Develop Reference

WPF -How to access the fields present in a template

Let me explain so I have a wpf application I used a listBox with a template. This template contains a TextBlock and a ComboBox. When running the application, everything goes well, my list is initialized correctly. But then I would like to retrieve the values ​​of my TextBlock and my comboBox and I don't understand how I can achieve this.
I am attaching the part of my XAML code that deals with this listBox :
<ListBox x:Name="ListBoxEnv" Grid.Row="1"
d:ItemsSource="{d:SampleData ItemCount=5}" Width="460"
SelectionChanged="ListBoxEnv_SelectionChanged">
<ListBox.ItemTemplate>
<DataTemplate>
<StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal">
<TextBlock x:Name="TxtBlockEnv"
VerticalAlignment="Center" HorizontalAlignment="Left"
Text="{Binding EnvName}"/>
<ComboBox x:Name="ComboBoxEnv"
VerticalAlignment="Center" HorizontalAlignment="Left"
ItemsSource="{Binding EnvListValue}"
Margin="100,2,0,2" Width="200"
SelectionChanged="ComboBoxEnv_SelectionChanged"/>
</StackPanel>
</DataTemplate>
</ListBox.ItemTemplate>
</ListBox>

The EnvName property is readonly because it is bound to TextBlock, so you can ignore it. Change binding to: Text="{Binding EnvName, Mode=OneTime}" to save the app resources.
However to extract selected environment in every combo in the list you need to add to ComboBox template: SelectedItem={Binding SelectedEnv} and add new property to SampleData
for example
public MyEnvironmentClass SelectedEnv {get; set;}

Adding custom items to stackpanel

I'm working on a project (for Windows Phone 8 with Visual Studio 2012 with C#) where I want to display some items that each have:
a picture
a title
a description
to be able to be clicked (so that I can navigate to a certain Page)
So I thought I could do that with a stackpanel. But I'm not sure how I can add items that have the above properties and to be able to add those items from XAML. I tired adding items through a ItemsControl in stackpanel but I'm not sure how I can add more complex items like the one I want.

The best approach is to use a ListBox or LongListSelector rather than a StackPanel. You can then:
Data bind the list to the control itself, which will handle adding/deleting items from the control automatically
Define the view for each control using ListBox's ItemTemplate property
First of all, in your code-behind/ViewModel/what-have-you, you'll want to create an ObservableCollection of objects to display. ObservableCollection will let the control know to update in the case an item is added, removed, etc.
public ObservableCollection<T> foo = new ObservableCollection<T>();
In XAML, you'll then want to databind this ObservableCollection to the ListBox you've created:
<ListBox x:Name="ListBox" ItemsSource="{Binding foo}" />
Finally, you can define the ItemTemplate of the ListBox like so:
<ListBox x:Name="ListBox" ItemsSource="{Binding foo}" >
<ListBox.ItemTemplate>
<DataTemplate>
<StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal" Margin="2">
<TextBlock Text="{Binding Title}" />
<TextBlock Text="{Binding Description}" />
<Image Source="{Binding Image}" />
</StackPanel>
</DataTemplate>
</ListBox.ItemTemplate>
</ListBox>
I'd highly recommend reading this guide, especially "Binding a control to a collection of objects" and the section after on DataTemplates. :)

Silverlight: ComboBox Behavior

really simple problem, but I guess I have just the wrong definition of combobox:
I'd like to get a simple thing like:
http://www.c-sharpcorner.com/uploadfile/mahesh/combobox-in-silverlight/
But whenever I add a combobox (or a listbox) and set the itemssource, it shows directly all items and I dont have a textbox-like selection.
My approach was quite simple:
In XAML I define:
<StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal">
<TextBlock VerticalAlignment="Center" Style="{StaticResource styleStdWidth}" Text="Spieler 1:" />
<ListBox x:Name="lsbPlayerOne" ItemTemplate="{StaticResource dtName}" Width="300" />
<TextBox x:Name="txtPlayerOnePoints" Style="{StaticResource stylePlayerWidth}" />
</StackPanel>
<DataTemplate x:Name="dtName">
<StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal">
<TextBlock Text="{Binding Name}" TextWrapping="Wrap" FontSize="35" FontWeight="Bold" x:Name="txbname"/>
</StackPanel>
</DataTemplate>
And in Code behind I just set the ItemsSource with a List, which has data.
Since the ListBox gets bigger every time I add a item, it gets uglier and uglier.
Am I missing a property, which I didnt find? I did not see anything...
Sorry for the confusing question :)
P.S.: I tried the same as in the example shown in the link. Sadly I cant open the sample project.
Matthias Müller

Your question is unclear. But you are not implementing a combobox in the code you have shown. Why don't you use a combobox and set your itemsource to the list that contains the fields you want to use?
<ComboBox ItemSource={Binding Names}/>

Controls in Listbox

I'm interesting, can I group some controls (image, 2-3 textboxes) in one element, and then push group of this elements in listbox? I'm trying to make a news reader of russian social network Vkontakte into Windwos Phone 7.
Each news has an image, text, and some other metadata. So I want to group all this info in one control and use it in listbox.
I tryied to push a grid(which had an image and two textboxes) into listbox, but it throws XamlParseException.
Also, I need to get the content of theese textboxes and images from code. In grid I can use
<Grid.Resources>
<src:Customers x:Key="customers"/>
</Grid.Resources>

Here is what you need:
A collection (ObservableCollection<T> recommended) of models (News in you case).
A ListBox
A DataTemplate
Example:
XAML:
<ListBox Name="ListBox1">
<ListBox.ItemTemplate>
<DataTemplate>
<Grid>
...
<Image Source="{Binding ImagePropertyInModel}" ... />
<TextBlock Text="{Binding TextPropertyInModel}" ... />
...
</Grid>
</DataTemplate>
</ListBox.ItemTemplate>
</ListBox>
Code behind:
ListBox1.ItemsSource = <collection of models>;
Instead of the <Grid> in <DataTemplate> you can use a Custom Control (Templated Control) or a User Control that you may already have.

You can create an UserControl with the controls you want to use. With your ListBox you do something like:
<ListBox ItemsSource="{Binding Path=YourItemsSource}">
<ListBox.ItemTemplate>
<DataTemplate>
<my:MyUserControl DataContext="{Binding}"/>
</DataTemplate>
</ListBox.ItemTemplate>
</ListBox>
As ItemsSource of your ListBox you could use a ObservableCollection of News and through DataContext="{Binding}" you can bind to the News properties in your UserControl, e.g.:
<UserControl...>
<Image Source="{Binding Path=photoAttachment}"/>
</UserControl>

Binding a collection to Listbox

I basically started today with WPF, and I'm astounded by how difficult it is to do binding. I have an array of TextBoxes, in an ObservableCollection, and just want to bind that in my Listbox, so that they arrange themselves vertically.
I have fiddled around with this for 3 already, can you help?
I'm working in a WPF UserControl, not a window as so many tutorials seem to rely on.

In your C# code, you can do something like this:
myListBox.ItemsSource = myTextBoxesCollection;
Or in your XAML code:
<ListBox ItemsSource="{Binding MyTextBoxesCollection}">
<ListBox.ItemTemplate>
<DataTemplate>
<TextBox Text="{Binding Text}" />
</DataTemplate>
</ListBox.ItemTemplate>
</ListBox>
For the XAML, MyTextBoxesCollection needs to be a public property on your data context. One way to set the DataContext could be, in your constructor:
DataContext = this;

Having an ObservableCollection<TextBox> is alomost always the wrong approach. You likely want an ObservableCollection<string> instead.
Then, in your ListBox (or ItemsCollection) you have the following code:
<ListBox ItemsSource="{Binding MyStrings}">
<ListBox.ItemTemplate>
<DataTemplate>
<TextBox Text="{Binding .}" />
</DataTemplate>
</ListBox.ItemTemplate>
</ListBox>

Make MyTextBoxCollection (your ObservableCollection of textboxes) a public property of your DataContext.
<ListBox ItemsSource=”{Binding MyTextBoxCollection}”>
<ListBox.ItemTemplate>
<DataTemplate><TextBox Text=”{Binding Text}” /></DataTemplate>
</ListBox.ItemTemplate>
</ListBox>