Adding a variable to a listBox in VB.net Windows Form - vb.net

Question

I am making a dvd database system in windows form and trying to display the dvd's entered by a user. Then display the Title, Director and Genre in 3 separate listBoxes.
When the user enters the information through 3 separate text boxes, the information is stored in a structure I made called TDvd. This means I can call for example dvd.Title or dvd.Director. I also use the variable index to add this information to an array I made called Dvd(100) (just a random number I used to test).
Here is the code I currently have for adding the items to the ListBox:
For i = 1 To noOfAddedDvds
lstTitle.Items.Add(dvd(i).Title)
lstDirector.Items.Add(dvd(i).Director)
lstGenre.Items.Add(dvd(i).Genre)
Next
The variable NoOfDvdsAdded is just a way of keeping track of the number of dvd's the user has already entered.
I run this and enter the Title, Director and Genre, but when I try and display this information across the 3 listboxes, I get the error:
An unhandled exception of type 'System.ArgumentNullException' occurred in System.Windows.Forms.dll
Public Class Form1
Structure TDvd
Dim Title As String
Dim Director As String
Dim Genre As String
End Structure
Dim dvd(100) As TDvd
Dim index As Integer = 0
Dim noOfAddedDvds As Integer
Private Sub btnAddToDatabase_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles btnAddToDatabase.Click
If txtDirector.Text <> "" Or txtGenre.Text <> "" Or txtTitle.Text <> "" Then
txtTitle.Text = dvd(index).Title
txtDirector.Text = dvd(index).Director
txtGenre.Text = dvd(index).Genre
index += 1
noOfAddedDvds += 1
End If
End Sub
Private Sub btnDisplayDatabase_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles btnDisplayDatabase.Click
Dim i As Integer
For i = 0 To noOfAddedDvds
MessageBox.Show(index & ", " & i)
lstTitle.Items.Add(dvd(i).Title)
lstDirector.Items.Add(dvd(i).Director)
lstGenre.Items.Add(dvd(i).Genre)
MessageBox.Show(index & ", " & i)
Next
End Sub
End Class

Answer 1

According to the documentation, an ArgumentNullException is thrown by the Add() method if the argument passed to it is null. (Or Nothing in VB.) So one of these is Nothing at runtime:
dvd(i).Title
dvd(i).Director
dvd(i).Genre
You'll have to debug to determine which. It would seem that the error is because you're starting your iteration at 1 instead of 0, I would think it should be:
For i = 0 To noOfAddedDvds - 1
So when you get to the index of noOfAddedDvds in your collection, that element will be an uninitialized struct with Nothing strings.
You'll definitely want to fix the iteration (indexes start at 0). Additionally, you may also benefit from initializing the String properties in your struct to String.Empty internally. Depends on whether you want similar errors to manifest as an exception or as an empty record. Sometimes the latter makes the problem more obvious since at runtime you'd see that your output started on the second record.

Answer 2

Just a few pointers...
The Items collection on the ListBox is actually 0 indexed, by which I mean that instead of going "1,2,3", it actually goes (0,1,2).
That's what your problem is.
Hint - think about perhaps using a List instead of an array as well... (for dvd)

Answer 3

Your thing cries out for being rewritten in OO form:
Friend DVDGenres
Undefined
Comedy
Action
Adventure
Sci-Fi
End Enum
Friend Class DVD
Public Property Title As String
Public Property Director As String
Public Property Genre As DVDGenres
Public Sub New
Title = ""
Director = ""
Genre = DVDGenres.Undefined
' other stuff too
End Sub
Public Overrides Function ToString As String
Return Title
End Sub
End Class
Now something to store them in. Arrays went out with Rubik's Cubes, so a List:
Private myDVDs As New List(of DVD)
A list and a class can do what arrays and structures can without the headaches. Add a DVD:
Dim d As New DVD
d.Name = TextBoxName.Text
d.Director = TextBoxDir.Text
d.Genre = comboboxGenre.SelectedItem
' add to the container:
myDVDs.Add(d)
Display all the DVDs in a ListBox to pick from:
AllDVDsLB.DataSource = myDVDs
AllDVDsLB.DisplayMember = "Title"
This will set your list as the datasource for the listbox. Whatever is in the List is automatically displayed without copying data into the Items collection. Then, say from selectedindex changed event, display the selected item details to some labels:
Label1.Text = Ctype(AllDVDsLB.SelectedItem, DVD).Title
Label2.Text = Ctype(AllDVDsLB.SelectedItem, DVD).Director
Label3.Text = Ctype(AllDVDsLB.SelectedItem, DVD).Genre.ToString
Iterate to do something like what is in the Question:
For Each d As DVD in myDVDs ' CANT run out of data
lstTitle.Items.Add(d.Title)
lstDirector.Items.Add(d.Director)
lstGenre.Items.Add(d.Genre.ToString)
Next
Or iterate and reference with an Int32:
For n As Integer = 0 To myDVDs.Count - 1
lstTitle.Items.Add(myDVDs(n).Title)
' etc
Next n
HTH