Binding Exceptions slow down ListView - wpf

Question

I have bound a WPF ListView to a list of articles and I have that kind of binding on a certain column:
DisplayMemberBinding="{Binding Path=ArticleSupplier[0].reference, Mode=OneWay}"
The problem is that certain articles have no ArticleSupplier item, so it throws an "invisible" binding exception (in the debugger output). It doesn't affect my software itself, but it really slows down the scrolling speed of my ListView, I have about 15000 items in it. If I remove this column binding, all is smooth again.
How can I avoid these exceptions to slow down my ListView?

Answer 1

Try setting a fallback-value.

Answer 2

Bind to another Property as follows:
DisplayMemberBinding="{Binding Path=FirstArticleSupplier.reference, Mode=OneWay}"
and in the DataContext class have a property for FirstArticleSupplier as follows:
public <your ArticleSupplier class> FirstArticleSupplier
{
get { if( ArticleSupplier.Count > 0)
return ArticleSupplier[0];
return new <your ArticleSupplier class>; //this will at least not know exception and return empty object instead
}
}

Answer 3

Exceptions are slow in .NET. You have to avoid them in this case. Instead of trying to access a possibly empty list, you need to extract the right valu, or null, without throwing an exception:
public string FirstSupplierReference {
get {
var firstSupplier = ArticleSupplier.FirstOrDefault();
return firstSupplier != null
? firstSupplier.reference
: null;
}
}
Of course, you have to send PropertyChanged notifications everytime ArticleSupplier[0] or its reference change.

Answer 4

I've found that there is a significant speed difference with binding exceptions when the debugger is attached (i.e. much, much slower). Have you tried running it without the debugger attached?
Obviously better if you can avoid the exceptions entirely, but just thought I'd throw in my 2p...