difference between ObservableCollection and BindingList
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).
The practical difference is that BindingList is for WinForms, and ObservableCollection is for WPF.
From a WPF perspective, BindingList isnt properly supported, and you would never really use it in a WPF project unless you really had to.
One More big difference between ObservableCollection and BindingList that comes handy, and can be a bid decision factor on the topic :
BindingList List Change Handler:
ObservableCollection Collection change:
Brief of Above: If a property of an item is changed in BindingList , the ListChanged event will give you complete details of property(in PropertyDescriptor) and ObservableCollection won't give you that. In fact ObservableCollection will not raise change event for a property changed in an item.
Above conclusion are in regards of INotifyPropertyChanged implemented in model classes. By default none raises the changed event if a property is changed in an item.