Code - Cast Back Anonymous Type from a Databound control

In case you are populating a dropdown list with anonymous type like:

cmbOrders.Items.Add(new { Number = "001", ID = 1 });
cmbOrders.Items.Add(new { Number = "002", ID = 2 });
cmbOrders.Items.Add(new { Number = "003", ID = 3 });
cmbOrders.Items.Add(new { Number = "004", ID = 4 });
cmbOrders.DisplayMember = "Number";
cmbOrders.ValueMember = "ID";

Then to read back from the SelectedItem, the first thing you will have to do is to define a static class as follows:

static class AnonymousCast
{
   internal static T Cast(object target, T example)
   {
      return (T)target;
   }
}

Secondly, you will have to utilize the class defined above as:

var a = cmbOrders.SelectedItem;
string orderNum = AnonymousCast.Cast(a, new { Number = "", ID=0}).Number;
int orderID = AnonymousCast.Cast(a, new { Number = "", ID = 0 }).ID;