Silverlight 3 DataForm, how to show / hide fields

Question

I've a DataForm which I have set the Visibility of certain DataFields to be Collapsed, and when the user selects an option from a ComboBox, certain DataFields should be made visible again.

Basically (in rough pseudocode).

OnComboBoxChange = 
    if this.index = 1 then
        DataForm.Fields[1].Visibility = Visible
    else
        DataForm.Fields[2].Visibility = Visible

Bonus points for an answer that is applicable to a MVVM pattern.

Answer 1

In the context of a MVVM pattern setting the visibility of controls belongs to the view as far as I can see. Anyway, you pseudocode does the job more or less. Here are some fragments that are a bit more concrete:

<UserControl>
  <StackPanel>
    <ComboBox x:Name="comboBox" SelectionChanged="comboBox_SelectionChanged"/>
    <StackPanel x:Name="firstPanel" Orientation="Horizontal">
      <TextBlock Text="First: "/>
      <TextBox/>
    </StackPanel>
    <StackPanel x:Name="secondPanel" Orientation="Horizontal">
      <TextBlock Text="Second: "/>
      <TextBox/>
    </StackPanel>
  </StackPanel>
</UserControl>

and

public partial class MainPage : UserControl {

  public MainPage() {
    InitializeComponent();
    this.comboBox.ItemsSource = new String[] { "First", "Second" };
    this.comboBox.SelectedIndex = 0;
  }

  void comboBox_SelectionChanged(Object sender, SelectionChangedEventArgs e) {
    ShowPanel((String) this.comboBox.SelectedItem);
  }

  void ShowPanel(String name) {
    if (name == "First") {
      this.firstPanel.Visibility = Visibility.Visible;
      this.secondPanel.Visibility = Visibility.Collapsed;
    }
    else {
      this.firstPanel.Visibility = Visibility.Collapsed;
      this.secondPanel.Visibility = Visibility.Visible;
    }
  }

}

Answer 2

Here's a sample using MVVM that avoids codebehind (debatable MVVM no-no):

<UserControl>
  <StackPanel>
    <ComboBox x:Name="comboBox" SelectionChanged="comboBox_SelectionChanged"/>
    <StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal" Visibility="{Binding IsFirstFormShown}">
      <TextBlock Text="First: "/>
      <TextBox/>
    </StackPanel>
    <StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal" Visibility="{Binding IsSecondFormShown}">
      <TextBlock Text="Second: "/>
      <TextBox/>
    </StackPanel>
  </StackPanel>
</UserControl>

Here's your ViewModel then,

public class MyFormViewModel : INotifyPropertyChanged
{
     private System.Windows.Visibility _isFirstShown;
     public System.Windows.Visibility IsFirstFormShown
     {
          get { return _isFirstShown; }
          set
          {
               _isFirstShown = value;
               if (PropertyChanged != null ) 
               { 
                    PropertyChanged(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs(value)); 
               }
          }
     }

     //TODO: implement the other property (writing code in this edit window makes me tired)
     //hopefully you get the picture here...
}

Pretty simple. I'd probably try and name my properties something a little more "Model" and less "View", but this convention is not entirely inappropriate.