WPF container for Image template

Question

Hi, I'm storing the urls to the images in a sql ce 3.5 database as strings. I want to retrieve the urls and display them in the main application window. Here is the code:

DataSet myDataSet;

        private void OnInit(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {

            string connString = Properties.Settings.Default.SystemicsAnalystDBConnectionString;
            OleDbConnection conn = new OleDbConnection(connString);
            OleDbDataAdapter adapter = new OleDbDataAdapter("SELECT url FROM Library;", conn);

            myDataSet = new DataSet();
            adapter.Fill(myDataSet, "Library");
            myListBox.DataContext = myDataSet;
        }

The first problem is that I don't think the method onInit is fired. But I don't know the reason for that.

The second problem is with XAML file. I need a container for images (like the listbox for textboxes) and since I won't know how many images are there I need some kind of a template:

                            <DataTemplate>
                                <StackPanel>
                                    <Image Source="{Binding Path=url}" />
                                </StackPanel>
                            </DataTemplate>

But there has to be some kind of a container that would have the datacontext set to the data source.

Could anyone help?

Answer 1

You can customize a listbox in wpf quite easily to have images in it, instead of text. Use the ItemTemplate or if you want to change to control itself, the ControlTemplate.

Answer 2

<ListBox ItemsSource="{Binding Library}">
  <ListBox.ItemTemplate>
    <DataTemplate>    
         <Image Source="{Binding Path=url}" />
     </DataTemplate>
  </ListBox.ItemTemplate>
 </ListBox>

The DataContext for the ListBox should be your DataSet. You can use OnLoad instead of OnInit

Anyway I dont recommend the DataSet binding, it would be more managable if you create ViewModel class for your Library and create a collection of Library entities