Suppose a grid drop-down box is needed using data that contains a value and a corresponding text representation, as in the following image:

In this situation, you may not want the user to see the somewhat ambiguous TypeId, but instead want the more understandable TypeDesc to show in the drop-down. The ValueTranslate property automatically maps the TypeId value to the TypeDesc representation. In this way, when the user accesses the drop-down, it will display the TypeDesc text.