Silverlight: How to dynamically bind a ComboBox in a ListBox ItemTemplate?

Question

I have a list box that requires at least one ComboBox. I couldn't find a way to place the ComboBox in the ItemTemplate I use.

... 
<DataTemplate x:Key="parts_template">
  <StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal">
    <TextBlock .../>
    <ComboBox .../>
  </StackPanel>
</DataTemplate>

...
<ListBox x:Name="lb_parts" ItemTemplate="{StaticResource parts_template}" .../>
...

How do bind that ComoBox in the DataTemplate to an ObservableCollection in the code behind?

Answer 1

Okay, here is how you can add a ComboBox to the ListBox in the code behind.

Create a ComboBox

ComboBox x = new ComboBox();

If you have a data source that populates the ComboBox then you can just bind that

x.ItemsSource = e.Result;

If you do not and want to manually add items to the ComboBox:

ComboBoxItem y = new ComboBoxItem();

Set the Content of the Item to what you want displayed in the ComboBox

y.Content = "Hello";

Now all that is left, is to add the ComboBoxItem to the ComboBox (only if you are creating the Items manually), and then the ComboBox to the ListBox

x.Items.Add(y);

//testing is my ListBox
testing.Items.Add(x);

Answer 2

Another thing you could try is subscribe the Loaded event on the ComboBox. Then you can set the ComboBox.ItemsSource in the EventHandler to MyObservableCollection.

Have a look

XAML:

<DataTemplate x:Key="parts_template">
  <StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal">
    <TextBlock .../>
    <ComboBox Loaded="ComboBox_OnLoaded">
        <!-- ComboBox ItemTemplate -->
    </ComboBox>
  </StackPanel>
</DataTemplate>

C# Code Behind:

private void ComboBox_OnLoaded(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    ((ComboBox)sender).ItemsSource = MyObservableCollection;
}

Answer 3

You should be able to set the data context to the List itself

lb_Parts.DataContext=myCollection;

Then you should be able to bind to it in the template

<DataTemplate x:Key="parts_template">
   <StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal">
     <TextBlock .../>
     <ComboBox ItemSource={Binding}/>
   </StackPanel>
</DataTemplate>