snooze 23-Aug-19 10:01am

Try putting it there anyway. I do believe its valid, intellisense may not be displaying it properly.

See this link for a sample where they use it on a listbox

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/api/system.windows.forms.listcontrol.datasource?view=netframework-4.8

Member 11403304 23-Aug-19 10:51am

You were right DataSource is available. You said to replace the "for' loop. I have 2 of them. One is when adding items to the PopulateAdditionalStaffEmailListBox and the other one is when sending email. Which one do I replace. I tried the one for adding items to the listbox and found out that the listbox is not populated. At least I do not see any items added.

j snooze 23-Aug-19 11:04am

The one where you populate the list box.
So staffEmails is your List object. that should be your datasource
Now (if I read your code right)
AdditionalStaffEmailListBox.Datasource = staffEmails;
AdditionalStaffEmailListBox.DisplayMember = ????; //name of the object property you want to display
AdditionalStaffEmailListBox.ValueMember = ????;

that can replace the whole for loop that fills your listbox. Setting the datasource to your List<> collection should fill the listbox in for you.

Member 11403304 23-Aug-19 13:20pm

Now I am stuck on how to send emails to selected names in the listbox. I am not sure how to add the code you suggested to my 'foreach'. I have the following var selectedItem = (GetRequestorInfoModel)AdditionalStaffEmailListBox.SelectedItem; MailAddress to1 = new MailAddress(selectedItem.Email); without the 'foreach' and it sent only one email to the first listbox item selected.

BillWoodruff 23-Aug-19 15:11pm

@jsnooze @User-10673509 Hi, I think if you consolidate your suggestions into a solution, I would not be the only person upvoting it :) cheers, Bill

Member 11403304 23-Aug-19 11:37am

What is being displayed in the listbox is FTACaseReset.Models.GetAdditionalStaffInfoModel even though I have specified Name as DisplayMember

j snooze 23-Aug-19 11:52am

Are you sure the GetAdditionalStaffInfoModel property is called "Name", and not "DisplayName"? You don't have the code for that object pasted here, but I see DisplayName referenced in a linq query.

Otherwise if that doesn't fix it....
I did have something funky like that happen to me (i have it as a check list box)instead of using datasource I did resort to a for loop similar to below(don't ask me why it displays the object name text vs the property value, I use datasource in other listboxes with no issue).

foreach(GetAdditionalStaffInfoModel model in staffEmails)
{
AdditionalStaffEmailListBox.Items.Add(model);
}
AdditionalStaffEmailListBox.DisplayMember = "DisplayName";

Member 11403304 23-Aug-19 12:10pm

You are right. I forgot to add DisplayName as string "". Now my listbox is populated with names! Yeah!. The next part is to select a name or names and send email to the selected name. I will let you know if I am stuck. You have been very helpful on this. I cannot thank you enough. Without you, I won't be able to do this.

BillWoodruff 23-Aug-19 5:23am

is this a WinForm project ?

Member 11403304 23-Aug-19 9:39am

It is a Windows Application. I have forms yes

BillWoodruff 23-Aug-19 11:40am

You can have Forms in several .NET languages. What type of project is this ?

WinForms ? WPF ? ASP.NET ?

Member 11403304 23-Aug-19 11:48am

It is WPF

BillWoodruff 23-Aug-19 12:48pm

WPF has advanced data binding facilities compared to WinForms. Your solution should be using data binding which can be done in XAML or programmatically (code behind).

Try: https://www.c-sharpcorner.com/uploadfile/mahesh/listbox-in-wpf/

Member 11403304 23-Aug-19 13:18pm

Actually based on j snooze suggestions, I am almost done. I am stuck on how to send more than one email to all selected listbox names.

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BillWoodruff · Accepted Answer · 2019-08-23T07:48:00

Quote:
I am stuck on how to send more than one email to all selected listbox name

In Windows Forms that would be this simple:

private void Button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    IEnumerable<Employee> selItems = listBox1.SelectedItems.Cast<Employee>();

    foreach (Employee emp in selItems)
    {
        SendEMail(emp.EMail);
    }
}

private void SendEMail(string empEMail)
{
}

The code in WPF should be very similar.