I want to know the difference between ObservableCollection
and BindingList
because I've used both to notify for any add/delete change in Source, but I actually do not know when to prefer one over the other.
Why would I choose one of the following over the other?
ObservableCollection<Employee> lstEmp = new ObservableCollection<Employee>();
or
BindingList<Employee> lstEmp = new BindingList<Employee>();
An ObservableCollection
can be updated from UI exactly like any collection. The true difference is rather straightforward:
ObservableCollection<T>
implements INotifyCollectionChanged
which provides notification when the collection is changed (you guessed ^^)
It allows the binding engine to update the UI when the ObservableCollection
is updated.
However, BindingList<T>
implements IBindingList
.
IBindingList
provides notification on collection changes, but not only that. It provides a whole bunch of functionality which can be used by the UI to provide a lot more things than only UI updates according to changes, like:
All these functionalities are not available in ObservableCollection<T>
Another difference is that BindingList
relays item change notifications when its items implement INotifyPropertyChanged
. If an item raises a PropertyChanged
event, the BindingList
will receive it an raises a ListChangedEvent
with ListChangedType.ItemChanged
and OldIndex=NewIndex
(if an item was replaced, OldIndex=-1
). ObservableCollection
doesn't relay item notifications.
Note that in Silverlight, BindingList
is not available as an option: You can however use ObservableCollection
s and ICollectionView
(and IPagedCollectionView
if I remember well).