Creating a Table in XAML and populating it with an Array? - arrays

Question

If I have a table like the one below:
<Grid VerticalAlignment="Top" HorizontalAlignment="Left" ShowGridLines="True" Width="250" Height="100">
<Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<ColumnDefinition />
<ColumnDefinition />
<ColumnDefinition />
</Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<Grid.RowDefinitions>
<RowDefinition />
<RowDefinition />
<RowDefinition />
<RowDefinition />
</Grid.RowDefinitions>
<TextBlock FontSize="20" FontWeight="Bold" Grid.ColumnSpan="3" Grid.Row="0">2005 Products Shipped</TextBlock>
<TextBlock FontSize="12" FontWeight="Bold" Grid.Row="1" Grid.Column="0">Quarter 1</TextBlock>
<TextBlock FontSize="12" FontWeight="Bold" Grid.Row="1" Grid.Column="1">Quarter 2</TextBlock>
<TextBlock FontSize="12" FontWeight="Bold" Grid.Row="1" Grid.Column="2">Quarter 3</TextBlock>
<TextBlock Grid.Row="2" Grid.Column="0">50000</TextBlock>
<TextBlock Grid.Row="2" Grid.Column="1">100000</TextBlock>
<TextBlock Grid.Row="2" Grid.Column="2">150000</TextBlock>
<TextBlock FontSize="16" FontWeight="Bold" Grid.ColumnSpan="3" Grid.Row="3">Total Units: 300000</TextBlock>
</Grid>
Would I be able to populate it in one go using an array.
For example, if I had an Array containing "Row 1", "Row 2" etc. thru 10 would I be able to populate the first column with those values?
I'm not sure I'm doing a great job of explaining. I know I could do each cell individually, but I want it to cycle through and do all at once?
Thanks

Answer 1

Firstly, consider just using a ListBox or ItemsControl, with a DataTemplate. Define the 2 header rows in a separate grid, and stack this one underneath. The catch with this approach is that you need to define fixed-width columns, since each row will be its own Grid (or actually StackPanel is more performant in this scenario):
<ItemsControl ItemsSource="{Binding TheArray}">
<ItemsControl.ItemTemplate>
<DataTemplate>
<StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal">
<TextBlock Width="100" Text="{Binding Col1}" />
<TextBlock Width="100" Text="{Binding Col2}" />
<TextBlock Width="100" Text="{Binding Col3}" />
</StackPanel>
</DataTemplate>
</ItemsControl.ItemTemplate>
</ItemsControl>
Secondly, if you need to use a true Grid, then one approach could be to define a Behavior on your Grid. This Behavior class would define an Items dependency property. The dependency property's "changed" handler could then create the TextBlocks (x of them for each cell where x is the number of columns), add them to the Grid, and assign the Grid.Row and Grid.Column properties (and even add the RowDefinitions if necessary).
<Grid>
<i:Interaction.Behaviors>
<my:GridItemsBehavior Items="{Binding TheArray}" />
</i:Interaction.Behaviors>
</Grid>
I wouldn't necessarily recommend the latter approach, because you lose a lot of the power of XAML by creating UI in code-behind.