So I'm trying to learn Silverlight so I've built a simple demo app that pulls my home feed from FriendFeed and displays the items in a list.
I've got a listbox defined:
<ListBox x:Name="lstItems" Margin="5,61,5,5" Grid.Row="1">
<ListBox.ItemTemplate>
<DataTemplate>
<StackPanel Margin="8,8,43,8">
<TextBlock Text="{Binding Title}" />
</StackPanel>
</DataTemplate>
</ListBox.ItemTemplate>
</ListBox>
which is being populated by a web service call
private void LoginButton_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
FriendFeedServiceClient client = new FriendFeedServiceClient();
client.GetHomeCompleted += new EventHandler<GetHomeCompletedEventArgs>(client_GetHomeCompleted);
client.GetHomeAsync(FfUsername.Text, FfApiKey.Password);
}
void client_GetHomeCompleted(object sender, GetHomeCompletedEventArgs e)
{
lstItems.DataContext = e.Result;
}
The FriendFeedServiceClient is doing a call to a local webservice that proxies a request to the actual FriendFeed webservice.
The service call works fine, the items are returned, if I debug the call the lstItems.DataContext property is populated with a list of items with data in them, but the list doesn't display anything, it's always blank. Have I missed something?
You need to bind your Listbox, something like this
<ListBox x:Name="lstItems" Margin="5,61,5,5" Grid.Row="1" ItemsSource="{Binding}">
and then the TextBlock's binding to the path Title should work.
EDIT: You are setting the DataContext, which kind of gives a hint that you are probably binding a custom object, have you tried casting the e.GetResult to your custom object,
something to the likes of
YourCustomObject obj = (YourCustomObject) e.GetResult;
lstItems.DataContext = obj;
HTH
Rather than DataContext you should be setting ItemsSource. If you use DataContext then you have to set ItemsSource with a binding, however, this level of indirection is rather unnecessary for what you're trying to do.
See this MSDN article for details on listing data in the ListBox.
You're not binding to DataContext.
Try adding ItemsSource="{Binding}":
<ListBox x:Name="lstItems" Margin="5,61,5,5" Grid.Row="1" ItemsSource="{Binding}">
Then make sure that both class and Title property of your object are not private.
Also check output (int output window in visual studio) if there are any Binding error messages and let us know.
Related
This question is a "sequel" to this question (I have applied the answer, but it still won't work).
I'm trying to create an extended ToolBar control for a modular application, which can load its items from multiple data sources (but that is not the issue I'm trying to solve right now, now I want it to work when used as regular ToolBar found in WPF).
In short: I want the ToolBar's items to be able to bind to the tb:ToolBar's parents.
I have following XAML code:
<Window Name="myWindow" DataContext="{Binding ElementName=myWindow}" >
<DockPanel>
<tb:ToolBar Name="toolbar" DockPanel.Dock="Top" DataContext="{Binding ElementName=myWindow}>
<tb:ToolBar.Items>
<tb:ToolBarControl Priority="-3">
<tb:ToolBarControl.Content>
<StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal">
<TextBlock>Maps:</TextBlock>
<ComboBox ItemsSource="{Binding SomeProperty, ElementName=myWindow}">
Some info about the types:
tb:ToolBar is an UserControl with dependency property Items of type FreezableCollection<ToolBarControl>.
tb:ToolBarControl is an UserControl with template pretty much identical to ContentControl's template.
The problem is that the binding in the ComboBox fails (with the usual "Cannot find source for binding with reference"), because its DataContext is null.
Why?
EDIT: The core of the question is "Why is the DataContext not inherited?", without it, the bindings can't work.
EDIT2:
Here is XAML for the tb:ToolBar:
<UserControl ... Name="toolBarControl">
<ToolBarTray>
<ToolBar ItemsSource="{Binding Items, ElementName=toolBarControl}" Name="toolBar" ToolBarTray.IsLocked="True" VerticalAlignment="Top" Height="26">
EDIT 3:
I posted an example of what works and what doesn't: http://pastebin.com/Tyt1Xtvg
Thanks for your answers.
I personally don't like the idea of setting DataContext in controls. I think doing this will somehow break the data context inheritance. Please take a look at this post. I think Simon explained it pretty well.
At least, try removing
DataContext="{Binding ElementName=myWindow}"
from
<tb:ToolBar Name="toolbar" DockPanel.Dock="Top" DataContext="{Binding ElementName=myWindow}>
and see how it goes.
UPDATE
Actually, keep all your existing code (ignore my previous suggestion for a moment), just change
<ComboBox ItemsSource="{Binding SomeProperty, ElementName=myWindow}">
to
<ComboBox ItemsSource="{Binding DataContext.SomeProperty}">
and see if it works.
I think because of the way you structure your controls, the ComboBox is at the same level/scope as the tb:ToolBarControl and the tb:ToolBar. That means they all share the same DataContext, so you don't really need any ElementName binding or RelativeSource binding to try to find its parent/ancestor.
If you remove DataContext="{Binding ElementName=myWindow} from the tb:ToolBar, you can even get rid of the prefix DataContext in the binding. And this is really all you need.
<ComboBox ItemsSource="{Binding SomeProperty}">
UPDATE 2 to answer your Edit 3
This is because your Items collection in your tb:ToolBar usercontrol is just a property. It's not in the logical and visual tree, and I believe ElementName binding uses logical tree.
That's why it is not working.
Add to logical tree
I think to add the Items into the logical tree you need to do two things.
First you need to override the LogicalChildren in your tb:ToolBar usercontrol.
protected override System.Collections.IEnumerator LogicalChildren
{
get
{
if (Items.Count == 0)
{
yield break;
}
foreach (var item in Items)
{
yield return item;
}
}
}
Then whenever you added a new tb:ToolBarControl you need to call
AddLogicalChild(item);
Give it a shot.
This WORKS...
After playing around with it a little bit, I think what I showed you above isn't enough. You will also need to add these ToolBarControls to your main window's name scope to enable ElementName binding. I assume this is how you defined your Items dependency property.
public static DependencyProperty ItemsProperty =
DependencyProperty.Register("Items",
typeof(ToolBarControlCollection),
typeof(ToolBar),
new FrameworkPropertyMetadata(new ToolBarControlCollection(), Callback));
In the callback, it is where you add it to the name scope.
private static void Callback(DependencyObject d, DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs e)
{
var toolbar = (ToolBar)d;
var items = toolbar.Items;
foreach (var item in items)
{
// the panel that contains your ToolBar usercontrol, in the code that you provided it is a DockPanel
var panel = (Panel)toolbar.Parent;
// your main window
var window = panel.Parent;
// add this ToolBarControl to the main window's name scope
NameScope.SetNameScope(item, NameScope.GetNameScope(window));
// ** not needed if you only want ElementName binding **
// this enables bubbling (navigating up) in the visual tree
//toolbar.AddLogicalChild(item);
}
}
Also if you want property inheritance, you will need
// ** not needed if you only want ElementName binding **
// this enables tunneling (navigating down) in the visual tree, e.g. property inheritance
//protected override System.Collections.IEnumerator LogicalChildren
//{
// get
// {
// if (Items.Count == 0)
// {
// yield break;
// }
// foreach (var item in Items)
// {
// yield return item;
// }
// }
//}
I have tested the code and it works fine.
I took the pieces of Xaml that you posted and tried to reproduce your problem.
The DataContext seems to be inheriting just fine from what I can tell. However, ElementName Bindings fail and I think this has to do with the fact that even though you add the ComboBox in the Window, it ends up in a different scope. (It is first added to the Items property of the custom ToolBar and is then populated to the framework ToolBar with a Binding)
A RelativeSource Binding instead of an ElementName Binding seems to be working fine.
But if you really want to use the name of the control in the Binding, then you could check out Dr.WPF's excellent ObjectReference implementation
It would look something like this
<Window ...
tb:ObjectReference.Declaration="{tb:ObjectReference myWindow}">
<!--...-->
<ComboBox ItemsSource="{Binding Path=SomeProperty,
Source={tb:ObjectReference myWindow}}"
I uploaded a small sample project where both RelativeSource and ObjectReference are succesfully used here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/tx5vdqlm8mywgzw/ToolBarTest.zip?dl=0
The custom ToolBar part as I approximated it looks like this in the Window.
ElementName Binding fails but RelativeSource and ObjectReference Bindings work
<Window ...
Name="myWindow"
tb:ObjectReference.Declaration="{tb:ObjectReference myWindow}">
<!--...-->
<tb:ToolBar x:Name="toolbar"
DockPanel.Dock="Top"
DataContext="{Binding ElementName=myWindow}">
<tb:ToolBar.Items>
<tb:ContentControlCollection>
<ContentControl>
<ContentControl.Content>
<StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal">
<TextBlock>Maps:</TextBlock>
<ComboBox ItemsSource="{Binding Path=StringList,
ElementName=myWindow}"
SelectedIndex="0"/>
<ComboBox ItemsSource="{Binding Path=StringList,
Source={tb:ObjectReference myWindow}}"
SelectedIndex="0"/>
<ComboBox ItemsSource="{Binding Path=StringList,
RelativeSource={RelativeSource AncestorType={x:Type Window}}}"
SelectedIndex="0"/>
</StackPanel>
</ContentControl.Content>
</ContentControl>
</tb:ContentControlCollection>
</tb:ToolBar.Items>
</tb:ToolBar>
Often if there is no DataContext then ElementName will not work either. One thing which you can try if the situation allows it is using x:Reference.
For that you need to move the bound control into the resources of the referenced control, change the binding and use StaticResource in the place where it was, e.g.
<Window Name="myWindow" DataContext="{Binding ElementName=myWindow}" >
<Window.Resources>
<ComboBox x:Key="cb"
ItemsSource="{Binding SomeProperty,
Source={x:Reference myWindow}}"/>
</Window.Resources>
<DockPanel>
<tb:ToolBar Name="toolbar" DockPanel.Dock="Top" DataContext="{Binding ElementName=myWindow}>
<tb:ToolBar.Items>
<tb:ToolBarControl Priority="-3">
<tb:ToolBarControl.Content>
<StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal">
<TextBlock>Maps:</TextBlock>
<StaticResource ResourceKey="cb"/>
The proper answer is probably to add everything to the logical tree as mentioned in previous answers, but the following code has proved to be convenient for me. I can't post all the code I have, but...
Write your own Binding MarkupExtension that gets you back to the root element of your XAML file. This code was not compiled as I hacked up my real code to post this.
[MarkupExtensionReturnType(typeof(object))]
public class RootBindingExtension : MarkupExtension
{
public string Path { get; set; }
public RootElementBinding(string path)
{
Path = path;
}
public override object ProvideValue(IServiceProvider serviceProvider)
{
IRootObjectProvider rootObjectProvider =
(IRootObjectProvider)serviceProvider.GetService(typeof(IRootObjectProvider));
Binding binding = new Binding(this.Path);
binding.Source = rootObjectProvider.RootObject;
// Return raw binding if we are in a non-DP object, like a Style
if (service.TargetObject is DependencyObject == false)
return binding;
// Otherwise, return what a normal binding would
object providedValue = binding.ProvideValue(serviceProvider);
return providedValue;
}
}
Usage:
<ComboBox ItemsSource={myBindings:RootBinding DataContext.SomeProperty} />
In my main view I have an ItemsControl which is bound to a collection of objects:
<ItemsControl ItemsSource="{Binding Path=Concepts}"
ItemTemplate="{StaticResource ActivationLevelTemplate}"
/>
Where the ActivationLevelTemplate is just another view:
<DataTemplate x:Key="ActivationLevelTemplate">
<view:ConceptActivationView Height="50"/>
</DataTemplate>
In this view there is a text block, bound to a property of an object from the collection mentioned above. The property is displayed correctly, and now I need to access other properties of the same object from the view's code behind. It seems trivial but I could not get it working.
<TextBlock Text="{Binding Path=Name}"
HorizontalAlignment="Center"
/>
<d3:Plotter2D Name="Plotter"/>
The best thing I came across was ItemContainerGenerator but it does not seem to be what is needed.
What is important is the context in which you try to access that object. If you for example deal with an event inside the DataTemplate you can easily get the object from the DataContext of the sender (has to be a FrameworkElement), e.g. if i were to handle a button click:
private void Button_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
var button = (FrameworkElement)sender;
var employee = (Employee)button.DataContext;
//...
}
In fact if your whole view is inside the DataTemplate you can get the object directly from the View's DataContext as well.
You should be able to iterate through the items in the ItemsControl and get all the properties you need. Give the ItemsControl a name so you can address it in the code behind:
<ItemsControl Name="itemsControl" ... />
Then in code behind
foreach (YourItem item in itemsControl.Items)
{
// your logic...
}
If you need a specific item you could try CurrentItem or GetItemAt() instead
itemsControl.Items.CurrentItem
// or
itemsControl.Items.GetItemAt()
I understand that Silverlight 3.0 has binding but just want a simple example on how to use this to read a property from a class.
I have a class called Appointment which as a String property called Location:
Public Property Location() As String
Get
Return _Location
End Get
Set(ByVal Value As String)
_Location = Value
End Set
End Property
With a Private Declaration for the _Location as String of course.
I want a XAML element to bind to this property to display this in a TextElement, but it must be in XAML and not code, for example I want something like this:
<TextBlock Text="{Binding Appointment.Location}"/>
What do I need to do to get this to work?
It has to be a Silverlight 3.0 solution as some WPF features are not present such as DynamicResource which is what I'm used to using.
Just to add that my XAML is being loaded in from a seperate XAML File, this may be a factor in why the binding examples don't seem to work, as there are different XAML files the same Appointment.Location data needs to be applied.
You have two options.
If the "Appointment" class can be used as the DataContext for the control or Window, you can do:
<TextBlock Text="{Binding Location}" />
If, however, "Appointment" is a property of your current DataContext, you need a more complex path for the binding:
<TextBlock Text="{Binding Path=Appointment.Location}" />
Full details are documented in MSDN under the Binding Declarations page. If neither of these are working, make sure you have the DataContext set correctly.
You need something in code, unless you want to declare an instance of Appointment in a resource and bind to that but I doubt thats what you want.
You need to bind the Text property to the Property Path "Location" then assign the DataContext of the containing XAML to an instance of the Appointment:-
<Grid x:Name="LayoutRoot" Background="White">
<TextBlock Text="{Binding Location}" />
</Grid>
Then in the control's load event:-
void Page_Loaded(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
this.DataContext = new Appointment() { Location = "SomePlace" };
}
Note in this case I'm using the default Page control.
If I'm reading correctly, you need to create an instance of Appointment, set the DataContext of the control to that instance and modify your binding to just say: Text="{Binding Location}"
Also, consider implementing INotifyPropertyChanged on your Appointment class to allow the data classes to notify the UI of property value changes.
I've noticed that if you have anything deriving from UIElement as items in a ListBox in Silverlight it renders the object as is and isn't paying any attention to settings of DisplayMemberPath and/or ListBox.ItemTemplate.
For example if you have XAML like this:
<ListBox Width="200" Height="300" DisplayMemberPath="Tag">
<TextBlock Tag="tag1">text1</TextBlock>
<TextBlock Tag="tag2">text2</TextBlock>
<TextBlock Tag="tag3">text3</TextBlock>
</ListBox>
In Siverlight this produces a ListBox with items like this:
text1
text2
text3
However in WPF (and I think this is correct behavior) it lists tags as expected:
tag1
tag2
tag3
If I use objects that aren't inherited from UIElement everything works as expected:
<ListBox Width="200" Height="300" DisplayMemberPath="[0]">
<sys:String>abcde</sys:String>
<sys:String>fgh</sys:String>
</ListBox>
Produces:
a
f
Is there any way to use UIElements as ItemsSource in Silverlight the same way as any other objects? Or am I missing something?
It looks like the issue is in the PrepareContainerForItemOverride method in ItemsControlBase class. If you look at that method in reflector you will see that if the item is a UIElement then the logic to populate the items using the DisplayMemberPath doesn't get called.
If you want to get the behavior you are after you would need to subclass the ListBox control and override this method and set the values you want set on the ListBoxItems.
Here is an example:
public class MyListBox : ListBox
{
protected override void PrepareContainerForItemOverride(DependencyObject element, object item)
{
if (!object.ReferenceEquals(element, item))
{
ContentControl control = element as ContentControl;
if (control == null || this.ItemTemplate == null)
{
return;
}
control.Content = item;
control.ContentTemplate = this.ItemTemplate;
}
}
}
And you need to have an ItemTemplate for this to work. The DisplayMemberPath property is a little more complicated to implement.
<local:MyListBox Width="200" Height="300" DisplayMemberPath="Tag">
<local:MyListBox.ItemTemplate>
<DataTemplate>
<TextBlock Text="{Binding Tag}" />
</DataTemplate>
</local:MyListBox.ItemTemplate>
<TextBlock Tag="tag1">text1</TextBlock>
<TextBlock Tag="tag2">text2</TextBlock>
<TextBlock Tag="tag3">text3</TextBlock>
</local:MyListBox>
Don't forget to add the xmlns for the local and set it to your assembly that implements the control.
Good luck!
Silverlight and WPF both are differently coded by microsoft, for example yet lot of functionalities of dependency properties are still missing in silverlight 3.0
Now looking at your code, simply means that DisplayMemberPath in silverlight isnt working correctly for dependency objects, but it works better for pure clr objects only for now. However they might come up with an update if you post bug at microsoft connect web site.
Dependency properties are still new in SL 3.0 so we hope to see some improvement in SL 4.0. If you use reflector, you will see that everything like stackpanel and all basic controls differe a lot in implementation in both places.
I have the following code and basically what i am not able to figure out is how to clone the whole grid and make a blank copy of them side by side.... for a clear understanding this is something to do with hospital application and the grid is related to a pregnancy so when said 'ADD CHILD' button a whole new grid should be created during run time, thanks for the help below is a link that might help people cause i tried it but not sure how to display it
How can you clone a WPF object?
You should put the object you are want to "clone" in a DataTemplate and reference this template from an ItemsControl, then when you need another grid add another item to the items control (or even better to the list the control is bound to) and the ItemsControl will create a new grid and bind it the new object.
For an example take a look at this post on my blog.
Here is an example for this application (I left only the relevant parts and I didn't test it, so there are probably some typos there):
<Window ... >
<Window.Resources>
<DataTemplate x:Key="ChildTemplate">
<Grid>
...
<TextBlock Text="Delivery Date:" Grid.Column="0" Grid.Row="0"/>
<TextBox Text="{Binding DeliveryDate}" Grid.Column="1" Grid.Row="0"/>
<TextBlock Text="Delivery Time:" Grid.Column="0" Grid.Row="1"/>
<TextBox Text="{Binding DeliveryTime}" Grid.Column="1" Grid.Row="1"/>
...
</Grid>
</DataTemplate>
</Window.Resources>
...
<Button Content="AddChild" Click="AddChildClick"/>
...
<ScrollViewer>
<ItemsControl ItemsSource="{Binding AllChildren}" ItemsTemplate="{StaticResource ChildTemplate}">
<ItemsControl.PanelTemplate>
<ItemsPanelTemplate><StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal"/></ItemPanelTemplate>
<ItemsControl.PanelTemplate>
</ScrollViewer>
...
</Window>
And in cs:
Set an object with all the form data as the Window's DataContext. I'll call this class PostDelveryData.
Create another class with the repeating data. I'll call it ChildDeliveryData.
Add a property of type ObservableCollection<ChildDeliveryData> called AllChildren to PostDeliveryData; it's important it'll be ObservableCollection and not any other type of collection.
Now, for the magic:
private void AddChildClick(object sender, RoutedEvetnArgs e)
{
((PostDeliveryData)DataContext).AllChildren.Add(new ChildDeliveryData());
}
And when you add the new item to the list another copy of the entire data template will be added.
I'm not sure that you're using the correct approach here. I would approach the problem by creating a "ChildGridControl" with a Child property, and let the Child property handle the databinding. Adding a new child to the GUI would involve creating a new instance of the ChildGridControl.
If I am understanding correctly, you should create a UserControl, which wraps your Grid and subsequent controls inside. And use this User control anywhere you wanted to replicate that UI.