Binding Dictionary<string, List<customObject>> to ListBox in WPF

Question

I have a Dictionary<string, List<WritingMachine>> where the key is the hostname of a machine that writes to a server, and the value is an list of WritingMachine objects (shown below):

public class WritingMachine
{
    public string HostName { get; set; }
    public string Program { get; set; }
    public string Login { get; set; }
    public string Server { get; set; }
}

I'm trying to bind the dictionary to a WPF ListBox; displaying the Hostname (the dictionary's key), and a summary of the WritingMachine list that's associated with that key.

I'm having trouble accessing the properties of the individual WritingMachine elements within the list.

Here's my XAML so far:

<ListBox x:Name="MachineListBox" Margin="10" Grid.Column="0" FontFamily="Consolas" ItemsSource="{Binding Path=MachineDictionary}">
    <ListBox.ItemTemplate>
        <DataTemplate>
            <StackPanel Orientation="Vertical" Margin="5">
                <ContentPresenter Content="{Binding Key}" Margin="0,0,4,0"/>
                <ItemsControl ItemsSource="{Binding Value}" Margin="10,0,0,0">
                    <ItemsControl.ItemsPanel>
                        <ItemsPanelTemplate>
                            <StackPanel Orientation="Vertical" />
                        </ItemsPanelTemplate>
                    </ItemsControl.ItemsPanel>
                </ItemsControl>
            </StackPanel>
        </DataTemplate>
    </ListBox.ItemTemplate>
</ListBox>

This results in a listbox that looks like this:

Obviously this is wrong because the WritingMachine list elements are just returning the default ToString. By overriding WritingMachine's ToString I can get the effect I want (more or less):

But this a crap way of doing it... I want to be able to access the individual element properties and arrange them in controls in my ListBox.ItemTemplate using Content="{Binding Value.Server}" or similar.

Any ideas?

MSDN How to display data in a ListBox xaml

MethodMan
– MethodMan

2015-09-14 16:34:45 +00:00
Commented Sep 14, 2015 at 16:34 — MethodMan
– MethodMan, Commented Sep 14, 2015 at 16:34

Lorek · Accepted Answer · 2015-09-14 16:35:14Z

2

For your ItemsControl you need to set an ItemTemplate:

        <ItemsControl.ItemTemplate>
            <DataTemplate>
                <StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal">
                    <TextBlock>Server: </TextBlock>
                    <TextBlock Text="{Binding Server}"/>
                </StackPanel>
            </DataTemplate>
        </ItemsControl.ItemTemplate>

That will get you started.

answered Sep 14, 2015 at 16:35

Lorek

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2 Comments

Erresen Over a year ago

Fantastic. Thanks a lot :)

Tomas Kosar Over a year ago

I think this does not support selection of individual item which means each server but it select the whole group which is host name with all servers. How can I achieve the selection of individual item?

AnjumSKhan · Accepted Answer · 2015-09-14 16:55:54Z

Set DataContext property for inner control to show WritingMachine properties. Like so :

<StackPanel DataContext="{Binding Value}" Grid.Row="1">

This will change the DataContext to List<WritingMachine> for inner display control, where you can do normal binding. See full XAML code below :

<ListBox x:Name="LbxMachineDictionary" HorizontalAlignment="Left" VerticalAlignment="Top" Grid.Row="1">
            <ListBox.ItemTemplate>
                <DataTemplate>
                    <StackPanel Orientation="Vertical" Margin="5">
                        <Grid Width="461" Height="199">
                            <Grid.RowDefinitions>
                                <RowDefinition/>
                                <RowDefinition Height="4*"/>
                            </Grid.RowDefinitions>
                            <TextBlock HorizontalAlignment="Left" Margin="10,10,0,0" TextWrapping="Wrap" Text="{Binding Key}" VerticalAlignment="Top"/>
                            <StackPanel DataContext="{Binding Value}" Grid.Row="1">
                                <TextBlock HorizontalAlignment="Left"  Grid.Row="1" TextWrapping="Wrap" Text="{Binding HostName}" VerticalAlignment="Top"/>
                                <TextBlock HorizontalAlignment="Left" TextWrapping="Wrap" Text="{Binding Program}" VerticalAlignment="Top"/>
                                <TextBlock HorizontalAlignment="Left" TextWrapping="Wrap" Text="{Binding Login}" VerticalAlignment="Top"/>
                                <TextBlock HorizontalAlignment="Left" TextWrapping="Wrap" Text="{Binding Server}" VerticalAlignment="Top"/>
                            </StackPanel>
                        </Grid>
                    </StackPanel>
                </DataTemplate>
            </ListBox.ItemTemplate>
        </ListBox>

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