Dynamically Creating Controls Following MVVM pattern - silverlight

Question

I'd like to dynamically generate some controls in my silverlight application.
To be more clear, here's a simplified definition of my class:
public class TestClass
{
[Display(Name="First Name")]
public string FirstName { get; set; }
[Display(Name = "Last Name")]
public string LastName { get; set; }
public List<CustomProperty> CustomProperties { get; set; }
}
Each "CustomProperty" will finally be a TextBox, CheckBox or ComboBox:
public class CustomProperty
{
public CustomDataType DataType { get; set; } //enum:integer, string, datetime, etc
public object Value { get; set; }
public string DisplayName { get; set; }
public string Mappings { get; set; } // Simulating enums' behavior.
}
What is the best way to implement this using MVVM pattern? If I parse CustomProperties in ViewModel, and find out which controls should be created, How can I create new controls in my view based on MVVM pattern.
Is there any silverlight control that can help me make the UI faster?
Can I define data annotations programmatically? for example after parsing the custom property, can I add some data annotations (Display, Validation) to the property and bind it to a DataForm, PropertyGrid or a useful control for this situation?
Thank you.

Answer 1

In these cases you usualy use one of the controls inheriting from ItemsControl (e.g. ListBox) or the ItemsControl directly. The controls inheriting from ItemsControl allow you to define a template for each item in a collection, e.g. using your sample (assuming you got access to your TestClass through a view model):
<ListBox ItemsSource="{Binding TestClass.CustomProperties }">
<ListBox.ItemContainerStyle>
<Style TargetType="ListBoxItem">
<Setter Property="HorizontalContentAlignment" Value="Stretch"/>
</Style>
</ListBox.ItemContainerStyle>
<ListBox.ItemTemplate>
<DataTemplate>
<!--DataContext is stet to item in the ItemsSource (of type CustomProperty)-->
<StackPanel>
<TextBlock Text="{Binding DisplayName}"/>
<TextBox Text="{Binding Value}"/>
</StackPanel>
</DataTemplate>
</ListBox.ItemTemplate>
</ListBox>
This snippet creates a ListBox that contains a label and a text box for each CustonProperty in your CustomProperties collection.