An ObservableCollection of StackPanel as ItemsSource of ComboBox in WPF - wpf

Question

I am having problem binding ObservableCollection as ItemsSource to a combo box (this combobox is in a listview of having some rows).
I followed A collection of StackPanel as ItemsSource of ComboBox but I did not get any clues for resolving my problem.
Problem:
I was able to add items to a combobox which is at the top on the form.
I have created a listview containing 3 text blocks and 1 combobox.
I am successful in populating data for the text blocks in listview.
But the problem lies with Combobox. First time, it shows all the items for each row in ListView. Once I select item or click on the combobox again to see the items, my list disappears. Only one combobox in the listview row shows all items. Other comboboxes shows blank.
Also, I was trying to save the index of the selected item and show the selected panel next time. But I did not get how to bind the stackpanel with selecteditem and selecteditemvalue.
I tried many ways of directly binding the items to the combobox in listview. But nothing worked. Request someone to help me on this.
Details of the code is given below:
I have XAML like below:
<Grid>
<Grid Height="40">
<ComboBox x:Name="cbList" />
</Grid>
<Grid Margin="0,56,0,168"></Grid>
<ListView x:Name="lvFirst" Margin="0,195,0,12">
<ListView.View>
<GridView >
<GridViewColumn>
<GridViewColumn.CellTemplate>
<DataTemplate>
<TextBlock Width="50" x:Uid="tbListView1" Text="{Binding FirstName}" />
</DataTemplate>
</GridViewColumn.CellTemplate>
</GridViewColumn>
<GridViewColumn>
<GridViewColumn.CellTemplate>
<DataTemplate>
<TextBlock Width="50" x:Uid="tbListView2" Text="{Binding LastName}" />
</DataTemplate>
</GridViewColumn.CellTemplate>
</GridViewColumn>
<GridViewColumn>
<GridViewColumn.CellTemplate>
<DataTemplate>
<TextBlock Width="50" x:Uid="tbListView1" Text="{Binding ID}" />
</DataTemplate>
</GridViewColumn.CellTemplate>
</GridViewColumn>
<GridViewColumn>
<GridViewColumn.CellTemplate>
<DataTemplate>
<ComboBox Width="100" x:Uid="cbListView" ItemsSource="{Binding Path=SPForComboBox}" />
</DataTemplate>
</GridViewColumn.CellTemplate>
</GridViewColumn>
</GridView>
</ListView.View>
</ListView>
</Grid>
In the code behind I have a Contact class as below:
public class Contact : INotifyPropertyChanged
{
public event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged;
void Notify(string propName)
{
if (PropertyChanged != null)
{
PropertyChanged(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs(propName));
}
}
private string _fn;
private string _ln;
public string FirstName
{
get
{ return _fn; }
set
{ _fn = value; Notify("FirstName"); }
}
public string LastName
{
get
{ return _ln; }
set
{ _ln = value; Notify("LastName"); }
}
private int _id;
public int ID
{
get { return _id; }
set { _id = value; Notify("ID"); }
}
public StackPanel sp;
public override string ToString()
{
return FirstName + " " + LastName;
}
private ObservableCollection<StackPanel> _sp;
public ObservableCollection<StackPanel> SPForComboBox
{
get { return _sp; }
set { _sp = value; Notify("SPForComboBox"); }
}
}
To populate cbList Items, I am repeatedly calling below function after Initialization() function:
private void AddColours(string name, byte hexcolor)
{
//Add this ShiftType to Combo box
SolidColorBrush rectangleBrush = new SolidColorBrush();
Color color = new Color();
color.A = hexcolor;
rectangleBrush.Color = color;
System.Windows.Controls.StackPanel stkPanel = new StackPanel(); //stack panel to hold rectangle + text
stkPanel.Orientation = Orientation.Horizontal;
cbList.Items.Add(stkPanel);
Rectangle colorRect = new Rectangle(); //rectangle showing colour for shift
colorRect.Height = 12;
colorRect.Width = colorRect.Height;
colorRect.Fill = rectangleBrush;
stkPanel.Children.Add(colorRect);
System.Windows.Controls.TextBlock cboText = new TextBlock(); //Name of shift
cboText.Text = name;
cboText.Margin = new Thickness(5, 5, 5, 5);
stkPanel.Children.Add(cboText);
}
In the main window class, I have a created an ObservableCollection object as public static (object name is contacts).
public static ObservableCollection<Contact> contacts = new ObservableCollection<Contact>();
After the Initialization() function, I am populating contacts as below:
AddColours("First", 100);
AddColours("Second", 50);
AddColours("Third", 20);
AddColours("Fourth", 0);
AddColours("Fifth", 80);
Contact c1 = new Contact();
c1.FirstName = "Digo";
c1.LastName = "Maradona";
c1.ID = 0;
c1.SPForComboBox = new ObservableCollection<StackPanel>();
foreach (StackPanel sp in cbList.Items)
{
c1.SPForComboBox.Add(sp);
}
Contact c2 = new Contact();
c2.FirstName = "Brian";
c2.LastName = "Lara";
c2.ID = 1;
c2.SPForComboBox = new ObservableCollection<StackPanel>();
foreach (StackPanel sp in cbList.Items)
{
c2.SPForComboBox.Add(sp);
}
Contact c3 = new Contact();
c3.FirstName = "Sachin";
c3.LastName = "Tendulkar";
c3.ID = 2;
c3.SPForComboBox = new ObservableCollection<StackPanel>();
foreach (StackPanel sp in cbList.Items)
{
c3.SPForComboBox.Add(sp);
}
contacts.Add(c1);
contacts.Add(c2);
contacts.Add(c3);
lvFirst.ItemsSource = contacts;

Answer 1

HighCore, Thank you very much for the links. I have existing implementation and adding combobox to that.
I too felt that the method followed is not good. I shall certainly look at the alternatives provided by you and suggested by pushpraj.
Answer:
I thought referring objects in other combobox will work till the items exist in that combobox. But I need to create rectangle and textblock for reach combobox I am creating and for each entry in that combobox.
So certainly I need to do it in foreach loop.
Also, once I do this I can use SelectedIndex referring to the integer and SelectedItem to sp (individual stackpanel in that class).
This method is not good to follow but might be helpful for somebody.
Thanks.