>The code below compiles, however, when I drop the component on a windows form in designer view I get "an exception occurred while trying to create an instance of CsiDataBoundCombos.StateCombo. The exception was object reference not set to an instance of an object."

The problem here is that VS .NET runs a component's constructor at design time. It can't run the following code you have in your constructor at design time (and you really don't want it to) because all the objects it needs are not available:

Public Sub New()
	MyBase.New()
	bizObject = New Csi.Biz.States

	InitializeComponent()

	Me.ValueMember = "StateCode"
	Me.DisplayMember = "Description"
	Me.DataSource = bizObject.GetAll().Tables(0)
End Sub

What you need to do is bracket this code in an If statement that determines whether or not you are in design mode. All .NET Controls have a DesignMode property...unfortunately, its value is not set during instantiation! To solve this problem we have added a static/shared IsRunning property to the MM .NET mmAppBase class that you can use instead. For example:

Public Sub New()
	MyBase.New()
	bizObject = New Csi.Biz.States

	InitializeComponent()

	If mmAppBase.IsRunning Then
	   Me.ValueMember = "StateCode"
	   Me.DisplayMember = "Description"
	   Me.DataSource = bizObject.GetAll().Tables(0)
	End If

End Sub

Check out the MM .NET Help topic "Why do I get errors when I open a component in design mode?" for more information.