WPF Simple Binding to INotifyPropertyChanged Object - wpf

Question

I've created the simplest binding. A textbox bound to an object in the code behind.
Event though - the textbox remains empty.
The window's DataContext is set, and the binding path is present.
Can you say what's wrong?
XAML
<Window x:Class="Anecdotes.SimpleBinding"
x:Name="MainWindow"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
Title="SimpleBinding" Height="300" Width="300" DataContext="MainWindow">
<Grid>
<TextBox Text="{Binding Path=BookName, ElementName=TheBook}" />
</Grid>
</Window>
Code behind
public partial class SimpleBinding : Window
{
public Book TheBook;
public SimpleBinding()
{
TheBook = new Book() { BookName = "The Mythical Man Month" };
InitializeComponent();
}
}
The book object
public class Book : INotifyPropertyChanged
{
public event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged;
protected void OnPropertyChanged(string name)
{
if (PropertyChanged != null)
{
PropertyChanged(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs(name));
}
}
private string bookName;
public string BookName
{
get { return bookName; }
set
{
if (bookName != value)
{
bookName = value;
OnPropertyChanged("BookName");
}
}
}
}

Answer 1

First of all remove DataContext="MainWindow" as this sets DataContext of a Window to a string MainWindow, then you specify ElementName for your binding which defines binding source as another control with x:Name="TheBook" which does not exist in your Window. You can make your code work by removing ElementName=TheBook from your binding and either by assigning DataContext, which is default source if none is specified, of a Window to TheBook
public SimpleBinding()
{
...
this.DataContext = TheBook;
}
or by specifying RelativeSource of your binding to the Window which exposes TheBook:
<TextBox Text="{Binding RelativeSource={RelativeSource AncestorType={x:Type Window}}, Path=TheBook.BookName}"/>
but since you cannot bind to fields you will need to convert TheBook into property:
public partial class SimpleBinding : Window
{
public Book TheBook { get; set; }
...
}