Develop Reference

Window property and Checkbox databinding xaml

I have been a few hours now trying to understand how to do data-binding.
Initially I was following some examples but they all show to do the databinding using {Binding Source={StaticResource myObject}, Path=myObject.myProperty}
or {Binding Path=myObject.myProperty}
Nothing of this seem to bind the Config object inside the controller that is inside the Window.
If I do the binding as an StaticResource it does the binding to an object of the Controller class but is NOT the object that is created inside the window class, this Config seems to be a new separate instance. This is the part I don't understand. If someone could explain or give me some reference where to look I would greatly appreciate it.
This is some code very simplified
Window1.cs
<Window x:Class="Sample.UI.Main"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008"
xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006"
xmlns:controller="clr-namespace:Sample.Controller"
mc:Ignorable="d"
Title="SampleApp" Height="600" Width="800" ResizeMode="NoResize" WindowStartupLocation="CenterScreen">
<Window.Resources>
<ResourceDictionary>
<controller:PublisherController x:Key="oController" />
</ResourceDictionary>
</Window.Resources>
<CheckBox x:Name="chkBoxShowRoom" Style="{StaticResource checkBoxTemplate}" Content="{StaticResource configShowRoom}" IsChecked="{Binding Source={StaticResource oController}, Path=Config.ShowRoom}"/>
Then my Window1.cs
public partial class Main : Window
{
public PublisherController Controller { get; set; }
Then Controller.cs
public class PublisherController
{
public Configuration Config { get; set; }
Then the Configuration.cs
public class Configuration : AbstractEntity, INotifyPropertyChanged
{
private bool _ShowRoom;
public bool ShowRoom
{
get
{
return _ShowRoom;
}
set
{
if (value != _ShowRoom)
{
this._ShowRoom = value;
OnPropertyChanged();
}
}
}
...

Binding tab controls with mahapps and prism - WPF

I am building a WPF application with mahapps, prism[modularity]. I have below HomeWindow.xaml code.
<Controls:MetroWindow x:Class="Project.Views.HomeWindow"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008"
xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006"
xmlns:Controls="clr-namespace:MahApps.Metro.Controls;assembly=MahApps.Metro"
xmlns:local="clr-namespace:Project.Views"
xmlns:prism="http://prismlibrary.com/"
prism:ViewModelLocator.AutoWireViewModel="True"
<!--The above code is for automatically binding of viewmodel into view-->
Height="700" Width="1200" Background="White">
<Grid>
<TabControl ItemsSource="{Binding TabCollection}">
<TabControl.ItemTemplate>
<DataTemplate>
<TextBlock>
<TextBlock Text="{Binding Name}"/>
</TextBlock>
</DataTemplate>
</TabControl.ItemTemplate>
<TabControl.ContentTemplate>
<DataTemplate>
<Label Content="{Binding Content}" />
</DataTemplate>
</TabControl.ContentTemplate>
</TabControl>
</Grid>
</Controls:MetroWindow>
I have below structure in my HomeViewModel.cs under ViewModels directory.
public class HomeViewModel : BindableBase
{
private ObservableCollection<Item> _tabCollection;
public ObservableCollection<Item> TabCollection { get { return _tabCollection; } set { SetProperty(ref _tabCollection, value); } }
//Prism way of getting and setting data
}
public class Item
{
private string Name;
private string Content;
public Item(string name, string content)
{
Name = name;
Content = content;
}
}
below is how I add data into TabCollection property through HomeWindow.xaml.cs.
private HomeViewModel _model=new HomeViewModel();
public HomeWindow(EmployeeViewModel model)
{
InitializeComponent();
_model.UserViewModel = model;
LoadHomeData(_model.UserViewModel.EmpRole);
DataContext = this;
}
private void LoadHomeData(string Role)
{
if (string.Equals(Role, "Admin"))
{
_model.TabCollection= new ObservableCollection<Item>()
{
new Item("Test1", "1"),
new Item("Test2", "2"),
new Item("Test3", "3")
};
}
}
Now matter what, the tabs will not get displayed. Its a blank empty window. I have followed the example in the issue here and have went through few similar posts having same kind of approach. But none of them helped. Is this because of prism way of databinding or is there anything else am missing here? Hope to find some help on this..

Your problem is not connected to MahApps or Prism but to how WPF works in general. In your case Name and Content are private fields and should be public properties
public string Name { get; set; }
public string Content { get; set; }
private or field is not a valid binding source. You can find more as to what is a valid binding source under Binding Sources Overview but in your case, as far as CLR object goes:
You can bind to public properties, sub-properties, as well as indexers, of any common language runtime (CLR) object. The binding engine uses CLR reflection to get the values of the properties. Alternatively, objects that implement ICustomTypeDescriptor or have a registered TypeDescriptionProvider also work with the binding engine.
Another problem is that DataContext is set wrong. At the moment is set to HomeWindow and I think it should be set to instance of HomeViewModel which holds TabCollection property
DataContext = _model;

Bind DependencyProperty of Usercontrol in ListBox

I need ListBox with my UserControl listed in it. My UserControl has TextBox. So I want to display property of List's subitem in UserControl's textBox. I have tried a lot of options with DataContext and ElementName - it just doesn`t work. I just stucked on it. The only way to make it work is to remove DataContext binding of UserControl to itself and change Item Property name so it matches to DependencyProperty name - but I need to reuse my control in different viewmodels with different entities so it is almost not possible to use the approach.
Interesting thing is that if I change my UserControl to Textbox and bind Text property of it - everything works. What the difference between Textbox and my UserControl?
So let me just show my code.
I have simplified the code to show only essential:
Control XAML:
<UserControl x:Class="TestControl.MyControl"
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"
d:DesignHeight="100" d:DesignWidth="200"
DataContext="{Binding RelativeSource={RelativeSource Self}}">
<Grid>
<TextBlock Text="{Binding Text}"/>
</Grid>
</UserControl>
Control CS:
public partial class MyControl : UserControl
{
public MyControl()
{
InitializeComponent();
}
public string Text
{
get {
return (string)this.GetValue(TextProperty); }
set {
this.SetValue(TextProperty, value); }
}
public static DependencyProperty TextProperty = DependencyProperty.Register("Text", typeof(string), typeof(MyControl), new propertyMetadata(""));
}
Window XAML:
<Window x:Class="TestControl.MainWindow"
Name="_windows"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
xmlns:local="clr-namespace:TestControl"
Title="MainWindow" Height="350" Width="525" >
<Grid Name="RootGrid">
<ListBox ItemsSource="{Binding ElementName=_windows, Path=MyList}">
<ItemsControl.ItemTemplate >
<DataTemplate >
<local:MyControl Text="{Binding Path=Name}"/>
</DataTemplate>
</ItemsControl.ItemTemplate>
</ListBox>
</Grid>
</Window>
Window CS:
public partial class MainWindow : Window
{
public MainWindow()
{
_list = new ObservableCollection<Item>();
_list.Add(new Item("Sam"));
_list.Add(new Item("App"));
_list.Add(new Item("H**"));
InitializeComponent();
}
private ObservableCollection<Item> _list;
public ObservableCollection<Item> MyList
{
get { return _list;}
set {}
}
}
public class Item
{
public Item(string name)
{
_name = name;
}
private string _name;
public string Name
{
get { return _name; }
set { _name = value; }
}
}

This is a pretty big gotcha in XAML. The problem is that when you do this in the user control:
DataContext="{Binding RelativeSource={RelativeSource Self}}"
You change its data context, so that in this line:
<local:MyControl Text="{Binding Path=Name}"/>
The runtime will now attempt to resolve "Name" on the instance of "MyControl", instead of on the inherited data context (ie, the view model). (Confirm this by checking the Output window -- you should see a binding error to that effect.)
You can get around this by, instead of setting the user control's data context that way, using a RelativeSource binding:
<UserControl x:Class="TestControl.MyControl"
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"
d:DesignHeight="100" d:DesignWidth="200"
<Grid>
<TextBlock
Text="{Binding Text,RelativeSource={RelativeSource AncestorType=UserControl}}"
/>
</Grid>
</UserControl>

My WPF custom control's Data Context is superseding parent's

In my main window, I try to bind to a bool, but it's looking in my custom control's DataContext instead. If I don't assign DataContext in the user control, then the main window's bindings works, but (obviously) this brakes the bindings in the user control.
Here's the error:
System.Windows.Data Error: 40 : BindingExpression path error: 'MyControlVisible' property not found on 'object' ''MyUserControlModel' (HashCode=1453241)'. BindingExpression:Path=MyControlVisible; DataItem='MyUserControlModel' (HashCode=1453241); target element is 'MyUserControl' (Name='_myUserControl'); target property is 'Visibility' (type 'Visibility')
I need binding to work on both controls, but I don't want the user control's DataContext to supersede the window's.
Here's the code:
<Window x:Class="Sandbox.MainWindow"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
xmlns:Controls="clr-namespace:Sandbox.Controls" Title="Sandbox">
<DockPanel LastChildFill="True">
<DockPanel.Resources>
<BooleanToVisibilityConverter x:Key="boolToVis" />
</DockPanel.Resources>
<Grid>
<Controls:MyUserControl x:Name="_myUserControl" Visibility="{Binding MyControlVisible, Converter={StaticResource boolToVis}}"/>
</Grid>
</DockPanel>
</Window>
namespace Sandbox
{
public partial class MainWindow
{
private MainWindowModel model;
public MainWindow()
{
InitializeComponent();
DataContext = model = new MainWindowModel();
_myUserControl.Initialize(model.MyUControlModel);
}
}
}
using System.ComponentModel;
using Sandbox.Controls;
namespace Sandbox
{
public class MainWindowModel : BaseModel
{
public MyUserControlModel MyUControlModel { get; set; }
public bool MyControlVisible { get; set; }
public MainWindowModel()
{
MyUControlModel = new MyUserControlModel();
MyControlVisible = false;
OnChange("");
}
}
public class BaseModel : INotifyPropertyChanged
{
public event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged;
protected void OnChange(string s)
{
var handler = PropertyChanged;
if (handler != null)
{
handler(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs(s));
}
}
}
}
<UserControl x:Class="Sandbox.Controls.MyUserControl"
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">
<Grid>
<TextBlock Text="{Binding MyBoundText}"/>
</Grid>
</UserControl>
namespace Sandbox.Controls
{
public partial class MyUserControl
{
public MyUserControl()
{
InitializeComponent();
}
public void Initialize(MyUserControlModel context)
{
DataContext = context;
}
}
}
namespace Sandbox.Controls
{
public class MyUserControlModel : BaseModel
{
public string MyBoundText { get; set; }
public MyUserControlModel()
{
MyBoundText = "Hello World!";
OnChange("");
}
}
}

That is one of the many reasons you should never set the DataContext directly from the UserControl itself.
When you do so, you can no longer use any other DataContext with it because the UserControl's DataContext is hardcoded in.
In the case of your binding, normally the DataContext would be inherited so the Visibility binding could find the property MyControlVisible on the current DataContext, however because you hardcoded the DataContext in your UserControl's constructor, that property is not found.
You could specify a different binding source in your binding, such as
<Controls:MyUserControl Visibility="{Binding
RelativeSource={RelativeSource AncestorType={x:Type Window}},
Path=DataContext.MyControlVisible,
Converter={StaticResource boolToVis}}" ... />
However that's just a workaround for the problem for this specific case, and in my view is not a permanent solution. A better solution is to simply not hardcode the DataContext in your UserControl
There are a few different ways you can do depending on your UserControl's purpose and how your application is designed.
You could create a DependencyProperty on your UserControl to pass in the value, and bind to that.
<Controls:MyUserControl UcModel="{Binding MyUControlModelProperty}" ... />
and
<UserControl x:Class="Sandbox.Controls.MyUserControl"
ElementName=MyUserControl...>
<Grid DataContext="{Binding UCModel, ElementName=MyUserControl}">
<TextBlock Text="{Binding MyBoundText}"/>
</Grid>
</UserControl>
Or you could build your UserControl with the expectation that a specific property will get passed to it in the DataContext. This is normally what I do, in combination with DataTemplates.
<Controls:MyUserControl DataContext="{Binding MyUControlModelProperty}" ... />
and
<UserControl x:Class="Sandbox.Controls.MyUserControl"...>
<Grid>
<TextBlock Text="{Binding MyBoundText}"/>
</Grid>
</UserControl>
As I said above, I like to use DataTemplates to display my UserControls that expect a specific type of Model for their DataContext, so typically my XAML for the main window would look something like this:
<DataTemplate DataType="{x:Type local:MyUControlModel}">
<Controls:MyUserControl />
</DataTemplate>
<ContentPresenter Content="{Binding MyUControlModelProperty}" ... />

Access codebehind variable in XAML

How can I access the public variable which in Sample.xaml.cs file like asp.net <%=VariableName%>?

There are a few ways to do this.
Add your variable as a resource from codebehind:
myWindow.Resources.Add("myResourceKey", myVariable);
Then you can access it from XAML:
<TextBlock Text="{StaticResource myResourceKey}"/>
If you have to add it after the XAML gets parsed, you can use a DynamicResource above instead of StaticResource.
Make the variable a property of something in your XAML. Usually this works through the DataContext:
myWindow.DataContext = myVariable;
or
myWindow.MyProperty = myVariable;
After this, anything in your XAML can access it through a Binding:
<TextBlock Text="{Binding Path=PropertyOfMyVariable}"/>
or
<TextBlock Text="{Binding ElementName=myWindow, Path=MyProperty}"/>

For binding, if DataContext is not in use, you can simply add this to the constructor of the code behind:
this.DataContext = this;
Using this, every property in the code becomes accessible to binding:
<TextBlock Text="{Binding PropertyName}"/>
Another way is to just give a name to the root element of the XAML:
x:Name="root"
Since the XAML is compiled as a partial class of the code-behind, we can access every property by name:
<TextBlock Text="{Binding ElementName="root" Path=PropertyName}"/>
Note: access is only available to properties; not to fields. set; and get; or {Binding Mode = OneWay} are necessary. If OneWay binding is used, the underlying data should implement INotifyPropertyChanged.

For quick-and-dirty Windows in WPF, I prefer binding the DataContext of the Window to the window itself; this can all be done in XAML.
Window1.xaml
<Window x:Class="WpfApplication1.Window1"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
DataContext="{Binding RelativeSource={RelativeSource self}}"
Title="Window1" Height="300" Width="300">
<StackPanel>
<TextBlock Text="{Binding Path=MyProperty1}" />
<TextBlock Text="{Binding Path=MyProperty2}" />
<Button Content="Set Property Values" Click="Button_Click" />
</StackPanel>
</Window>
Window1.xaml.cs
public partial class Window1 : Window
{
public static readonly DependencyProperty MyProperty2Property =
DependencyProperty.Register("MyProperty2", typeof(string), typeof(Window1), new UIPropertyMetadata(string.Empty));
public static readonly DependencyProperty MyProperty1Property =
DependencyProperty.Register("MyProperty1", typeof(string), typeof(Window1), new UIPropertyMetadata(string.Empty));
public Window1()
{
InitializeComponent();
}
public string MyProperty1
{
get { return (string)GetValue(MyProperty1Property); }
set { SetValue(MyProperty1Property, value); }
}
public string MyProperty2
{
get { return (string)GetValue(MyProperty2Property); }
set { SetValue(MyProperty2Property, value); }
}
private void Button_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
// Set MyProperty1 and 2
this.MyProperty1 = "Hello";
this.MyProperty2 = "World";
}
}
In the above example, note the binding used in the DataContext property on the Window, this says "Set your data context to yourself". The two text blocks are bound to MyProperty1 and MyProperty2, the event handler for the button will set these values, which will automatically propagate to the Text property of the two TextBlocks as the properties are Dependency Properties.

It is also worth noting that a 'Binding' can only be set on a DependencyProperty of a DependencyObject. If you want to set a non DependencyProperty (eg. a normal property) on an object in XAML, then you will have to use Robert's first method of using resources in the code behind.

myWindow.xaml
<Window
...
<TextBlock Text="{ Binding Path=testString }" />
</Window>
myWindow.xaml.cs
public partial class myWindow: Window
{
public string testString { get; set; } = "This is a test string";
public myWindow()
{
DataContext = this;
InitializeComponent();
}
}
Important
Set Datacontext
testString MUST be public
testString MUST be a property (have a get and set)