Now, this may or may not be possible. If not, break it to me gently, but here's what I want to do:

Can you set the value member of a combo box based off a data reader?

        Dim sqlGetReliefPersonnel As String = "SELECT SNo, SortName FROM Personnel WHERE SortName <> '' ORDER BY SortName"
        Dim cmdGetReliefPersonnel As SqlClient.SqlCommand
        cmdGetReliefPersonnel = New SqlClient.SqlCommand()
        cmdGetReliefPersonnel.Connection = dbConn
        cmdGetReliefPersonnel.CommandText = sqlGetReliefPersonnel
        Dim reliefPersonnelReader As SqlClient.SqlDataReader
        dbConn.open()
        reliefPersonnelReader = cmdGetReliefPersonnel.ExecuteReader
        Do While reliefPersonnelReader.Read()
            cboReliefPersonnel.DataSource = CType(reliefPersonnelReader("SortName"), IList)
        Loop
        dbConn.close()
        reliefPersonnelReader.Close()

If you can set the value member dynamically through a data reader, please tell me how and where in the code it would go. Thanks to anyone for their help!

You don't need to loop thru a datareader to get its data into a list type control. You only need to set the control's datasource to that datareader and DataBind() the control.

reliefPersonnelReader = cmdGetReliefPersonnel.ExecuteReader
<s>Do While reliefPersonnelReader.Read()
    cboReliefPersonnel.DataSource = CType(reliefPersonnelReader("SortName"), IList)
Loop</s>
cboReliefPersonnel.DataSource = reliefPersonnelReader
cboReliefPersonnel.DataBind()
dbConn.close()

There is a property called "DisplayMember" which allows you to set which datasource property (field) is displayed in the list.

Peter
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