ARTICLE

Run Time Data Binding in Silverlight

Posted by Dhananjay Kumar in Articles | XAML with C# on April 20, 2009

Tags: Run Time data Binding, SilverLight, data binding in silverlight

This article will explain about run time Data Binding in Silverlight.

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Reader Level: Beginner

Download Files:

SilverlightBindingTesting.zip

Objective

This tutorial will explain

Introduction of Run Time Binding in Silverlight
Example to achieve run time binding.

Explanation

We are having an IPL class. A list objlist is there which is containing numbers of IPL objects. Our example will fetch data from that list and display in Silverlight control on click event of button. For this purpose, we are using RUN TIME BINDING.

Output screens

On clicking of Button data will change in controls. On click event of Button data will get dynamically bind to the Silverlight Controls.

Run Time Binding in Silverlight application

Binding a Silverlight application entirely through .Net code is Run Time Binding.
It is very useful when Source and Property are not known at the design time.
Binding could be created using System.Windows.Data namespace and using instance of Binding class.
It allows changing binding at run time.

Run Time Decision of setting the Property. So in below situation we need to use Run Time Binding.

Binding class

This class could be created using XAML markup extension also.
It is inside namespace System.Window.Data
It contains all the property which was supported in XAML markup code. Properties are shown in below figure.

Source -> It points to the source object
Path -> It points to the source object property
Constructor of Binding class is overloaded with two parameters. We could pass either Zero argument or a string Path value. Both are shown in below figures

SetBinding method

It is use to link the binding instance with their corresponding Targets.
It is method of FrameWorkElement base class.
It takes two parameters as input. Dependency Property and Binding Instance
The way to find out, which object supports binding. Just we need to check that object having SetBinding method or not.

Steps to create Run Time Binding

Step 1:

Create new instance of Binding object for each target and source pair. Code for that is given below.

var pNameBinding = new Binding("Player_Name");

var tNameBinding = new Binding("Team_Name");

var cNameBinding = new Binding("Country_Name");

var iscaptionBinding = new Binding("IsCaption");

Step 2:

Set the source property. Source property will get set to the instance of the business class.( In our case it is IPL.)

IPL _obj;.

_obj= new IPL();

pNameBinding.Source = _obj;

tNameBinding.Source = _obj;

cNameBinding.Source = _obj;

iscaptionBinding.Source = _obj

Step 3:

Now to Link Binding instance with their corresponding target.

pName.SetBinding(TextBox.TextProperty, pNameBinding);

tName.SetBinding(TextBox.TextProperty, tNameBinding);

cName.SetBinding(TextBox.TextProperty, cNameBinding);

isCaption.SetBinding(CheckBox.IsCheckedProperty,iscaptionBinding);

Example and code to achieve above said output

Step 1:

Create a Silverlight application. Replace Page.Xaml.Cs file with below code.

Page.Xaml.cs

<UserControl x:Class="SilverlightBindingTesting.MainPage"

xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"

xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"

Width="400" Height="300">

<Grid.RowDefinitions>

</Grid.RowDefinitions>

<Grid.ColumnDefinitions>

</Grid.ColumnDefinitions>

<Grid.ColumnDefinitions>

</Grid.ColumnDefinitions>

<Grid.RowDefinitions>

</Grid.RowDefinitions>

</Grid>

</UserControl>

Step 2:

Right click on project and add a new class. Name this class as IPL

IPL.cs

using System;

using System.Net;

using System.Windows;

using System.Windows.Controls;

using System.Windows.Documents;

using System.Windows.Ink;

using System.Windows.Input;

using System.Windows.Media;

using System.Windows.Media.Animation;

using System.Windows.Shapes;

namespace SilverlightBindingTesting

{

public class IPL

{

public string Player_Name { get; set; }

public string Team_Name { get; set; }

public string Country_Name { get; set; }

public bool IsCaption { get; set; }

}

Step 3:

Open Page.Xaml.Cs file and replace with below code. This code is containing simple logic to bind data.

Page.Xaml.cs

using System;

using System.Collections.Generic;

using System.Linq;

using System.Net;

using System.Windows;

using System.Windows.Controls;

using System.Windows.Documents;

using System.Windows.Input;

using System.Windows.Media;

using System.Windows.Media.Animation;

using System.Windows.Shapes;

using System.Windows.Data;

namespace SilverlightBindingTesting

{

public partial class MainPage : UserControl

{

static int i;

IPL _obj;

List<IPL> objlist = new List<IPL>();

public MainPage()

{

InitializeComponent();

this.Loaded += new RoutedEventHandler(MainPage_Loaded);

}

void MainPage_Loaded(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)

{

//throw new NotImplementedException();

_obj= new IPL();

_obj.Country_Name="India";

_obj.IsCaption=true;

_obj.Player_Name="Sachin Tendulakr";

_obj.Team_Name="Mumbai Indian ";

objlist.Add(_obj);

_obj = new IPL();

_obj.Country_Name = "England";

_obj.IsCaption = true;

_obj.Player_Name = "Kelivin Piterson";

_obj.Team_Name = "Royal Challenger Bangalore";

objlist.Add(_obj);

_obj = new IPL();

_obj.Country_Name = "India";

_obj.IsCaption = false;

_obj.Player_Name = "Herchle Gibbs";

_obj.Team_Name = "Deccan Charger Hyderabad";

objlist.Add(_obj);

//this.DataContext = _obj;

}

private void bindData_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)

{

if (i >= objlist.Count)

{

i = 0;

}

functionDisplay(i);

i++;

}

void functionDisplay(int i)

{

var pNameBinding = new Binding("Player_Name");

var tNameBinding = new Binding("Team_Name");

var cNameBinding = new Binding("Country_Name");

var iscaptionBinding = new Binding("IsCaption");

pNameBinding.Source = objlist[i];

tNameBinding.Source = objlist[i];

cNameBinding.Source = objlist[i];

iscaptionBinding.Source = objlist[i];

pName.SetBinding(TextBox.TextProperty, pNameBinding);

tName.SetBinding(TextBox.TextProperty, tNameBinding);

cName.SetBinding(TextBox.TextProperty, cNameBinding);

isCaption.SetBinding(CheckBox.IsCheckedProperty, iscaptionBinding);

}

}
}

Step 4:

Press F5 and run the application. You will get output

How to use Zip file

Download > Save -> unzip -> open in visual studio -> press F5

Future scope

There is opportunity to modify this project i.e. fetching data from database using WCF and bind that at run time. I will do that in next article.

Happy Coding.

post comment

I have an application hosted in IIS working with workflow and I want my users to be able to see the state of the running workflow instance in a visual manner(by means of a graphic, image or something else).

I've seen too many sample but all of them using window and workflow designer to render the workflow. considering there is no visual facility on the server side, is there any workaround or other way to accomplish this?

Thanks

Posted by shaghayegh haddadi on May 24, 2010

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