Convert Enum to string inside TextBlock text - wpf

Question

I have simple Enum:
public enum StatusMessage
{
Cancel,
Done,
[Description("In process...")]
InProcess,
[Description("We have delay...")]
Delay,
Waiting
}
And GridViewColumn:
My property:
StatusMessage StatusMsg;
XAML:
<GridViewColumn Width="180" Header="Status" >
<GridViewColumn.CellTemplate>
<DataTemplate>
<TextBlock Text="{Binding StatusMsg}" Foreground="{Binding StatusMsg,Converter={my:StatusMessageToColorConverter}}" />
</DataTemplate>
</GridViewColumn.CellTemplate>
</GridViewColumn>
And i have this EnumToStringConverter:
public class EnumToStringConverter : IValueConverter
{
public object Convert(object value, Type targetType, object parameter, System.Globalization.CultureInfo culture)
{
string EnumString;
try
{
EnumString = Enum.GetName((value.GetType()), value);
return EnumString;
}
catch
{
return string.Empty;
}
}
// No need to implement converting back on a one-way binding
public object ConvertBack(object value, Type targetType, object parameter, System.Globalization.CultureInfo culture)
{
throw new NotImplementedException();
}
}
Now i want to use this Convertor inside my TextBlock :
<TextBlock Text="{Binding StatusMsg, Converter={my:EnumToStringConverter}}" Foreground="{Binding StatusMsg,Converter={my:StatusMessageToColorConverter}}" />
So the problem is that i have this error:
'my:EnumToStringConverter' is used like a markup extension but does
not derive from MarkupExtension.
What is this MarkupExtension ?

Answer 1

You need to declare an instance of the EnumToStringConverter in XAML. It can be a local resource or declared in app.xaml to make it accessible everywhere.
<Window.Resources>
<my:EnumToStringConverter x:Key="DefaultEnumToStringConverter"/>
</Window.Resources>
Then use it like this:
Text="{Binding StatusMsg, Converter={StaticResource DefaultEnumToStringConverter}}"
Note the word "StaticResource" in the converter. That is the markup extension. This one tells WPF to go find the static resource with the key "DefaultEnumToStringConverter". WPF will search up the visual tree of the element looking for a resource with that key. If one isn't found it will check at the application level in app.xaml.
MarkupExtensions are the things at the beginning of an attribute enclosed in the {}, "x", "binding", "static", etc. They are what give WPF the ability to resolve the text attribute in to a useful object instance. You can create your own MarkupExtensions to do some pretty cool things.
In your particular example it is complaining because it is looking for a markup extension named "my", from the inner Converter={my:EnumToStringConverter}.