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In addition to standard format strings, simple binding provides an eventing model that allows developers to plug in their own custom formatting (Binding.Format event) and parsing (Binding.Parse event) logic.

Sample: Formatting (VS 2005) (VS Project: DataBinding Intro)

/*******************************************************************

* Setup (using the Visual Studio Form designer):

*

* Add 2 TextBoxes to the Form (textBox1 and textBox2)

* Add the code below to the Form.Load event

******************************************************************/

/*******************************************************************

* Data Source setup:

*

* Create a Table named Numbers and add 3 columns

* ID: int

* Name: string

* Cost: Decimal

******************************************************************/

DataTable _dt;

_dt = new DataTable("Numbers");

_dt.Columns.Add("ID", typeof(int));

_dt.Columns.Add("Name", typeof(string));

_dt.Columns.Add("Cost", typeof(decimal));

_dt.Rows.Add(0, "Zero", 10.0M);

_dt.Rows.Add(1, "One", 11.1M);

_dt.Rows.Add(2, "Two", 12.2M);

/*******************************************************************

* Bind TextBox.Text (string) to Numbers.ID (integer)

* The binding runtime will handle type conversion between integer

* and string

******************************************************************/

this.textBox1.DataBindings.Add("Text", _dt, "ID", true);

/*******************************************************************

* Bind TextBox.Text (string) to Numbers.Cost

* The binding runtime will display the value as Currency ($value.00)

*

* Note that this manually creates and adds the Binding to the

* controls DataBinding collection rather than using the

* DataBindings.Add overload.

******************************************************************/

Binding cb = new Binding("Text", _dt, "Cost", true);

/* .NET Framework Currency format string */

cb.FormatString = "c";

/* Add the binding to the Textbox */

this.textBox2.DataBindings.Add(cb);