What does “Child list for field … cannot be created” mean?

Question

My C# coded application uses an Infragistics.Win.UltraWinGrid.UltraGrid to display some data. The data is basically a collection of computers. The application is able to filter these computers (like "Workstations", "Servers" etc) for viewing. This is how I filter:

private DataView FilterTableDataForViewing(DataTable originalTable, string filterString, UltraGrid viewGrid)
    {
        DataView dataView = new DataView(originalTable);
        dataView.RowStateFilter = DataViewRowState.CurrentRows;
        dataView.RowFilter = filterString;

        DataTable filteredTable = dataView.ToTable(originalTable.TableName + "_" + dataView.RowFilter);
        viewGrid.DataSource = filteredTable;
        gridDiscoveryMain.DisplayLayout.ViewStyleBand = ViewStyleBand.OutlookGroupBy;
        SetFlagImagesAndColumnWidthsOfDiscoveryGrid();
        return dataView;
    }

Note that I set the table name to a potentially huge filter string.

This is how I use the above method:

string filterString = "([Build] = '4.0' AND NOT([OS Plus Version] LIKE '%Server%'))";
            filterString += " OR ([Build] = '4.10')";
            filterString += " OR ([Build] = '4.90')";
            filterString += " OR ([Build] = '5.0' AND NOT([OS Plus Version] LIKE '%Server%'))";
            filterString += " OR ([Build] = '5.1')";
            filterString += " OR ([Build] = '6.0' AND ";
            filterString += "(NOT([OS Plus Version] LIKE '%Server%')) OR (NOT([OS] LIKE '%Server%')))";
            FilterTableDataForViewing(dataSet.Tables["DiscoveryData"], filterString, gridDiscoveryMain);

Everything upto that point is fine. UltraGrids have a facility that allows you to choose which columns you want hidden and create new custom columns. When this facility is started an event of the UltraGrid called BeforeColumnChooserDisplayed is fired. Here's my handler:

private void gridDiscoveryMain_BeforeColumnChooserDisplayed(object sender, BeforeColumnChooserDisplayedEventArgs e)
    {
        if (gridDiscoveryMain.DataSource == null)
            return;

        e.Cancel = true;
        gridDiscoveryMain.DisplayLayout.Override.RowSelectors = DefaultableBoolean.True;
        gridDiscoveryMain.DisplayLayout.Override.RowSelectorHeaderStyle = RowSelectorHeaderStyle.ColumnChooserButton;
        ShowCustomColumnChooserDialog();
        this.customColumnChooserDialog.CurrentBand = e.Dialog.ColumnChooserControl.CurrentBand;
        this.customColumnChooserDialog.ColumnChooserControl.Style = ColumnChooserStyle.AllColumnsWithCheckBoxes;
    }

And here is the ShowCustomColumnChooserDialog method implementation:

private void ShowCustomColumnChooserDialog()
    {
        DataTable originalTable = GetUnderlyingDataSource(gridDiscoveryMain);
        if (this.customColumnChooserDialog == null || this.customColumnChooserDialog.IsDisposed)
        {
            customColumnChooserDialog = new CustomColumnChooser(ManageColumnDeleted);
            customColumnChooserDialog.Owner = Parent.FindForm();
            customColumnChooserDialog.Grid = gridDiscoveryMain;
        }

        this.customColumnChooserDialog.Show();
    }

customColumnChooserDialog is basically a form which adds a little extra to the Infragistics default one. The most important thing that it's code takes care of is this method:

private void InitializeBandsCombo( UltraGridBase grid )
    {
        this.ultraComboBandSelector.SetDataBinding( null, null );
        if ( null == grid )
            return;

        // Create the data source that we can bind to UltraCombo for displaying 
        // list of bands. The datasource will have two columns. One that contains
        // the instances of UltraGridBand and the other that contains the text
        // representation of the bands.
        UltraDataSource bandsUDS = new UltraDataSource( );
        bandsUDS.Band.Columns.Add( "Band", typeof( UltraGridBand ) );
        bandsUDS.Band.Columns.Add( "DisplayText", typeof( string ) );

        foreach ( UltraGridBand band in grid.DisplayLayout.Bands )
        {
            if ( ! this.IsBandExcluded( band ) )
            {
                bandsUDS.Rows.Add( new object[] { band, band.Header.Caption } );
            }
        }

        this.ultraComboBandSelector.DisplayMember = "DisplayText";
        this.ultraComboBandSelector.ValueMember= "Band";
        this.ultraComboBandSelector.SetDataBinding( bandsUDS, null );

        // Hide the Band column.
        this.ultraComboBandSelector.DisplayLayout.Bands[0].Columns["Band"].Hidden = true;

        // Hide the column headers.
        this.ultraComboBandSelector.DisplayLayout.Bands[0].ColHeadersVisible = false;

        // Set some properties to improve the look & feel of the ultra combo.
        this.ultraComboBandSelector.DropDownWidth = 0;
        this.ultraComboBandSelector.DisplayLayout.Override.HotTrackRowAppearance.BackColor = Color.LightYellow;
        this.ultraComboBandSelector.DisplayLayout.AutoFitStyle = AutoFitStyle.ResizeAllColumns;
        this.ultraComboBandSelector.DisplayLayout.BorderStyle = UIElementBorderStyle.Solid;
        this.ultraComboBandSelector.DisplayLayout.Appearance.BorderColor = SystemColors.Highlight;
    }

If I step through the code, it's all cool until I exit the event handler (the point at which the control returns to the form). I get an ArgumentException thrown at me only when I try and show the CustomColumnChooser dialog from a grid that displays filtered data. Not the kind that shows the offending line in your code, but the type that brings up a "Microsoft .NET Framework" error message box that says "Unhandled exception has occurred in your application...". This means I can't trace what's causing it. The app doesn't fall apart after that, but the would-be CustomColumnChooser dialog comes up with the container containing nothing but a white background and a big red "X".

And the stack trace:

See the end of this message for details on invoking 
just-in-time (JIT) debugging instead of this dialog box.

************** Exception Text **************
System.ArgumentException: Child list for field DiscoveryData_([Build] = '4 cannot be created.
   at System.Windows.Forms.BindingContext.EnsureListManager(Object dataSource, String dataMember)
   at System.Windows.Forms.BindingContext.EnsureListManager(Object dataSource, String dataMember)
   at System.Windows.Forms.BindingContext.EnsureListManager(Object dataSource, String dataMember)
   at System.Windows.Forms.BindingContext.EnsureListManager(Object dataSource, String dataMember)
   at System.Windows.Forms.BindingContext.EnsureListManager(Object dataSource, String dataMember)
   at System.Windows.Forms.BindingContext.EnsureListManager(Object dataSource, String dataMember)
   at System.Windows.Forms.BindingContext.EnsureListManager(Object dataSource, String dataMember)
   at System.Windows.Forms.BindingContext.get_Item(Object dataSource, String dataMember)
   at Infragistics.Win.UltraWinGrid.UltraGridLayout.ListManagerUpdated(BindingManagerBase bindingManager)
   at Infragistics.Win.UltraWinGrid.UltraGridLayout.ListManagerUpdated()
   at Infragistics.Win.UltraWinGrid.UltraGridBase.Set_ListManager(Object newDataSource, String newDataMember)
   at Infragistics.Win.UltraWinGrid.UltraGridBase.SetDataBindingHelper(Object dataSource, String dataMember, Boolean hideNewColumns, Boolean hideNewBands)
   at Infragistics.Win.UltraWinGrid.UltraGridBase.SetDataBinding(Object dataSource, String dataMember, Boolean hideNewColumns, Boolean hideNewBands)
   at Infragistics.Win.UltraWinGrid.UltraGridBase.SetDataBinding(Object dataSource, String dataMember, Boolean hideNewColumns)
   at Infragistics.Win.UltraWinGrid.UltraGridBase.SetDataBinding(Object dataSource, String dataMember)
   at Infragistics.Win.UltraWinGrid.UltraGridColumnChooser.CreateColumnChooserGridDataStructure()
   at Infragistics.Win.UltraWinGrid.UltraGridColumnChooser.Initialize()
   at Infragistics.Win.UltraWinGrid.UltraGridColumnChooser.VerifyInitialized()
   at Infragistics.Win.UltraWinGrid.ColumnChooserGridCreationFilter.BeforeCreateChildElements(UIElement parent)
   at Infragistics.Win.UIElement.VerifyChildElements(ControlUIElementBase controlElement, Boolean recursive)
   at Infragistics.Win.UltraWinGrid.UltraGridUIElement.VerifyChildElements(ControlUIElementBase controlElement, Boolean recursive)
   at Infragistics.Win.UIElement.VerifyChildElements(Boolean recursive)
   at Infragistics.Win.UltraWinGrid.UltraGridUIElement.InternalInitializeRect(Boolean verify)
   at Infragistics.Win.UltraWinGrid.UltraGridLayout.GetUIElement(Boolean verify, Boolean forceInitializeRect)
   at Infragistics.Win.UltraWinGrid.UltraGrid.OnPaint(PaintEventArgs pe)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.PaintWithErrorHandling(PaintEventArgs e, Int16 layer, Boolean disposeEventArgs)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WmPaint(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WndProc(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.OnMessage(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.WndProc(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.Callback(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam)

Child list for field DiscoveryData([Build] = '4 cannot be created is not very helpful. What does it really mean?

Answer 1

I'm not too well up on WinForms and have never used Infragistics Ultragrid. My guess would be that Child list for field DiscoverData([Build] = '4 is thrown deep down in the framework in some of the data-binding code. It seems to be looking for child members of a class called ([Build] = '4 as it stops at the dot or period (.) in your string literal.

I try to avoid working with DataSets and DataViews because of some of the crazy hoops they jump through.

Might be worth firing up Reflector and having a poke around System.Windows.Forms.BindingContext

Answer 2

Check you DataBindings.

The problem is often caused due to your binding path. If you have something like this:

labelFirstName.DataBindings.Add("Text", "_Person.Info.FName", true, DataSourceUpdateMode.OnPropertyChanged);

you will probably have to update it to another Add-method overload:

labelFirstName.DataBindings.Add("Text", _Person.Info, "FName", true, DataSourceUpdateMode.OnPropertyChanged);