Control type depends on data type or property?

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Quick question:
Is is short work using XAML to have the types of controls configured/controlled by the underlying data. I see plenty of examples of configuration of a control's look/feel based on data content; I am looking to base the control type on the associated data/properties.

Examples include:
. Value returns Bool object, the control should be a button
. Value returns Int32 object, the control should be a textbox
or
. The data could expose a property, Widget, that would specify button, textbox, etc

I suppose one could write this in C# pretty readily or cobble together a ContentControl that contains all possible button, textbox, etc combination and the data could control which are visible but these seem such hacks. I thought I would ask the experts if a more natural xaml solution exists.

Posted 17-Dec-12 6:18am

Tall Bill Clark

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2 solutions

Solution 1

Depending on the situation, one possibility could be to build a custom control that handles 'individual controls'. This custom control would adapt to the data type etc.

Another option could be to use a property grid such as Wpf Toolkit - PropertyGrid[^] or for example Native WPF 4 PropertyGrid[^]

Posted 17-Dec-12 6:38am

Wendelius

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Espen Harlinn 17-Dec-12 12:55pm

Nice idea :-D

Wendelius 17-Dec-12 14:20pm

Thanks Espen, even though it's seems that it's not what OP is after :)

Espen Harlinn 17-Dec-12 15:34pm

Then he is probably looking for information on the DataTemplateSelector

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Espen Harlinn · Accepted Answer · 2012-12-17T09:33:00

Solution 3

If the PropertyGrid isn't what you're looking for then I guess you're looking for something like WPF Based Dynamic DataTemplateSelector[^]

Best regards
Espen Harlinn

Posted 17-Dec-12 9:33am

Espen Harlinn

Comments

Tall Bill Clark 17-Dec-12 17:27pm

Nail hit on on head. This is very much what I was looking for.

I may have skimmed thru this before but dismissed it when I saw the size of the code involved thinking "this *has* to be easier". I can accept that it isn't easier. Even the write up allows that this looks burdonsome but still pays off when there are many types that need to be matched and managed. Thanks!

Espen Harlinn 17-Dec-12 17:30pm

Brilliant :-D