WPF binding ComboBox to enum (with a twist) - wpf

Question

Well the problem is that I have this enum, BUT I don't want the combobox to show the values of the enum. This is the enum:
public enum Mode
{
[Description("Display active only")]
Active,
[Description("Display selected only")]
Selected,
[Description("Display active and selected")]
ActiveAndSelected
}
So in the ComboBox instead of displaying Active, Selected or ActiveAndSelected, I want to display the DescriptionProperty for each value of the enum. I do have an extension method called GetDescription() for the enum:
public static string GetDescription(this Enum enumObj)
{
FieldInfo fieldInfo =
enumObj.GetType().GetField(enumObj.ToString());
object[] attribArray = fieldInfo.GetCustomAttributes(false);
if (attribArray.Length == 0)
{
return enumObj.ToString();
}
else
{
DescriptionAttribute attrib =
attribArray[0] as DescriptionAttribute;
return attrib.Description;
}
}
So is there a way I can bind the enum to the ComboBox AND show it's content with the GetDescription extension method?
Thanks!

Answer 1

I would suggest a DataTemplate and a ValueConverter. That will let you customize the way it's displayed, but you would still be able to read the combobox's SelectedItem property and get the actual enum value.
ValueConverters require a lot of boilerplate code, but there's nothing too complicated here. First you create the ValueConverter class:
public class ModeConverter : IValueConverter
{
public object Convert(object value, Type targetType, object parameter,
CultureInfo culture)
{
return ((Mode) value).GetDescription();
}
public object ConvertBack(object value, Type targetType, object parameter,
CultureInfo culture)
{
throw new NotSupportedException();
}
}
Since you're only converting enum values to strings (for display), you don't need ConvertBack -- that's just for two-way binding scenarios.
Then you put an instance of the ValueConverter into your resources, with something like this:
<Window ... xmlns:WpfApplication1="clr-namespace:WpfApplication1">
<Window.Resources>
<WpfApplication1:ModeConverter x:Key="modeConverter"/>
</Window.Resources>
....
</Window>
Then you're ready to give the ComboBox a DisplayTemplate that formats its items using the ModeConverter:
<ComboBox Name="comboBox" ...>
<ComboBox.ItemTemplate>
<DataTemplate>
<TextBlock Text="{Binding Converter={StaticResource modeConverter}}"/>
</DataTemplate>
</ComboBox.ItemTemplate>
</ComboBox>
To test this, I threw in a Label too, that would show me the actual SelectedItem value, and it did indeed show that SelectedItem is the enum instead of the display text, which is what I would want:
<Label Content="{Binding ElementName=comboBox, Path=SelectedItem}"/>

Answer 2

I like the way you think. But GetCustomAttributes uses reflection. What is that going to do to your performance?
Check out this post:
WPF - Displaying enums in ComboBox control
http://www.infosysblogs.com/microsoft/2008/09/wpf_displaying_enums_in_combob.html

Answer 3

This is how I am doing it with MVVM. On my model I would have defined my enum:
public enum VelocityUnitOfMeasure
{
[Description("Miles per Hour")]
MilesPerHour,
[Description("Kilometers per Hour")]
KilometersPerHour
}
On my ViewModel I expose a property that provides possible selections as string as well as a property to get/set the model's value. This is useful if we don't want to use every enum value in the type:
//UI Helper
public IEnumerable<string> VelocityUnitOfMeasureSelections
{
get
{
var units = new []
{
VelocityUnitOfMeasure.MilesPerHour.Description(),
VelocityUnitOfMeasure.KilometersPerHour.Description()
};
return units;
}
}
//VM property
public VelocityUnitOfMeasure UnitOfMeasure
{
get { return model.UnitOfMeasure; }
set { model.UnitOfMeasure = value; }
}
Furthermore, I use a generic EnumDescriptionCoverter:
public class EnumDescriptionConverter : IValueConverter
{
//From Binding Source
public object Convert(object value, Type targetType, object parameter, CultureInfo culture)
{
if (!(value is Enum)) throw new ArgumentException("Value is not an Enum");
return (value as Enum).Description();
}
//From Binding Target
public object ConvertBack(object value, Type targetType, object parameter, CultureInfo culture)
{
if (!(value is string)) throw new ArgumentException("Value is not a string");
foreach(var item in Enum.GetValues(targetType))
{
var asString = (item as Enum).Description();
if (asString == (string) value)
{
return item;
}
}
throw new ArgumentException("Unable to match string to Enum description");
}
}
And finally, with the view I can do the following:
<Window.Resources>
<ValueConverters:EnumDescriptionConverter x:Key="enumDescriptionConverter" />
</Window.Resources>
...
<ComboBox SelectedItem="{Binding UnitOfMeasure, Converter={StaticResource enumDescriptionConverter}}"
ItemsSource="{Binding VelocityUnitOfMeasureSelections, Mode=OneWay}" />

Answer 4

I suggest you use a markup extension I had already posted here, with just a little modification :
[MarkupExtensionReturnType(typeof(IEnumerable))]
public class EnumValuesExtension : MarkupExtension
{
public EnumValuesExtension()
{
}
public EnumValuesExtension(Type enumType)
{
this.EnumType = enumType;
}
[ConstructorArgument("enumType")]
public Type EnumType { get; set; }
public override object ProvideValue(IServiceProvider serviceProvider)
{
if (this.EnumType == null)
throw new ArgumentException("The enum type is not set");
return Enum.GetValues(this.EnumType).Select(o => GetDescription(o));
}
}
You can then use it like that :
<ComboBox ItemsSource="{local:EnumValues local:Mode}"/>
EDIT: the method I suggested will bind to a list of string, which is not desirable since we want the SelectedItem to be of type Mode. It would be better to remove the .Select(...) part, and use a binding with a custom converter in the ItemTemplate.

Answer 5

Questions of using reflection and attributes aside, there are a few ways you could do this, but I think the best way is to just create a little view model class that wraps the enumeration value:
public class ModeViewModel : ViewModel
{
private readonly Mode _mode;
public ModeViewModel(Mode mode)
{
...
}
public Mode Mode
{
get { ... }
}
public string Description
{
get { return _mode.GetDescription(); }
}
}
Alternatively, you could look into using ObjectDataProvider.

Answer 6

I've done it like this :
<ComboBox x:Name="CurrencyCodeComboBox" Grid.Column="4" DisplayMemberPath="." HorizontalAlignment="Left" Height="22" Margin="11,6.2,0,10.2" VerticalAlignment="Center" Width="81" Grid.Row="1" SelectedValue="{Binding currencyCode}" >
<ComboBox.ItemsPanel>
<ItemsPanelTemplate>
<VirtualizingStackPanel/>
</ItemsPanelTemplate>
</ComboBox.ItemsPanel>
</ComboBox>
in code I set itemSource :
CurrencyCodeComboBox.ItemsSource = [Enum].GetValues(GetType(currencyCode))