Is there a better way of updating a data grid then just adding and removing the datasource?

Question

I have a List collection where UserPropDef is a custom class with a few public properties. I want to display the contents of this list in a DataGrid. So I set the DataGrid.DataSource property of my grid to the list and it displays the contents just as I want.

Now if I add or remove items from the list I want the DataGrid to update. I can't use a BindingList because this list needs to be serialized. I've tried calling the Update() and Refresh() methods of both the DataGrid, and the form and nothing seems to cause the DataGrid to refresh based on the current contents of the collection.

The only thing that works seems to be setting the DataSource property again. Yet when debugging my code I can see that after the collection has changed the DataSource property of the DataGrid is in fact still referencing the correct and updated collection.

Is there a better way to cause the DataGrid to refresh based on it's current DataSource?

Answer 1

My suggestion would be take what is behind door number 3:

Create a custom Serializable List that implements IBindingList (Or something that inherits from BindingList and fixes the Serializable issues. Check out Fixing BindingList... for ideas).