Binding to ConfigurationSection

Question

I just converted all my settings from AppSettings to ConfigurationSections. It definitely cleaned things up, but I'm having difficulties with the preferences window. I want to use bindings in my WPF window.

• Should I store each of the ConfigurationSections in a dependency property and bind to the ConfigurationSection's properties?
• Should I use ObjectDataProvider's that calls the ConfigurationManager.GetSection?
• Is there another way I can do this?

Off-topic: I find the bindings in WPF to be really powerful, but it's sometimes a bit confusing or difficult to create the bindings. I wish there was better documentation for XAML.

Answer 1

You don't need to do anything special - you can databind to types with plain old properties. All the stuff about dependency properties are only for WPF controls themselves. When it comes to the model against which you bind, there are no particular constraints. You can bind to Plain Old C# Objects (POCOs), although implementing INotifyPropertyChanged is an advantage.

However, instead of binding directly to your Domain objects (it sounds like your ConfigurationSections fit that role), it is often a good idea to explicitly create a ViewModel that deals with view-specific responsibilities while encapsulating the real Domain objects.

Josh Smith's article Patterns: WPF Apps With The Model-View-ViewModel Design Pattern is an excellent introduction to proper databinding in WPF.