WPF data context scenario - wpf

I have a user control in XAML code (a data grid) with this databind statement:
<WpfToolkit:DataGrid ItemsSource="{Binding Path=MyCollection}" x:Name="lvItems"
I use this user control in a presenter class where I istantiate a modelview class and set datacontext to an object in my view
...so MyCollection object is defined in may view class and not in the code behind of my control
but I Want to access this MyCollection property from codebehind because I want to implement a button event that filter my collection source
how can I access to MyCollection in codebehind or where i wrong...?
thanks

maybe something like that?
put this at your button click event or the button command
var yourModelView = this.DataContext as IYourModelView;
if (yourModelView != null) {
var yourColl = yourModelView.MyCollection;
// do something with this collection
}
EDIT
public IYourModelView
{
ICollection MyCollection {get; set;}
}
public class YourModelView1 : IYourModelView
{}
public class YourModelView2 : IYourModelView
{}
hope this helps

Related

WPF Data binding to observableCollection

Can someone give me a little help with this one please
I'm trying to reorganise an app to MVVM and make better use of data binding, but am struggling with a little issue.
I have a viewmodel class
public class MainWindowViewModel
{
public ObservableCollection<DiagramElement> Elements { get; set; }
public MainWindowViewModel()
{
AppMachineList = new ListOfMachines();
Elements = new ObservableCollection<DiagramElement>();
}
}
in which I create an observablecollection of the DiagramElement class.
public class DiagramElement : Button
{
private Item linkedItem;
public Item LinkedItem
{
get { return this.linkedItem; }
set
{
this.linkedItem = value;
this.DataContext = this;
this.Template = (ControlTemplate)FindResource("ItemTemplate");
}
}
The DiagramElement class just extends the button class and adds its own controlTemplate.
Back in my MainWindow.xaml.cs class, I instantiate the viewmodel and from that, populate a stackpanel in MainWindow.xaml from the ObservableCollection.
public partial class MainWindow
{
public MainWindow()
{
InitializeComponent();
MainWindowViewModel vm = new MainWindowViewModel();
vm.LoadMachines();
foreach(DiagramElement d in vm.Elements)
{
ItemList.Children.Add(d);
}
}
}
<StackPanel x:Name="ItemList" Orientation="Vertical"></StackPanel>
What I want to do is, do away with the foreach loop and the calls to ItemList.Children.Add(). And replace this with a binding to Elements in the viewmodel like below.
public partial class MainWindow
{
public MainWindow()
{
InitializeComponent();
MainWindowViewModel vm = new MainWindowViewModel();
vm.LoadMachines();
this.DataContext = vm;
}
}
<StackPanel x:Name="ItemList" DataContext="{Binding Path=Elements}"</Stackpanel>
I can't get the elements to be added to the Stackpanel, the binding doesn't work. Any help gratefully received.
FYI, having a ViewModel with a collection of UI elements (in your case, buttons) violates the principles of MVVM -- the UI and model should not be co-mingled like this.
But the immediate problem is you cannot use a StackPanel -- it is a control container but does not support binding to lists of items. You need to use some kind of repeater like an ItemsControl.
<ItemsControl ItemsSource="{Binding Path=Elements}">
<ItemsControl.ItemTemplate>
<DataTemplate>
<!-- your DiagramElement should go here, something like
<DiagramElement LinkedItem={Binding Path=SomePropertyOnYourRevisedElement} />
-->
</DataTemplate>
</ItemsControl.ItemTemplate>
</ItemsControl>
But there's more work to be done. DiagramElement needs to have LinkedItem converted into a DependencyProperty (lots of examples of this online) and Elements needs to be a list of some sort of model object that just stores the properties needed for the DiagramElement (with no UI stuff).

WPF: Data Binding with an ObservableCollection passed as parameter in a UserControl constructor

I have a UserControl with a ComboBox in it and I'm binding an ObservableCollection to it such as follow. Right now the collection is populated in the UserControl. However, I would like to create the ObservableCollection in the MainWindow and have another constructor for my UserControl. here's what I got now and it's working:
public ObservableCollection<ComboBoxInfo> Items { get; private set; }
public CustomComboBox()
{
InitializeComponent();
Items = new ObservableCollection<ComboBoxInfo>();
cmb.ItemsSource = Items;
if (!System.ComponentModel.DesignerProperties.GetIsInDesignMode(this))
{
this.createNameComboBox(); // ObservatoryCollection populating
}
}
I tried implementing a second constructor and moving the collection populating function in the Main Window but I get an error saying my comboBox in the UserControl is not set to an instance of an object. Ideally I would like something like this:
public CustomComboBox(ObservableCollection<ComboBoxInfo> Items)
{
this.Items = Items
// Not sure if the binding should be done here or in default constructor
}
Any idea how to properly do this ? Thanks
Your solution should include a ViewModel which would be set as a DataContext of your User Control.
This ViewModel should contain and expose the ObservableCollection as a public property, ideally it should use some injected service provider to obtain the data from some data store and populate the ObservableCollection with that data, Finally, the ComboBox from your User Control should bind to that ObservableCollection in the ViewModel.
Your User Control code-behind should have no code other than some event handlers to manipulate the UI in response to UI events if necessary...
That is how things are done properly in WPF utilizing the MVVM pattern.
Here is an example of how a service is injected into the VM constructor and used to populate a collection with some data:
public class MainWindowViewModel
{
private ICustomerService _customerService;
public MainWindowViewModel(ICustomerService customerService)
{
_customerService = customerService;
Customers = new ListCollectionView(customerService.Customers);
}
public ICollectionView Customers { get; private set; }
}

Binding View Model to View in data template

public class ToolBarView : ToolBar
{
public ToolBarView()
{
this.DataContext = new ToolBarViewModel();
}
}
public ToolBarViewModel: ViewModelBase
{
public ObservableCollection<ViewModelBase> Items {get;set;}
public ToolBarViewModel()
{
// populate button view models
Items.Add(new ButtonViewModel() {Content="Button1"});
Items.Add(new ButtonViewModel() {Content="Button2"});
}
}
public class ButtonView : Button
{
public ButtonView()
{
this.DataContext = new ButtonViewModel();
}
}
public class ButtonViewModel : ViewModelBase
{
public object Content {get;set;}
}
In MainWindow.xaml
<Window.Resources>
<DataTemplate x:Key="buttonTemplate" DataType="{x:Type vm:ButtonViewModel}">
<v:ButtonView Content={Binding Content}/>
</DataTemplate>
<v:ToolBarView ItemsSource="{Binding Items}"
ItemTemplate={StaticResource buttonTemplate}/>
Note: I did INotifyChanged in ViewModelBase class
In MainWindow.xaml. i think My template is wrong.ButtonView in DataTemplate is creating a new view instance. It is not binding the viewModel that was poplulated in the ToolBar Items collection. I tried to do with Relative Binding. Still not successful.
Please help me out.
Just drop the line where you create a new VM and overwrite the DataContext:
this.DataContext = new ButtonViewModel();
Then the DataContext will be inherited (it will be the item in the collection, the ButtonVM).
(As a side-note, you seem to try view-first and view-model-first at the same time, you should stick with one. Also the view should probably already bind to all the relevant properties on the view-model so that you just need need to create the view and that's it)

Implementing a "Search as you type" in Silverlight

I am trying to implement a search as you type screen in my Silverlight application. The idea is that I have a screen with a textedit control and a listbox. The listbox is filled with all my data.
When the user types something in the textbox the following happens:
All the items that are not containing all the letters from the user input are hidden.
The matching letters of the visible list items are highlighted with a different color.
I am not sure how to start with this, so all pointers, samples and hints are welcome!
I would suggest using a CollectionViewSource. A CollectionViewSource has the ability to filter items. You can bind your ListBox to the CollectionViewSource and handle Filter event to do the filtering. Bind your "Search Box" to a Text property which you can use in your Filter event. You can handle the "KeyUp" event of the TextBox control to kick off your filtering, by calling the Refresh method on the CollectionViewSource View.
Filtering Data using CollectionViewSource: http://xamlcoder.com/blog/2010/10/27/filtering-data-using-collectionviewsource/
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.windows.data.collectionviewsource.filter.aspx
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.componentmodel.icollectionview.aspx
http://timheuer.com/blog/archive/2009/11/04/updated-silverlight-3-datagrid-grouping-data-pagedcollectionview.aspx
http://bea.stollnitz.com/blog/?p=392
Sudo code:
// ViewModel - properties should fire NotifyPropertyChanged
public class ViewModel : INotifyPropertyChanged
{
public ViewModel
{
this.Data = new CollectionViewSource();
this.Data.Source = this.GenerateObjects();
this.Data.Filter += (s,e) =>
{
// TODO: add filter logic
DataObject item = e.Item as DataObject;
return item.Name.Contains(this.SearchText);
};
}
public string SearchText{get;set;}
public CollectionViewSource Data {get;set;}
private List<DataObject> GenerateObjects(){ // generate list of data objects }
}
// View XAML
<StackPanel>
<TextBox Text="{Binding SearchText, Mode=TwoWay}" KeyUp="OnKeyUp"/>
<ListBox ItemsSource="{Binding Data.View}"/>
</StackPanel>
// View Code Behind
public class View : UserControl
{
public View() { this.DataContext = new ViewModel(); }
private ViewModel ViewModel { get { return this.DataContext as ViewModel; } }
private OnKeyUp()
{
this.ViewModel.Data.View.Refresh();
}
}
You may want to start with the AutocompleteBox from the Silverlight Toolkit.
It has a number of handy points where you would be able to extend it's functionality, for example in the instance searching your pool of values.

WPF ObservableCollection in xaml

I have created an ObservableCollection in the code behind of a user control. It is created when the window loads:
private void UserControl_Loaded(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
Entities db = new Entities();
ObservableCollection<Image> _imageCollection =
new ObservableCollection<Image>();
IEnumerable<library> libraryQuery =
from c in db.ElectricalLibraries
select c;
foreach (ElectricalLibrary c in libraryQuery)
{
Image finalImage = new Image();
finalImage.Width = 80;
BitmapImage logo = new BitmapImage();
logo.BeginInit();
logo.UriSource = new Uri(c.url);
logo.EndInit();
finalImage.Source = logo;
_imageCollection.Add(finalImage);
}
}
I need to get the ObservableCollection of images which are created based on the url saved in a database. But I need a ListView or other ItemsControl to bind to it in XAML file like this:
But I can't figure it out how to pass the ObservableCollection to the ItemsSource of that control. I tried to create a class and then create an instance of a class in xaml file but it did not work. Should I create a static resource somehow>
Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Firstly, the ObservableCollection is a local variable. What you need to do is have it as a private global variable and expose it with a public property. You can use the INotifyPropertyChanged interface to have the image data update automagically when the actual collection itself changes.
In your XAML, you then need to set the DataContext to self, and you can then directly bind your public property to the ItemsSource. You may want to use an ItemTemplate for displaying the items in a custom manner.
Cheers,
Adam
Example as requested:
In C#:
public MyWindowClass
{
public ObservableCollection<image> MyImageCollection
{
get;
set;
}
}
In XAML:
<UserControl
...
DataContext="{Binding RelativeSource={RelativeSource Self}}">
...
<ListBox ItemsSource="{Binding MyImageCollection}" ItemTemplate="*yourtemplateresource*" />
...
</UserControl>
Now, the reason that I mentioned using INotifyPropertyChanged is that if you try:
MyImageCollection = new ObservableCollection<image>();
The items in the listbox will not automatically update. With an ObservableCollection, however, you do not need to implement INotifyPropertyChanged for basic addition and removal of list items.
You have to set the DataContext of the UserControl to your collection:
DataContext = _imageCollection
You can do that in the UserControl_Loaded() method.
Next you need to bind the ItemsSource of the ListView in the XAML:
<ListView ItemsSource="{Binding}"/>
The {Binding} is equivalent to {Binding .} which binds to the DataContext of the UserControl. If you need "more stuff" in your DataContext you can instead create a class like this:
class ViewModel : INotifyPropertyChanged {
public ObservableCollection Images { get { ... } }
...
}
Use this class for the DataContext:
DataContext = new ViewModel();
And replace the binding to bind to the Images property:
<ListView ItemsSource="{Binding Images}"/>
Then you can add another property to ViewModel:
class ViewModel : INotifyPropertyChanged {
public ObservableCollection Images { get { ... } }
public String Message { get { ... } set { ... } }
...
}
And bind it to a control:
<TextBlock Text="{Binding Message}"/>
Remember to fire the PropertyChanged event when the Message property is changed in ViewModel. This will update the UI when view-model properties are changed by code.

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