How to bind a ListBox to Properties in a Class? - silverlight

Question

I have one main outstanding issue, I know now how to databind to lists and individual items, but there is one more problem I have with this, I need to bind a listbox to some properties that are in a Class.
For Example I have two Properties that are bound in some XAML in a class called Display:
Public Property ShowEventStart() As Visibility
Public Property ShowEventEnd() As Visibility
I can use these in my XAML but I want them to be in a ListBox/Drop-down List, how can I have my properties show in this list and be able to change their values, does it have to be a List to be in a List?
I just want to be able to modify these properties from a Drop-down list to toggle the Visibility of the ShowEventStart and ShowEventEnd Property Values using the Checkboxes in the Drop-down List.
Plus this must be a Silverlight 3.0 solution, I cannot figure out how to have something that can be bound in the XAML which is not a list and then bound it as a list to modify these items!
I just need a list of Checkboxes which alter the values of the Class Properties such as ShowEventStart and ShowEventEnd, there are other properties but this will be a start.

Answer 1

You can create a PropertyWrapper class and in you window code behind expose a property that returns a List<PropertyWrapper> and bind your ListBox.ItemsSource to it.
public class PropertyWrapper
{
private readonly object target;
private readonly PropertyInfo property;
public PropertyWrapper(object target, PropertyInfo property)
{
this.target = target;
this.property = property;
}
public bool Value
{
get
{
return (bool) property.GetValue(target, null);
}
set
{
property.SetValue(target, value, null);
}
}
public PropertyInfo Property
{
get
{
return this.property;
}
}
}
your window code behind:
public partial class Window1 : Window, INotifyPropertyChanged
{
public Window1()
{
InitializeComponent();
properties = new List<PropertyWrapper>
{
new PropertyWrapper(this, typeof(Window1).GetProperty("A")),
new PropertyWrapper(this, typeof(Window1).GetProperty("B")),
};
this.DataContext = this;
}
private List<PropertyWrapper> properties;
public List<PropertyWrapper> Properties
{
get { return properties; }
}
private bool a;
private bool b = true;
public bool A
{
get
{
return a;
}
set
{
if (value != a)
{
a = value;
NotifyPropertyChange("A");
}
}
}
public bool B
{
get
{
return b;
}
set
{
if (value != b)
{
b = value;
NotifyPropertyChange("B");
}
}
}
protected void NotifyPropertyChange(string propertyName)
{
if (PropertyChanged != null)
{
PropertyChanged.Invoke(
this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs(propertyName));
}
}
public event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged;
}
your window markup:
<ListBox ItemsSource="{Binding Path=Properties}">
<ListBox.ItemTemplate>
<DataTemplate>
<StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal">
<TextBlock Text="{Binding Path=Property.Name}"/>
<CheckBox IsChecked="{Binding Path=Value}" />
</StackPanel>
</DataTemplate>
</ListBox.ItemTemplate>
</ListBox>
Hope this helps

Answer 2

I tried to mock up something similar. See how this works for you and let me know if I misunderstood the question.
From MainPage.xaml:
<StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal">
<ListBox SelectedItem="{Binding ShowControls, Mode=TwoWay}" x:Name="VisibilityList"/>
<Button Content="Test" Visibility="{Binding ShowControls}"/>
<CheckBox Content="Test 2" Visibility="{Binding ShowControls}"/>
</StackPanel>
The code behind MainPage.xaml.cs:
public partial class MainPage : UserControl
{
VisibilityData visibilityData = new VisibilityData();
public MainPage()
{
InitializeComponent();
VisibilityList.Items.Add(Visibility.Visible);
VisibilityList.Items.Add(Visibility.Collapsed);
this.DataContext = visibilityData;
}
}
And the data class:
public class VisibilityData : INotifyPropertyChanged
{
private Visibility showControls = Visibility.Visible;
public Visibility ShowControls
{
get { return showControls; }
set
{
showControls = value;
OnPropertyChanged("ShowControls");
}
}
private void OnPropertyChanged(string p)
{
if (PropertyChanged != null)
PropertyChanged(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs(p));
}
public event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged;
}
When you run that code you should get a ListBox with the options Visible and Collapsed and when you choose an option you should see the visibility of the button and checkbox is changed to reflect your choice. Let me know if that's not what you were looking for.

Answer 3

After thinking about this the solution occured to me, which is to construct the List in XAML then using a Converter on the Checkboxes to convert their Boolean IsChecked to the Property Visibility Property in the Class.
You can create a list such as:
<ComboBox Canvas.Left="6" Canvas.Top="69" Width="274" Height="25" Name="Display">
<StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal">
<CheckBox IsChecked="{Binding Path=Display.EventStart,Mode=TwoWay,Converter={StaticResource VisibilityConverter}}"/>
<TextBlock Text="Event Start"/>
</StackPanel>
<StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal">
<CheckBox IsChecked="{Binding Path=Display.EventEnd,Mode=TwoWay,Converter={StaticResource VisibilityConverter}}"/>
<TextBlock Text="Event End"/>
</StackPanel>
</ComboBox>
I can then Bind to the Two Properties I want (this example from the actual application).