Any way to reuse Bindings in WPF? - wpf

Question

I'm getting to the point in a WPF application where all of the bindings on my controls are getting quite repetitive and also a little too verbose. Also if I want to change this binding I would have to change it in various places instead of just one.
Is there any way to write the source part of the binding once such as in a resource and then reuse it by referencing it with a more compact syntax. I've looked around for such capabilities but I haven't found it.
What I'm doing now
<StackPanel>
<ToggleButton x:Name="someToggleButton" />
<Button Visibility="{Binding ElementName=someToggleButton, Path=IsChecked, Converter={StaticResource BoolToVisibilityConverter}}" />
<Grid Visibility="{Binding ElementName=someToggleButton, Path=IsChecked, Converter={StaticResource BoolToVisibilityConverter}}" />
<TextBox Visibility="{Binding ElementName=someToggleButton, Path=IsChecked, Converter={StaticResource BoolToVisibilityConverter}}" />
<CheckBox Visibility="{Binding ElementName=someToggleButton, Path=IsChecked, Converter={StaticResource BoolToVisibilityConverter}}" />
</StackPanel>
What I want to be able to do (Pseudocode)
<StackPanel>
<StackPanel.Resources>
<Variable x:Name="someToggleButtonIsChecked"
Type="{x:Type Visibility}"
Value="{Binding ElementName=someToggleButton, Path=IsChecked, Converter={StaticResource BoolToVisibilityConverter}}" />
</StackPanel.Resources>
<ToggleButton x:Name="someToggleButton" />
<Button Visibility="{VariableBinding someToggleButtonIsChecked}" />
<Grid Visibility="{VariableBinding someToggleButtonIsChecked}" />
<TextBox Visibility="{VariableBinding someToggleButtonIsChecked}" />
<CheckBox Visibility="{VariableBinding someToggleButtonIsChecked}" />
</StackPanel>
Is there any similar type of similar feature or technique that will allow me to declare the binding source once and then reuse it?

Answer 1

You can just bind someToggleButton's IsChecked property to a property on your viewmodel (the DataContext) and use that. It would look something like this:
<StackPanel>
<ToggleButton x:Name="someToggleButton" IsChecked="{Binding ToggleVisibility, Mode=TwoWay, Converter={StaticResource BoolToVisibilityConverter}}" />
<Button Visibility="{Binding ToggleVisibility}" />
<Grid Visibility="{Binding ToggleVisibility}" />
<TextBox Visibility="{Binding ToggleVisibility}" />
<CheckBox Visibility="{Binding ToggleVisibility}" />
</StackPanel>
This would require that your Window's DataContext has a property called ToggleVisibility of type Visibility.
EDIT:
To eleborate further, your viewmodel could look like this:
public class SomeViewModel : INotifyPropertyChanged
{
private Visibility toggleVisibility;
public SomeViewModel()
{
this.toggleVisibility = Visibility.Visible;
}
public Visibility ToggleVisibility
{
get
{
return this.toggleVisibility;
}
set
{
this.toggleVisibility = value;
RaisePropertyChanged("ToggleVisibility");
}
}
private void RaisePropertyChanged(string propertyName)
{
if (this.PropertyChanged != null)
this.PropertyChanged(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs(propertyName));
}
#region INotifyPropertyChanged Members
public event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged;
#endregion
}
And you would then set an instance of it as the DataContext on the Window or even just on the StackPanel

Answer 2

Is there any way to write the source part of the binding once such as in a resource and then reuse it by referencing it with a more compact syntax.
Perhaps you can do that with PyBinding. I don't know the extent of its capabilities, but I use it all the time ot avoid type converters. Here is an example I use a lot.
Visibility="{p:PyBinding BooleanToVisibility(IsNotNull($[.InstanceName]))}"
BooleanToVisibility is a function I wrote in IronPython.
$[.InstanceName] binds to the InstanceName property of the current data-bound item.
EDIT: You can also use this to bind one UI's property to another's. Here is some info from the help file.
$[NameTextBlock.Text] - The text property of the element with x:Name equal to "NameTextBlock"
$[NameTextBlock] - An actual TextBlock instance, rather than one of its properties
$[{Self}] - Bind to your self. Equivalent to {Binding RelativeSource={RelativeSource Self}}
$[{Self}.Text] - The Text property off your self. Equivalent to {Binding Path=Text, RelativeSource={RelativeSource Self}}
http://pybinding.codeplex.com/
Untested Theory
<StackPanel>
<ToggleButton x:Name="someToggleButton" />
<Button Visibility="{p:PyBinding BooleanToVisibility($[someToggleButton.IsChecked])}" />
<Grid Visibility="{p:PyBinding BooleanToVisibility($[someToggleButton.IsChecked])}"/>
<TextBox Visibility="{p:PyBinding BooleanToVisibility($[someToggleButton.IsChecked])}"/>
<CheckBox Visibility="{p:PyBinding BooleanToVisibility($[someToggleButton.IsChecked])}"/>
</StackPanel>
Second Attempt
<StackPanel>
<ToggleButton x:Name="someToggleButton" />
<Button Name="myButton" Visibility="{p:PyBinding BooleanToVisibility($[someToggleButton.IsChecked])}" />
<Grid Visibility="{p:PyBinding $[myButton.Visibility]}"/>
<TextBox Visibility="{p:PyBinding $[myButton.Visibility]}"/>
<CheckBox Visibility="{p:PyBinding $[myButton.Visibility]}"/>
</StackPanel>

Answer 3

Just looking at the original code, you could group the necessary elements into their own container and then manage the container Visibility:
<StackPanel>
<ToggleButton x:Name="someToggleButton" />
<StackPanel Visibility="{Binding ElementName=someToggleButton, Path=IsChecked, Converter={StaticResource BoolToVisibilityConverter}}">
<Button />
<Grid />
<TextBox />
<CheckBox />
</StackPanel>
</StackPanel>
Actually, today I would do this with the VSM - have a state with the elements Visible and a state with them not Visible, then use two GoToState Behaviors on the Toggle button to set the state based on the button's toggle state.