How to set the datacontext of a user control - wpf

Question

I'm writing an application in WPF, using the MVVm toolkit and have problems with hooking up the viewmodel and view.
The model is created with ado.net entity framework.
The viewmodel:
public class CustomerViewModel
{
private Models.Customer customer;
//constructor
private ObservableCollection<Models.Customer> _customer = new ObservableCollection<Models.Customer>();
public ObservableCollection<Models.Customer> AllCustomers
{
get { return _customer; }
}
private Models.Customer _selectedItem;
public Models.Customer SelectedItem
{
get { return _selectedItem; }
}
public void LoadCustomers()
{
List<Models.Customer> list = DataAccessLayer.getcustomers();
foreach (Models.Customer customer in list)
{
this._customer.Add(customer);
}
}
}
And the view (no code behind at the moment):
<UserControl x:Class="Customers.Customer"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006"
xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008"
mc:Ignorable="d"
xmlns:vm ="clr-namespace:Customers.ViewModels"
d:DesignHeight="300" d:DesignWidth="300"
xmlns:toolkit="http://schemas.microsoft.com/wpf/2008/toolkit" >
<Grid>
<toolkit:DataGrid ItemsSource="{Binding AllCustomers}" SelectedItem="{Binding SelectedItem, Mode=TwoWay}" AutoGenerateColumns="True">
</toolkit:DataGrid>
<toolkit:DataGrid ItemsSource="{Binding SelectedItem.Orders}">
</toolkit:DataGrid>
</Grid>
</UserControl>
And dataaccesslayer class:
class DataAccessLayer
{
public List<Customer> customers = new List<Customer>();
public static List<Customer> getcustomers()
{
entities db = new entities();
var customers = from c in db.Customer.Include("Orders")
select c;
return customers.ToList();
}
}
The problem is that no data is displayed simply because the data context is not set. I tried to do it in a code-behind but is did not work. I would prefer to do it in a xaml file anyway. Another problem is with the SelectedItem binding - the code is never used.

Answer 1

Since this is using the MVVM paradigm, I would instance your ViewModel in the constructor for the View. My View/ViewModels typically follow this sequence of events:
View is instanced
View constructor instances ViewModel
ViewModel initializes
ViewModel runs data getting procedures(separate thread)
ViewModel calls OnPropertyChanged("") to alert View that something has changed; check everything
My ViewModel is instanced from the XAML codebehind (sorry this is in VB.NET, have not gotten around to learning C# well enough to trust myself with it):
Public Sub New()
MyBase.New()
Me.DataContext = New EditShipmentViewModel(Me) 'pass the view in to set as a View variable
Me.InitializeComponent()
End Sub
Initially I hoped to have something like
<UserControl>
<UserControl.DataContext>
<Local:EditShipmentViewModel>
</UserControl.DataContext>
</UserControl>
But that did not work out like I wanted it to.
Hope that helps a little.

Answer 2

Is this what you're looking for?

Answer 3

I set my viewmodel datacontext the same way I observed Blend4 to. That is, if my viewmodel is called MainViewModel, I reference it in the view like:
<UserControl.Resources>
<local:MainViewModel x:Key="MainViewModelDataSource" />
</UserControl.Resources>
<Grid x:Name="LayoutRoot" DataContext="{Binding Source={StaticResource MainViewModelDataSource}}">
...view xaml stuff
</Grid>
also, if you're loading data from a database in the constructor of your viewmodel, don't forget to add a helper method around it like:
if (!DesignerProperties.GetIsInDesignMode(new DependencyObject()))
{
myCollection = new ObservableCollection<Blah>(something);
}
so that visual studio/Blend4 doesn't crash trying to retrieve the data from the database connection in the Designer. I personally load data in the constructor quite often, just because I need it right away, and for it to be cached in memory from startup.
:)