Get selected value from combo box in C# WPF

Question

I have just started using WPF forms instead of Windows Forms forms. In a Windows Forms form I could just do:

ComboBox.SelectedValue.toString();

Answer 1

This largely depends on how the box is being filled. If it is done by attaching a DataTable (or other collection) to the ItemsSource, you may find attaching a SelectionChanged event handler to your box in the XAML and then using this in the code-behind useful:

private void ComboBoxName_SelectionChanged(object sender, SelectionChangedEventArgs e)
{
    ComboBox cbx = (ComboBox)sender;
    string s = ((DataRowView)cbx.Items.GetItemAt(cbx.SelectedIndex)).Row.ItemArray[0].ToString();
}

I saw 2 other answers on here that had different parts of that - one had ComboBoxName.Items.GetItemAt(ComboBoxName.SelectedIndex).ToString();, which looks similar but doesn't cast the box to a DataRowView, something I found I needed to do, and another: ((DataRowView)comboBox1.SelectedItem).Row.ItemArray[0].ToString();, used .SelectedItem instead of .Items.GetItemAt(comboBox1.SelectedIndex). That might've worked, but what I settled on was actually the combination of the two I wrote above, and don't remember why I avoided .SelectedItem except that it must not have worked for me in this scenario.

If you are filling the box dynamically, or with ComboBoxItem items in the dropdown directly in the XAML, this is the code I use:

private void ComboBoxName_SelectionChanged(object sender, SelectionChangedEventArgs e)
{
    ComboBox cbx = (ComboBox)sender;
    string val = String.Empty;
    if (cbx.SelectedValue == null)
        val = cbx.SelectionBoxItem.ToString();
    else
        val = cboParser(cbx.SelectedValue.ToString());
}

You'll see I have cboParser, there. This is because the output from SelectedValue looks like this: System.Windows.Controls.Control: Some Value. At least it did in my project. So you have to parse your Some Value out of that:

private static string cboParser(string controlString)
{
    if (controlString.Contains(':'))
    {
        controlString = controlString.Split(':')[1].TrimStart(' ');
    }
    return controlString;
}

But this is why there are so many answers on this page. It largely depends on how you are filling the box, as to how you can get the value back out of it. An answer might be right in one circumstance, and wrong in the other.