Refactoring method that binds controls to LINQ

Question

I have a function that binds LINQ results to the controls on my form. The below code works but I just can't get over the feeling I should be slapped for the copy/paste aspect. Can someone help me with what i need to do to deodorize this?

Thank You!

private void BindDataToForm()
    {
        // Bind data to form
        CaseNotesDataContext db = new CaseNotesDataContext();
        Table<CN_MaintItem> caseNotesItems = db.GetTable<CN_MaintItem>();

        // For each object
        var contactType = from cType in caseNotesItems
                          where cType.CategoryID == 2
                          select cType.ItemDescription;
        chkContactType.DataSource = contactType;

        var contactLocation = from cLocation in caseNotesItems
                          where cLocation.CategoryID == 3
                          select cLocation.ItemDescription;
        lkuContactLocation.Properties.DataSource = contactLocation;

        var contactMethod = from cMethod in caseNotesItems
                          where cMethod.CategoryID == 4
                          select cMethod.ItemDescription;
        lkuContactMethod.Properties.DataSource = contactMethod;

        var contactWith = from cWith in caseNotesItems
                          where cWith.CategoryID == 5
                          select cWith.ItemDescription;
        chkContactWith.DataSource = contactWith;

        var domains = from d in caseNotesItems
                          where d.CategoryID == 6
                          select d.ItemDescription;
        chkDomains.DataSource = domains;
    }

Answer 1

You can 'shorten' it by doing something like:

IQueryable<string> GetDescriptions(int cat)
{
  return from x in caseNotesItems
         where x.CategoryID == cat
         select x.ItemDescription;

}

And then:

chkDomains.DataSource = GetDescriptions(6);
...

Answer 2

I don't know if this really solves anything but try:

public static class MyExtentsions {
    public IQueryable<string> GetItemDescriptions(this Table<CN_MaintItem> table, int cat)
    {
        return from x in table
               where x.CategoryID == cat
               select x.ItemDescription;
    }
}

So you can pull the information like this:

using (CaseNotesDataContext db = new CaseNotesDataContext()) {
    Table<CN_MaintItem> caseNotesItems = db.GetTable<CN_MaintItem>();

    chkContactType.DataSource = caseNotesItems.GetItemDescriptions(2);
    lkuContactLocation.Properties.DataSource = caseNotesItems.GetItemDescriptions(3);
    // etc... 
}

Answer 3

The trick is to store the information required to bind the controls explictly. You could create a IDictionary<Control, Int32> to store the category id for each control. Then just iterate over all controls, look up the id in the dictionary, and finally bind it if an entry exists. You can extend this method by creating a dictionary with a delegates as values. This allows you to perform different queries for different controls. Further you could also use the Control.Tag property to store this information.